Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Changing The Odds by Treva Harte Changing The Odds by Treva Harte. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. What can I do to prevent this in the future? If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. Cloudflare Ray ID: 660388afcc0b4e4a • Your IP : 116.202.236.252 • Performance & security by Cloudflare. Opinion: Donald Trump gets out the eraser. More than 500 years ago, Thomas More published a slim book in Latin that bequeathed us the word "Utopia." He conjured up a fictional island where people enjoy "life in happiness and peace, with all cares removed." Three centuries later, philosopher John Stuart Mill questioned the practicality of achieving a Utopia -- popularizing the term "dystopia" in a speech to the House of Commons. As they presented their case this past week for ousting the President, Democrats summoned a dystopian vision of Donald Trump's America: a rampaging virus, record unemployment and democracy in danger. Over four nights, convention speakers, including Barack and Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Jill Biden, invoked decency, empathy, democracy, diversity and unity to rally voters behind Joe Biden. Trump is clueless about the Covid-19 pandemic and completely out of his depth in his job, they said. "It is what it is," Michelle Obama concluded, echoing the President's own recent comment. Forced by the coronavirus to meet virtually, Democrats invented some new ways of convening, featuring a roll call that offered glimpses of all 57 states and territories -- including a cameo appearance by a platter of Rhode Island calamari. "Let's not go back to the old way of doing conventions," Jen Psaki wrote, "The third night of the Democratic National Convention was far more powerful and more moving. " © Win McNamee/Getty Images WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - AUGUST 20: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden delivers his acceptance speech on the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center on August 20, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. The convention, which was once expected to draw 50,000 people to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is now taking place virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) But that was last week. Starting Monday Republicans will have a chance to strike back at their convention, to defend Trump's presidency and to warn Americans not to entrust the White House to Democrats. And the outlines of their own fearsome dystopia are not hard to imagine. On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence said on Fox News, "Joe Biden said last night that democracy was on the ballot, character's on the ballot. Well, the economy is on the ballot, law and order is on the ballot, and the American people know it." Looking ahead to the RNC, David Axelrod wrote, "What may seem like a humane, common sense agenda to most Americans this week will be cast by Trump and the Republicans as nothing more than job-crushing environmental regulations; amnesty for 'illegals' and open borders; an attack on police that invites urban violence and anarchy; onerous new taxation and a radical assault on the Second Amendment." "These are the jagged fault lines of American politics: a rising number of young people, racial minorities and college-educated White voters versus those who view the cultural and social changes proudly displayed at the Democratic National Convention this week as a threat," Axelrod noted. © Dave Whamond/Cagle Cartoons. Frida Ghitis noted that in his speech Thursday night, Biden "made it stark when he vowed to help the country 'overcome this season of darkness' . underpinning it all was the terrifying prospect that the devastation caused by the current President could lead the country to even darker places if Democrats cannot win in November." Praise for Biden. Biden's speech got positive reviews, jeopardizing Trump's effort to question the former vice president's mental ability. "The caricature of the bumbling old fool that Republicans were pushing went out the window tonight," wrote Van Jones . "They will have to go back to the drawing board for their convention next week." David Gergen , who has been an adviser to four presidents, argued that "Biden emphatically proved on Thursday that he is up to the job — and then some. He spoke movingly about pain and suffering but showed flashes of inner steel when describing his opponent." Republicans contended that the Democrats focused more on passion than policy, as Alice Stewart put it. "They are making a strong play for winning over the hearts of voters-- and largely relying on emotion to carry them over the finish line." Oren Cass said, "Barack Obama's legacy looms awkwardly over Joe Biden." He added that "Biden's agenda was, almost verbatim, a reiteration of Obama's . none of this tackles America's fundamental challenges or changes course from the policy mistakes of the past generation." Many Americans are concerned about casting their vote this fall, given the pandemic and Trump's continual attacks on mail-in