nancy snipes mosley
lifelong learner, parent, educator, and designer
Publications
These articles were all first shared on the Red 4 Ed NC blog, with some also being published simultaneously by its sister organization, Public Schools First NC. In 2015, my first three articles were introduced as a series about teacher working conditions on publicschoolsfirstnc.org. When the third installment started to gain traction, EdNC.org contacted me to publish them all together as one piece. It ran in January 2016 and went viral around North Carolina, getting over 50K views, making it the most-read article on their website for the entire year. In 2019, I wrote an article about Medicaid expansion prior to a major NCAE Day of Action that was published directly by NC Policy Watch. My most recent writing has been on the topic of systemic racism and school diversity with a focus on national, state, and local history.
Photo by N. S. MOSLEY
The Real Problem with Teaching in NC
"We deserve better pay, but we desperately need more time and resources to serve our students to the best of our ability without burning ourselves out. Our state needs to attract more inspired young educators who are willing and able to go the distance. Public educators have little time for politics. But the nature of public education means that we have to convince the public that change is both necessary and possible."
EdNC.org, 1/7/16 (Originally published in three installments in 2015 by Red 4 Ed NC and Public Schools First NC)
Illustration by ©Ikon images/Roy Scott
Teaching with Anxiety and Depression
As Nancy Mosely wrote, “You have to learn to trust yourself when you are right, forgive yourself when you are wrong, and still get a good night’s sleep when you can’t figure out what to do.”
Red 4 Ed NC and Public Schools First NC, 6/9/16 (also quoted several times in an Edutopia article, 8/17/18)
Stock illustration used by NC Policy Watch
Why teachers care about Medicaid expansion
"My kids’ well-being is linked to mine. When I think about this, I am actually humbled by the privilege we enjoy as the result of my having good health coverage. It’s heartbreaking to think about the kids whose families can’t afford to take care of their health. NCAE’s call to action on May 1st does include more than just funding schools. If we care about our students, we have to care about their families too."
NC Policy Watch, 4/29/19
Photo by N. S. MOSLEY
Serenity Prayer for a Teacher
"I genuinely want to improve my teaching and help my students more, but I get too stressed when I get in over my head. It makes me uneasy to let something go that needs work, but students are resilient and don’t require everything to be perfect. In fact, trying to perfect everything doesn’t work and may even backfire. Embracing my classroom as a 'work in progress' will give them a model of a true learning environment."
Red 4 Ed NC and Public Schools First NC, 8/15/17
Illustration by Red 4 Ed NC
Teacheritis: Are Your or Your Children At Risk?
"Teacheritis is usually self-diagnosed, though some teachers need to be alerted by a family member or colleague who detects symptoms. Students often misdiagnose a teacher suffering from teacheritis with diseases such as Not Being Chill or Getting Old."
Red 4 Ed NC and Public Schools First NC, 6/9/16
Photo by N. S. MOSLEY
Waiting for "Wonder Woman"
"Teachers don’t have a lasso of truth. We can’t force a student or policymaker to give us the real story. We have to decipher meaning from a variety of context clues and interactions over time. With our students, this isn’t always a negative. We’d rather build trust so they reveal the truth than coerce it out of them unwillingly. With policymakers, however, transparency is a matter of the public trust. Education policies that are covering up hidden agendas to privatize or resegregate schools must be unmasked."
Red 4 Ed NC, 11/13/2018