I’m Hamilton Parks, and I’ve never been an ordinary educator. I always ran my classroom to the beat of my own drum. That drum was usually accompanied with synths and bass drops.

Being an extraordinary teacher has taken me from the classroom to coaching positions, and now to an elementary administrator. My goal now is to remain faithful to the culture and instruction within classrooms, even as an administrator actively carrying out the daily operations of running a school. Remaining faithful to the classroom means continuously supporting teachers in helping them lead their students to academic success. It has been my experience that this success can be reached through providing next level, intentional, engaging lessons for students. Through this blog, I hope to help teachers make the classroom a stimulating environment through innovative, student-centered practices.

Just as kids need to be engaged, so do educators. My way is through the language of music. Each post features an electronic dance music (EDM) track. I use it to discuss a practice or strategy to enhance or create active and enduring learning for students. The thing is… it’s not really about the music, as banger as it is. It’s about student achievement. If we as educators are really in it for this reason, we’ve got to recognize engagement does matter.

Twitter | @HamiltonParks17

Email | hparks@greenville.k12.sc.us