ballots. Postal worker Sinikka Melvin , who heads the postal worker union local in Clarksburg, West Virginia, wrote that her co-workers are committed to their mission. "We're Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and everything in between. Regardless, we're still postal workers who, come snow, rain, heat or politics, will get the mail to our communities. We want our new postmaster general to give us the tools to do our job and do it well." © AP In this image from video, former first lady Michelle Obama speaks during the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, Aug. 17, 2020. (Democratic National Convention via AP) And it's not only about the election, Melvin wrote. "Delayed deliveries harm the public. It's the customer who comes first thing in the morning to get a medicine they urgently need and can't wait for. It's your paycheck you need to put food on the table. It's that new coat your child needs for winter. It's your passport you've eagerly waited on. Your reading list for the new semester. Your 12th birthday card. Your new face mask. The ways the Postal Service affects our lives are endless." © David Fitzsimmons/Cagle Cartoons. For more on the campaign: Steve Bannon indicted. The controversial former Trump campaign official and White House adviser Steve Bannon was arrested Thursday and charged in what Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutors said was a conspiracy to defraud donors to a crowdfunding campaign that would become the non- profit "We Build the Wall." Despite promises that all of the money raised would go toward building a portion of the southern border wall, Elie Honig wrote, Bannon and his co-conspirators used some of it "to pay for their own lavish lifestyles and expenses including 'travel, hotels, consumer goods, and personal credit card debts,'" according to the indictment. If convicted, Bannon would likely face a sentence of at least seven to nine years, Honig said. Though the odds favor conviction in federal court, he can go to trial, "or Bannon can try to cooperate with the SDNY -- which could offer him his best chance at a significant sentencing reduction. . But, to save himself, Bannon will very likely need to give the SDNY the ammunition it needs to take others down too." Michael D'Antonio wrote that Bannon's arrest aboard the yacht of an exiled Chinese dissident "has added one more big name to the list of Trump- adjacent figures who have found trouble with the law. For years it's seemed like a parade of conmen has trailed the President and that prosecutors have tried to pick them off one-by-one." Bannon called the charges a "political hit job" and promised to fight them. Trump said he "didn't like" the private fundraising project for the wall. Republican future. Whether or not the GOP wins in November, wrote Sarah Isgur , "it will be a party that will never have Donald Trump on the ballot again." We asked Isgur and 10 other Republicans for their take on the party's future as the convention begins. Clearly Trump has reshaped the party in his own image, dispensing with much of the conservative ideology that animated it since the Reagan presidency. "The 2024 nominee will be charting a new path for the Republican Party without the shibboleths of the conservative movement that used to comprise it," Isgur wrote. The party should "get back to standing for and focusing on a platform instead of personalities," wrote Scott Jennings . "I became a Republican, despite coming from a family of Democrats, for a handful of reasons. I am pro-life, because all life is precious and should be protected. I believe in lower taxes, because I don't support punishing people who work hard and create opportunity for others. "And I think the United States ought to have the most fearsome and lethal military in the world, to serve as a deterrent most of the time and as a force to be reckoned with when bad actors choose to test us." Red states are more fiscally prudent, wrote former US Rep. Mia Love . "I would like to see the party capitalize on this advantage and others that drew me, a first generation Black American, into the fold. Republicans have answers to poverty that actually work. Their pro-work, pro-family, pro-business, low tax agenda creates jobs and expands opportunity." Others are skeptical that the party can really survive its current standard-bearer. "The corruption of the Republican Party by Trump is complete," wrote SE Cupp . "The idea that Republicans can -- earnestly and with a straight face -- just pretend like the last four years never happened and pick up the policies and principles that the party used to espouse strains credulity." The Obamas. One of the most compelling moments of the Democratic convention was Michelle Obama's blistering attack on President Trump. No former first lady "has spoken so passionately about unseating an incumbent," wrote Kate Andersen Brower . "The focus of her remarks was not Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, the first Black woman ever on a major party ticket. It was all about getting Trump out, and as a former first lady her words matter," Brower noted. The former