Principles of Principals

Today, we are honored to host a recognized professional educator, Mr. Bill Denham.  Mr. Denham holds a Bachelor's from Northern Arizona University, and a Master's from Marshall University. He is is Veteran of the Arizona Army National Guard. Bill teaches Spanish at Riverside High School of Kanawha County Schools , he is a father of 4, active in local politics, a published author, devoted partner, an award winning barbecue chef,  and an exceptional friend.  All of the resources we discuss today are found on his site, profedenham.com for free. Dr. J: When it comes to virtual classrooms: as a high school Spanish teacher, what do you want parents to know and do?  Profé Denham : I want parents to know that one of the best things their students can do to learn a second language is to read . I would also add that this is true of all levels of language learners, even the most novice of them. With proper scaffolding, such as providing vocabulary in context or reading materi...

Esteemed Members of the Arizona House and Senate, As a concerned Arizonan, I'm writing to ask for your help, and because I respect your service to your communities' educational agencies. I have worked in Arizona district and charter schools for a combined 18 years here in Arizona.  Most of those were shared with underprivileged, homeless, at-risk, and more recently refugee children. I have lobbied some of you, worked campaigns as a LD10 (now LD20) Precinct Committeman, lobbied members of the House and Senate at the Federal level, and most importantly I am a father of five incredible children. Presently, I'm a school principal in East Phoenix, where we've labored diligently, turning a major corner taking our school from corrective action to a B in one single year.  We also have some of the highest re-classification rates among Latino, Refugee and Homeless children (50-60%).  We are building a  national model  for serving this population of ch...