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For 10 years, I have combined the best of
classroom practice with a real-world
results-oriented perspective to help make teaching
more practical for teachers and learning more fun
meaningful kids. My unique combination of skills and
experience — as an educator, writer, technology
consultant, and software developer — allows me to
view education in an innovative and original way
that improves the performance of teachers and
students alike. Since 1995, I have presented more
than 300 workshops in reading, writing, math,
assessment, and test preparation at all grade
levels K-12. For the last three years, I have
written The Effective Learning Series, a bi-weekly
column on research-based best practice teaching
techniques for The Seattle Times that won the 2001
Innovators in Education Award from the Newspaper
Association of America. Prior to starting Teaching
That Makes Sense, I held top management positions
with several technology companies. As founder of
Music Technology Associates, a multimedia
consulting company, I developed Music Mentor, an
award-winning music education program for the
Windows Multimedia PC platform.
My Philosophy
The closest thing I have to a succinct philosophy
of teaching comes to me by way of a wonderful educator named Ken Macrorie. In the
preface to his book,
Telling Writing,
Macrorie puts it this way:
Good teaching in any field isn’t a matter of
employing gimmicks and choosing from a damn-fool
encyclopedia of tricks to play on students on
Monday, but a matter of setting up a climate
friendly to learning and then challenging learners
to connect their experiences and ideas with those
of the accepted authorities or producers.
I love that little bit at the end about
“challenging learners to connect their experiences
and ideas with those of the accepted authorities
or producers.” I have noticed that it is this
connection that makes learning
meaningful, and when students find meaning in
their education, the rate at which they learn
accelerates.
Education is only as successful as it is
authentic. For effective learning to take place,
the teaching must be real. Children
learn to read best by reading real books. They
learn to write best by writing about real things
that really matter to them. They learn math best
by solving real problems they encounter in their
everyday lives. I always do my best to make my
teaching
as real as possible. There’s no
better way to help students succeed in learning — and
in life.
My Reputation
Below you'll find a selection of evaluation
comments I have received over the years. If you'd
like a list of personal references, e-mail me at
stevepeha@ttms.org.
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“Steve didn’t overwhelm us with lots of
educational jargon, new ideas that we’ll never
use, or the current ‘buzz’ lingo.”
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“The strategies are simple, easy to use, and get
good results from students.”
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“Practical, easy-to-use ideas and tools that
reduce paperwork and planning to a minimum.”
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“Finally! A workshop presenter who treats teachers
like competent adult professionals. Very
refreshing!”
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“Steve’s approach to assessment is wonderful. It
has improved my planning and helped me communicate
much more effectively with parents.”
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“Steve is non-judgmental. He encourages you to
keep the parts of your teaching that you want to
keep, and to modify his ideas in any way you can.
He just wants to help make teaching easier for you
and better for your kids.”
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“I gained tremendous insight into how my students
can perform more successfully on our state tests.”
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“The workshops are structured so you can move into
this style of teaching and learning at your own
pace.”
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“The material is powerful yet easy to understand,
and readily applicable to my classroom.”
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“Steve can take something unwieldy and tell you
how to handle every aspect and contingency you
will encounter as a teacher. This comes from the
vast amount of reading and classroom experience he
has had in his career.”
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“These terrific workshops put into focus all the
elements needed to relieve the stress over
standards-based teaching.”
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“Clear and compact, Steve’s workshops present
strategies that are really useful in a totally
coherent package. This is good stuff!”
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“Steve has excellent group management skills — he
addresses individual issues without letting the
group get bogged down.”
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“Steve is very willing to conference individually
if you have a specific problem or question. And
he’ll even continue to help you by e-mail if you
still have questions.”
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“Even better than the workshop was watching Steve
teach my kids. I’ve never heard of a presenter who
will teach any grade and any subject.”
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“By doing the lessons ourselves in the workshop,
we learned how best to present them to our
students. The modeling Steve did was extremely
helpful.”
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“These workshops solve the English teacher’s
lament: ‘I spend all my time grading papers!’ No
more!”
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“Steve has created practical cross-curriculum
workshops that present information clearly and
concisely. Conceptually, it all makes sense. He
breaks writing down into a manageable process.”