president, Barack Obama, joined in making the case against Trump on the third night of the convention. "The former president's speech was a balance of slashing attacks against his successor, combined with inspirational invocations of the civil rights movement, which served as an exemplar of America's commitment to forming a more perfect union with each generation," wrote John Avlon . "He also passed the baton to Kamala Harris, who described her childhood's stroller-eye view of civil rights marches with her parents. Hers was a personal speech, an introduction to many Americans of the pioneering figure who could be our country's first woman of color Vice-President." Don't Miss: Nancy Santiago and Frankie Martínez-Blanco : Puerto Rico's future is for Puerto Ricans to determine. Eternal struggle. Exactly 100 years since women gained the right to vote, the US is in the midst of a national debate over exercising that franchise. Recognizing his weakness among women voters, President Trump this week issued a posthumous pardon to suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony, who was arrested for voting in 1872 in Rochester, New York. "As Trump announces that he is pardoning a woman whose life's work was expanding voting rights," wrote Jill Filipovic , "he's simultaneously trying to make it more difficult for Americans to carry out their fundamental civic duty of political participation, In the midst of a deadly pandemic when it's simply not safe to be in close proximity with other people indoors for extended periods of time, Trump has been hard at work undermining the US Postal Service -- the agency that will be in charge of ferrying millions of absentee and mail-in ballots to the vote counters." Our social and cultural commentary editor Jane Carr has been curating viewpoints on the suffrage anniversary. Treva B. Lindsey wrote that we should be careful to look at that history critically: "This centennial is a momentous occasion to honor the tremendous political labor of tens of thousands of women who made the 19th Amendment possible. And yet, 'commemorate' is the word I choose to use, because we cannot 'celebrate' the ways in which the broader movement often attempted to relegate the voices and experiences of women of color to the background." Coline Jenkins , who is the great-great-grandaughter of one of the earliest suffrage activists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, urged Americans to pay attention to "the 72 years of agitation, protest, social condemnation, imprisonment, and even violence that women endured to gain the ballot." Smart Money. Lottery mania is on the way, but stay cool and follow these tips. You may not strike it rich, but you can be a better player. As the Texas Lottery blasts into orbit this month, you may find yourself wondering whether you will succumb to its siren song of instant wealth. Stop kidding yourself. The question is not if you will play, but how much money you will spend and how often you will spend it. Surveys in other states with lotteries show that 80 percent of the adult population has played at least once. What matters is playing smart. Most people assume that they can’t do anything to improve their chances of winning, but they’re wrong. You can become a better lottery player. Ten of the many ways to augment your success are explained below. None of them will guarantee you a multimillion-dollar jackpot, but they may help you win a little more often, and they will definitely keep you from losing as much. TIP 1. Don’t spend more than one percent of your income on the lottery—max. You may well find yourself tempted to increase your chances by buying beaucoup lottery tickets. But no ordinary person could ever buy enough tickets to guarantee a win. Consider this: The most common lotto game has 14 million betting combinations, so if you buy 1 ticket, the odds will be 1 in 14 million. If you buy 50 tickets, the odds will be 50 in 14 million. Does that sound much better? Only 1 in 54 tickets wins any prize at all. So don’t spend yourself into the poorhouse. There is no correct or best or normal amount to bet. Annual lottery sales per person vary around the country from just $30 a year in Kansas to more than $250 in Massachusetts. Limiting your spending to one percent is a good rule of thumb. If you make $25,000 a year, that works out to $250 a year, or about $5 a week—plenty of opportunity for thrills and chills without breaking your budget. The best game plan is to play for the fun of it and for your dreams, not because you seriously believe that you’re going to win. (Being certain that you’re going to beat the lottery is a little like hitting yourself in the head with a ball peen hammer and being certain that it won’t hurt—except hitting yourself in the head with a hammer doesn’t cost a buck a whack.) The lottery is supposed to be entertainment, and the one percent limit will help you keep it that way. Remember: It only takes one ticket to win. TIP 2. Don’t spend all your lottery money the first week; the odds will get better. The first Texas Lottery game, Lone Star Millions, is an instant scratch- off game. It’s