Barbara R. Blackburn: Advocacy From A to Z

Barbara R. Blackburn is the author of Advocacy from A to Z (2018) written with her father Robert Blackburn and Ronald Williamson. Today, Barbara shares what advocacy is, why educators need to pursue it, and how the listeners can get involved. This is episode 264 of Teaching Learning Leading K12, an audio podcast for educators.

Ranked in the Top 30 Global Gurus in Education, Barbara has dedicated her life to raising the level of rigor and motivation for professional educators and students alike. What differentiates Barbara’s books are her easily executable concrete examples based on decades of experience as a teacher, professor, and consultant. Barbara’s dedication to education was inspired in her early years by her parents, Bob and Rose. Her father’s doctorate and lifetime career as a professor taught her the importance of professional training. Her mother’s career as a school secretary shaped Barbara’s appreciation of the effort all staff play in the education of every child.

Barbara has taught early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school students and has served as an educational consultant for three publishing companies. She holds a master’s degree in school administration and was certified as both a teacher and a school principal in North Carolina. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Teaching from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 2006, she received the award for Outstanding Junior Professor at Winthrop University. She recently left her position at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to write and speak full-time.

In addition to speaking at state, national, and international conferences, she also regularly presents workshops for teachers and administrators in elementary, middle, and high schools. Her workshops are lively and engaging and filled with practical information.

A few of her book titles are: