11 Female Teachers Who Changed the World by @RichardJARogers

2. Starr Sackstein

Starr Sackstein is one of those all-time inspirational grassroots teachers who discovered the right way to do things and the right way to tell the world about it!

Her teaching career started just over 16 years ago in Far Rockaway High School, where she was keen to have an impact and make a difference in the lives of so many. She quickly mastered rapport-building with her students and recognized, on a deep level, the most important part of teaching: relationships. To this day, Sackstein continues to elevate and develop her students by putting them at the centre of their learning.

Sackstein has authored a large number of truly uplifting, enriching and thought-provoking works including my personal favourite: ‘Peer Feedback in the Classroom’. I’ve read this book a whopping three times and I can honestly say that it is perfect for understanding what meaningful feedback looks like (and it’s not about percentages and numbers!).

Most recently, Sackstein was named as an ASCD Emerging Leader and had the opportunity to give a TEDxTalk about throwing out grades called “A Recovering Perfectionist’s Journey To Give Up Grades” (Link opens up in YouTube).

Starr effectively balances her career of writing and teaching with being the mum to her 112-year-old son: Logan. If ‘inspirational’ and ‘life-changing’ were adjectives that could be measured in numbers (contrary to Sackstein’s advice), then she would definitely score 100%.

Check out her latest emotive and truly game-changing advice in the legendary book ‘Education Write Now’ which was published in January.

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