easy to play and just as easy to lose. You buy a ticket for $1 from a lottery vendor and scratch off the latex coating that conceals dollar amounts printed in six small squares. If three of those amounts match, you win that much. Odds and prizes range from 1 in 10 to win $2 to 1 in 600,000 to win $10,000. The overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 7.9. That’s not exactly a consumer bargain, and it won’t be long before players figure that out and tire of having only one chance of winning in every eight plays. Early burnout has been anticipated by the Texas Lottery’s advertising and operations contractors, who are mas-ters of marketing and lottery strategy. As sales fall off, they plan to introduce new games with better odds to keep play-ers interested. So while you may be tempted to bet heavily in the first two games because they will offer $1 million grand prizes, you should consider holding off. The third and fourth games—scheduled to be introduced simultaneously late this summer—will offer a double-prize feature and a higher overall percentage of winners. Eventually, up to six different instant games will be offered at any one time. The main thing to remember is to watch the payout odds—which will be printed on the game brochures available at all 15,000 initial ticket outlets. These odds will change with each game, and you might as well concentrate on those that offer you the best chance of winning. Many states now offer instant games with very decent 1 in 4 overall odds, and so will Texas. Watch for them. TIP 3. Don’t throw away a million bucks. If you scratch off an instant ticket and find three windows showing the word “Entry” instead of a dollar amount, don’t worry; you haven’t lost. In fact, you have a chance to win big. Write your name and address on the back of the ticket and mail it to the Texas Lottery (the address is also on the back). Twelve drawings will be held in various locations throughout the state, and the lucky winner will get $1,000,000. What are your chances? Of 300 million tickets in game one, 500,000 will be Entry tickets. That may not sound great, but remember: Not everyone who gets an Entry ticket will go to the trouble of mailing it in. That will increase the chances of those who do, so keep sending those tickets in. TIP 4. Play for free. Pay attention to the promotions that may be offered by the lottery and by ticket vendors. For instance, many retailers may offer “Ask for the Sale” promotions, in which you get a free ticket if the clerk forgets to ask if you would like to buy one. Participating service stations will also be allowed to give away free tickets with a fill-up of gas, and food stores can give free tickets for buying turkeys at Thanksgiving (and what better symbol for a bunch of die-hard lottery players than a bunch of frozen turkeys?). Don’t pass up a free opportunity. TIP 5. Don’t waste your money on worthless lotto systems. This fall we will see the introduction of the big game with the giant jackpots—lotto, which is based on a centuries-old gambling game that originated in Italy. The Lottery Commission has yet to decide on the specifics, but the game will probably be a 6/49 or 6/50 lotto. This takes a minute to explain, so bear with me: On each ticket, 49 or 50 numbers are printed; these numbers are called the field. From the field, a player selects 6 numbers, called his pick. Every Saturday night on live TV—possibly in the commercial slot just before the ten o’clock news—the Texas Lottery will use a special machine filled with Ping-Pong balls bearing printed numbers to pick the six winning numbers. Given the size of the potential prize—you may remember Florida’s $106.5 million—and the devastating odds against winning—1 in 14 million for 6/49 lotto; 1 in 16 million for 6/50—everyone wants a system. This is where you want to be cautious. Hundreds of overpriced schemes are on the market: pocket calculators, computer software, even lotto biorhythm charts, all ballyhooed as ways to pick winning numbers. And those are the more plausible scams. Once the lottery really gets going here, you can expect a cottage industry to spring up offering to convert your birthday, your astrological sign, and even more arcane phenomena, like dates of sightings of the Loch Ness monster, into mystical numbers that you can use to play lotto. Anyone who claims to be able to see the future of a lotto drawing and offers to sell you that information for $50 or $100 must be generous indeed. Worst of all, many mathematical systems can cost a bundle. Some of them (many are sold through the mail) involve using eight, nine, or ten numbers in complex betting combinations that necessitate spending $20, $50, or $100 a week on lotto. Taking these methods seriously is just asking for trouble. Don’t spend big money on any system to pick your numbers. Your odds are better if you put your money into tickets. TIP 6. Don’t play frequently bet numbers. Since there is no sure way to make lotto predictions, the most logical tactic is to avoid sharing a jackpot in case your numbers are drawn. Research shows that many if not most players select low numbers. Why? Because