Joellen Killion is the deputy executive director of the National Staff Development Council. She is the author of numerous books and articles about effective professional learning, evaluating professional development, coaching, and teacher leadership.

Whose child is this?

As I walked down the hall of the bustling middle school with young people scurrying through the halls dashing from room to room to get to their next class, I heard a female adult voice rise above the din call out, “Whose child is this?” Puzzled, I turned toward the voice to see an adult standing next to a thin, perhaps 6^th grade, student. The adult had a firm grip on the backpack strap that hung loosely from the young man’s back. Around the pair students flowed like water around rocks in a stream going about their business of getting to their next class.
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