Obadiah Dunham

Principal, Leota Junior High School, Woodinville, WA, and Success at the Core Fellow | Obadiah Dunham is the principal of Leota Junior High in the Northshore School District of Woodinville, Washington. A former middle school assistant principal in the Federal Way School District, Obadiah previously taught chemistry and biology at Thomas Jefferson High School, also in the Federal Way School District. He is a Success at the Core (SaC) Fellow who uses SaC’s Leadership Development modules to build and define instructional leadership for school-based leadership teams at Leota Junior High. He also uses SaC’s Teacher Development modules for school-based staff development.

Posts by Obadiah Dunham:

• Friday Forum: What are the best ways to use videos in professional development work?

  
  May 24 2013

  Friday Forum is a bi-weekly advice column for educators seeking guidance on educations issues. Please join the discussion – we want to hear your stories and suggestions, too! Q: I wonder if anyone has fresh or creative ideas for me.  I have been using the Success at the Core videos for …

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• What School Leaders Can Learn from Business

  April 30 2013

  In Good to Great, author Jim Collins introduces readers to the “Hedgehog Concept.”  He tells business leaders to imagine three overlapping circles with the questions: What lights your fire ("passion")? What could you be best at ("best at")? What makes you money ("driving resource")?  Can this Hedgehog Concept around …

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• A Principal Speaks about Performance Evaluation

  
  March 6 2013 | educator evaluation | principals | Professional Development | Student to Student Assessment | teacher development | Washington State Legislature

  Educators in the state of Washington have been presented with a variety of new challenges during the 2012-2013 school year.  Some of these have been foreseeable, such as the adoption of the Common Core State Standards and new teacher and principal evaluation systems.  Other responsibilities, such as addressing school safety …

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• Applying National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) in the Real World

  December 21 2012 | SaC Fellows | technology | videos

  Last summer, I had the opportunity to expand my technology leadership as a school principal by attending a couple of unique experiences. I hit on some of these experiences in my blog titled Strange New Worlds. As the year progressed, I've continued to reflect on effective leadership practices – …

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• The Common Core: A Lifeline for a Nation at Risk?

  
  October 25 2012 | aligning curriculum | Common Core State Standards | effective coaching systems | implementing new programs

  Will the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) move us beyond a nation at risk? In 1983, when President Ronald Reagan’s National Commission on Excellence in Education published a report entitled A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform, it launched a series of restructuring efforts that still reverberate through …

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• We’re Aiming for the Super Bowl

  
  September 22 2012 | Data | NFL | Success at the Core | technology | tools | using data effectively

  The opening week of the 2012 NFL football season saw a record five rookie starting quarterbacks. A review of the statistics put up by these precocious passers reveals the good, the bad and the ugly. The second overall pick in the NFL draft, Robert Griffin III, produced the most …

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• Strange New Worlds

  
  July 31 2012 | collaboration | development | implementing new programs | instructional expertise | ISTE | leadership | quality instruction

  What do you think it takes to be an instructional leader in the 21^st century? Recently, I participated in two professional development offerings to help equip me for this challenge. First, as a Success at the Core (SaC) Fellow, I had the opportunity to learn more about SaC with a small …

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