they choose from the same small group of numbers based on dates like birthdays and anniversaries. That means the numbers 1 through 12 (the months), 1 through 31 (the days), and the number 19 (the century) are all overplayed. Of those, 3, 7, and 11, all considered to be lucky, are really overused. Another factor favoring low numbers is that people marking play slips often make all six choices before they get above the twenties or thirties. In one drawing of the Maryland Lottery, 3,200 people played the numbers 1 through 6. If those numbers had been chosen, the winners would have had to split the $620,000 jackpot and would have won less than $200 each. Conclusion: Play at least some high numbers. TIP 7. You can win with Quik Picks. The simplest way to pick your numbers may well be the best: Let the computer do it for you. All you have to do is tell your clerk at your lotto ticket outlet that you want one or more Quik Picks. He pushes a button, and the machine picks six numbers for you, charging a buck a ticket. The reason this works is that playing Quik Picks guarantees that you will have random numbers. That way you avoid the pitfalls outlined in TIP 6, and you have less of a chance of sharing a jackpot with all those other people. Surveys in many states show that a majority of jackpot winners were Quik Picks. How can this be? Because the majority of lotto tickets sold were Quik Picks. TIP 8. Always check the winning lotto numbers against your numbers. Could anybody be dumb enough not to check his numbers? Well, yes. In 1989 a $5.4 million Illinois jackpot went unclaimed for one year, was declared void, and the money was returned to a pool for future prizes. Every lottery state has had similar incidents. How does this happen? Plenty of people ask the clerk for a lottery ticket and get a lotto Quik Pick instead of the instant ticket they wanted. They stick that ticket in their wallet or purse and forget about it. And if they regularly play Quik Picks instead of playing the same numbers every time, they don’t have the numbers committed to memory, and they must check the current ticket to see if they have won. Digging out the tickets is more trouble, but the rewards could be worth it. Unclaimed prize money in Texas, you may be glad to hear, also will be returned to the players’ prize pool. TIP 9. Play lottery pools. Lottery pools are groups of people—family members, neighbors, co-workers—who pool their money to buy more tickets than any of them could afford individually. If any of the tickets wins a prize, everyone shares the money. Whoever organizes the pool collects the money, buys the tickets, and keeps a simple written contract stating that winnings will be divided equally among all members. Say thirty people chip in $3 a week. Each of them now has ninety opportunities to win a share of the jackpot, and no one has spent a fortune. A $15 million jackpot split among thirty winners would pay each of them $20,000 a year for twenty years, after taxes. You may have read about a commercial Australian lottery pool called the International Lotto Fund that won $27 million in March by covering all seven million combinations in the Virginia Lottery. Smooth move, but every lottery in the country has since changed its rules to prevent such massive block buying of tickets. That means your own lottery pool at home or at work is still your best chance to win. TIP 10. Play when the jackpot is high, because so is the value of your bet. When the lotto jackpot is not won for several weeks, a fever grips the land. People who were previously blasé wait in line for hours to buy tickets. The lottery occupies the news, cocktail party conversation, and valuable work time. It is blamed for everything short of causing hens to quit laying. Some people think that having more players in the game will ruin their odds, but it’s just not so. The odds of winning remain unchanged. The odds of having to share the big prize are higher, but since the jackpot is bigger, that isn’t such a big deal. Maybe you’ll win, maybe you won’t. The point is that if you play for fun, you can have a few thrills, and if you play smart, you’ll know you’ve done everything you can to boost your chances. It’s like life; the odds are against you, but may the fours be with you. Harte entitled to his views but not entitled to speak for the GAA. Country’s biggest sporting organisation has no position on the Eighth Amendment. Mickey Harte: his views are clearly deeply-held. But they are his views – not the GAA’s – and he has a responsibility to make that clear. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty/Inpho. It was probably inevitable that the GAA was going to get tangled up in the referendum on the Eighth Amendment somewhere along the way. The association is in the country’s bloodstream – a generally positive state of being and yet not always one in which it necessarily delights. This is one of the situations in which its very ubiquity feels like more a curse than a blessing. The GAA’s greatest strengths – connectivity within communities, the name recognition of its leading practitioners, its thriving brand – make it ripe for being co-opted by any and all causes that take a fancy to it. It has ever been thus. There isn’t a political party or cause in the State who hasn’t plugged into the GAA mainframe at some point or other, with or without the association’s blessing. Usually, if only in the interests of a peaceful life, without. Conor McMorrow’s terrific book Dáil Stars is littered with examples. One story he tells goes back to the 1964 Galway-East by-election, won for Fine Gael by three-time All-Ireland medallist John Donnellan. Fianna Fáil’s riposte – and you have to admire the neck, on a certain level – was to claim Donnellan was elected purely on the back of his football exploits and that Fine Gael had presented this as his sole electable quality. As if the very notion offended the delicate sensibilities of the soldiers of destiny. “The Galway jersey was displayed in that election and there are none so blind as those who do not want to see,” said FF senator Mark Killilea. “A GAA official denied that the GAA was used in this election,” wrote FF’s outgoing Tuam secretary, one P Talty. “But this we cannot agree with. It was most definitely used as an election gimmick by the Fine Gael hierarchy.” None of this typical political manoeuvring is especially notable except for the familiar passing mention of the GAA official. Denying that the GAA is being used to further a political cause has been the lot of the put-upon GAA official since the organisation began. As a course of action in times of quarrel, it is well-worn, predictable, occasionally disingenuous and basically the only way to survive and move forward. Over half a century later and the terms and conditions remain the same. Which is why, regardless of what side of the Yes/No fence they personally come down on, officials in Croke Park will have cause to be livid with Mickey Harte after Saturday. That said, it is also why they are likely to keep their counsel on the matter and simply play out time until the result is announced on May 26th. For better or worse, it’s the GAA way. Skills session. The Tyrone manager appeared at an event billed ‘GAA Athletes for a No Vote’ in Ballyfermot along with former Meath player Joe Sheridan, Antrim footballer Patrick Gallagher, Derry camogie player Aoife Cassidy and Galway player AnneMarie McDonagh. They put out a statement, did some interviews and ran a skills session for local kids. On the face of it, there’s not a massive amount in there for the association to be too unhappy with. All known history would suggest they’d have preferred their name to be kept out of it, just as all known history practically guarantees that something like this was sure to happen eventually. And if it was, that the Tyrone manager was unlikely to be too far away. In an association the size of the GAA, there will be Yes people and there will be No people. Nobody with even a passing knowledge of Irish sport will have been surprised at Harte’s position on the repeal question. Similarly, if you’ve followed his career at any level over the past 15 years since he took charge of Tyrone, you know he’s not likely to duck any issue about which he has strong feelings. In many respects, there is no news here. That is, until you get to the statement put out behalf of Harte and co. “The GAA’s vision,” it begins, “is that everyone be welcome to participate fully in our games and culture, that they thrive and develop their potential, and be inspired to keep a lifelong engagement with our association.” It goes on to includes lines such as: “We are an inclusive organisation. There is space for everybody at our table.” All the way through, the statement is littered with ‘we’ and ‘our’ – in reference to the GAA as a whole. When it gets to the meat of the statement, it reads: “In keeping with those principles, we are coming together today to ask the Irish people to vote No on May 25th.” There is no gear change, no line separating their own personal views from that of the association, nothing like that. To anyone reading the statement, it looks like a declaration of the position of the GAA on the matter. Which, of course, it is not. The GAA has no position on this and will have no position other than to take a thoroughly dim view of anyone purporting to speak on their behalf. It was no surprise, therefore, to find yesterday that Croke Park was in the process of informing its units around the country that the organisation was to have no involvement in the campaign. All it would have taken was another handful of these events through the coming week to reach a critical mass. Mickey Harte’s views are clearly deeply-held. But they are his views – not the GAA’s – and he has a responsibility to make that clear when he speaks on the matter. Any muddying of the waters is just playing politics and it does him no credit at all. Awaken the Sleeping Giant. “Within every school, there is a sleeping giant of teacher leadership that can be a strong catalyst for making changes to improve student learning. By using the energy of teacher leaders as agents of school change, public education will stand a better chance of ensuring that every child has a high quality teacher…” This is an excerpt from the best-selling book entitled Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders by Katzenmeyer and Moller (2009). As we begin to prepare for summer break, one can’t help but wonder how many of our beginning teachers (our future “giants”) will not be returning next year. We know from the 2007 longitudinal study, “Public School Teacher Attrition and Mobility in the First Five Years,” that 10 percent of new teachers in 2007-08 didn’t return the following year, increasing cumulatively to 12 percent in year three, 15 percent in year four and 17 percent in the fifth year. Katzenmeyer’s and Moller’s book draws on their two decades of experience in studying and observing the work of teacher leaders. They express the importance of improving outcomes in schools, and nurturing beginning teachers into teacher leaders from preservice preparation programs through their transformation into veteran teachers. The authors also highlight the importance of ongoing support for veteran teacher leaders. What I truly love about this book is how Katzenmeyer and Moller address three factors critical to teachers stepping into a leadership role: sustaining teacher leadership relationships between adults in the school, organizational structures, and the actions of the principal. The authors also discuss the challenges that many teacher leaders face, including- Deciding to accept a leadership role Building principal–teacher leader relationships Working with peers Facilitating professional learning for themselves and others. The good news is that the latest research on teacher attrition found that a much smaller percentage of beginning teachers leave the field in their first five years on the job than the widely quoted statistics of 50 percent, but Awakening the Sleeping Giant demonstrates that this new trend will not be sustained if we don’t invest in our teachers and in their learning. As a mentor teacher, I have personally witness the impact of a robust mentoring program on beginning teachers. We can support and improve the effectiveness of beginning teachers through intensive induction support aligned to each teacher’s individual needs. We must also offer realistic opportunities for teachers to take on leadership roles; this helps to retain both beginning teachers and accomplished teachers, which ultimately impacts student learning. Unfortunately, as some of us have experienced, current pathways to leadership typically require teachers to leave the classroom, disconnecting them from the students they love to serve. This inevitably results in some of our most experienced, knowledgeable professionals facing a dilemma: either continue working with students in your classroom where your school-wide influence is limited or take on a leadership position that allows you to shape policy decisions, share your expertise, and introduce innovations. I was faced with this decision before becoming a mentor teacher. However, teachers do not need to choose between students and leadership roles. If school districts are able to create hybrid or split roles, teachers can both teach and carry out leadership responsibilities within their workday, such as being mentors, conducting classroom observations, demonstrating lessons, collaboratively planning, and facilitating professional development most relevant to the school’s needs. I am grateful that my district allowed me to become one of those hybrid teachers. Think about how many more “sleeping giants” we can awaken by giving them this type of option and opportunity. With this in mind, we have to embed time within the school day for teacher leadership; this will ensure more equitable access to leadership positions as they are no longer reserved for those who can commit to time outside of the contracted workday. Let’s us also not forget how having NBCTs in classrooms ensure better outcomes for schools; it’s in our students’ best interest to continue to encourage both beginning and veteran teachers to seek this certification. We should be supporting teachers to allow them space and opportunity to innovate and do great things. This, however, requires a cultural shift in the way schools operate at a systemic level. One of the most basic ways is to support teachers in schools though mentoring and more flexible working conditions to allow time for innovation and reflective practice. Our “sleeping giants” will continue to either remain dormant or just leave the profession altogether if we don’t create a culture where teachers can collaborate, learn from each other, and grow as professionals. Just like we create caring relationships with our students, all teachers need to be nurtured and supported. I recently sat down with one of my very own sleeping giants. I was her mentor teacher 3 years ago. This mentorship turned into a beautiful friendship and an unbreakable bond. Talli is going on her 4 th year as a classroom teacher. I wanted to know how she defied all the odds (are we doing enough to awaken this beginning teacher?). I also wanted to know what keeps her teaching and what advice she would give to other beginning teachers. Meet Talli…in her own words— Talli, why did you become a teacher? At a young age, I knew that I wanted to do something that would give me an important purpose in life, something that would make me feel like I mattered and made a difference. Teaching was it! It has been an amazing adventure ever since. Was there ever time when you ever felt like “throwing in the towel?” If yes, please share the circumstances surrounding the decision and what made you decide to stay. My first year of teaching was a major challenge almost every day. I cried. I stressed. I couldn’t figure out if it was because of something I was doing wrong that was keeping me from reaching them, or if it was because they were a rough group of kids and there was little hope for them. It took me months of trial and error before I realized that it was my lack of consistency as an educator for my failure. I learned that every child can learn but it was up to me to figure out how to teach them. In the end, I probably learned more than they did. I stayed because people like you and others told me it would get better and how we all have had these same experiences. What’s been your biggest challenge in this profession? Do you feel like your pre-service training adequately prepared for you for life in the classroom? The biggest challenge is probably making sure that I am reaching every child, every day and having the necessary tools to do so. While that may seem like an impossible goal to reach, it is my goal, nonetheless. Being a substitute teacher for so many years really did help me gain the skills that aren’t taught in college. Some things that are needed to be an effective, successful teacher can’t be learned from books. They are learned by stepping into the classroom and going for it. You are a beginning teacher who took part in mentoring and now you are approaching your 4th year. Research says that this is the time when many beginning teachers begin to make some tough choices about remaining in the profession. Why have you stayed? Yes, I am going into my 4th year as a teacher and being a part of the mentoring program was a life-saver! I was able to share my frustrations and realize that they were other teacher’s frustrations, too. You saved me almost every day of the week! You and the other mentors help me navigate. I listened to your wisdom and soaked up every word. You are a big part of my professional AND my personal life. Is there anything principals, school districts or even veteran teachers should be doing or can do to help beginning teachers stay in the profession? In other words, what more should be done to help first year teachers stay in our profession? As a profession, what should we be doing? Are we doing enough? Constant communication and constant support really is key. Without that, along with my love of public education, I would not have survived my first year. There are always things that can be done better. I have been very lucky to have such supportive friends and highly knowledgeable administration on this campus. It really helps that our campus administration were all teachers so they have ‘been there, done that’. Don’t even get me started on our state, however. Do you feel like you are making an impact in this profession and your voice is being heard? I have had my moments of doubting the importance of my opinion in this district. However, it is key to communicate those doubts to the right people rather than just the teacher next door. While being able to express and share with friends, discussing your opinion with the right people that can really help with any issues is what matters. We all have an important voice. It just needs to be heard by the right people. What advice would you give beginning teachers just coming into the profession? If I could give any advice to a new teacher, it would be to be consistent with your expectations and develop a trusting relationship with each and every one of your students. Let them learn who you are and learn to see them for their differences as well as their similarities. Laugh with your students. Learn with your students. Admit fault when you need to. Humor and Humility are very important character traits to have when teaching middle school students. As we pack up for the summer, and reflect on the school year, think about the impact you may have made on the life of a new teacher. Talli’s responses show the importance of building positive, nurturing relationships with our beginning teachers; we have to reach out to them and show them we care. You may be the very reason why a teacher decides to return next year. We also have to awaken the “sleeping giant” in all of us. Many of us had quite a challenging school year; some of you may be contemplating if you should return to the classroom next year. However, as you reflect on your journey as a teacher, I would like you to think about this short but very powerful quote— “I am not a teacher, but an awakener.”-Robert Frost. Teachers are important to every community on our planet. We contribute to each aspect of society and our influence touches all lives! Never forget how much you are needed and appreciated.