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“Writing for me is the most difficult subject to
teach and I greatly appreciate having something
concrete to work from. This was a day well spent.”
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“Usable strategies that are easily aligned to our
district and state standards. It’s about time!”
My Recommendations
February 18, 1997
Woodring College of Education
Awards Program, MH 218
Western Washington University
Bellingham, WA 98225
To the Awards Committee:
“Here he is!” Some call out, others beam, all pick
up their pencils and can’t wait to start writing.
Every student in my third grade class at Whittier
Elementary in Seattle, WA waits eagerly for the
several hours each week that Steve Peha volunteers
to facilitate Writer’s Workshop in Room 15. Even
those “I can’t think of anything” perennials have
bloomed with his animated, humorous, and
enthusiastic cultivation. Writing has become the
favorite fundamental skill at which my 8- and
9-year olds gladly work three to four hours per
week.
Steve’s ability to inspire growth in children is
rooted in much more than personality. His
philosophy and practice exemplify the principle
that self-esteem and future choices for children
expand when they develop actual competencies. He
challenges their intelligence with his own
considerable one, never talking down to them. He
expends impressive amounts of effort developing
thoughtful, creative, original lessons which have
inspired my students to become more skillful
writers and more reflective self-critics. He
treats them with respect, honoring their ideas so
they become able to do the same.
Who is he? Steve Peha is a professional educator
whose dedication to his profession extends far
beyond the typical to countless hours as a
volunteer as well as a busy schedule of paid
professional commitments. Certified by the
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory as a
trainer in Six Traits writing assessment and
instruction, Steve has led dozens of workshops
here in my state of Washington and in many other
states as well. Totally committed to making
available his expertise to the educational
community, and to children in ways that go far
beyond what he is contracted to deliver, Steve
follows up workshops for teachers with free
materials and on-going services like unlimited
e-mail support. His work includes teaching model
lessons in classrooms, developing curriculum for
schools and school districts, and coordinating
observations of model classrooms he has worked in.
For each day’s contracted training, Steve
volunteers at least one day of free guest teaching
or classroom observation as requested. As an
on-going classroom volunteer, Steve spends an
average of 10-15 hours per week providing
instruction and support to teachers in reading,
writing, math, social studies and science. My
classroom has been only one of several to benefit
from his generosity of time and abundance of
talent.
A professional writer himself, Steve has created
exemplary resource materials for teachers which
combine prodigious state-of-the-art educational
research with his own original ideas. This
material includes well-documented strategies in
his specialty of writing instruction, and clear
explanations of best practice approaches for
teachers and parents. A former software developer
and executive, Steve has worked in education for
just four years but has already established
himself as a leader in literacy instruction. I
fully expect to one day have “known him when” —
not because he is pursuing fame or fortune, but
because he is extraordinarily passionate and
extraordinarily skillful when it comes to helping
teachers and children. He will become known, as he
already has, to an ever-widening circle of
educators and students, as someone who made a
difference, someone deserving a Woodring College
Award for Professional Excellence.
Sincerely,
Judith Strosahl, 3rd Grade Teacher
Whittier Elementary School, Seattle, WA
My Resume
1995-Present
President
Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc.
Seattle, WA
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Created successful education consulting company
with more than 100 clients nationwide.
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Presented more than 250 professional development
workshops.
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Author of more than 190 articles for The Seattle
Times’ Effective Learning Series.
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Winner of the 2001 Innovators in Education Award
from the Newspaper Association of America.
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Creator of more than 40 original workshops in
reading, writing, math, assessment, and test
preparation.
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Author of hundreds of pages of classroom-proven
teaching materials.
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Expert in research-based “best practice”
instructional techniques.
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National presenter for the Bureau of Education
and Research (BER).
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Developed the Teaching That Makes Sense summer
professional development institute series.
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Provided 50-75 days each year of model teaching
in classrooms.
2000-2001
Vice President of Product Development
Exem Company, Inc.
Issaquah, WA
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Directed feature specification and user
interface design for company’s web-based content
management platform.
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Conceived and directed development of first
version of company’s content indexing and
retrieval system.
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Created interactive user interface demos for
proposed feature-set evaluation.
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Managed project schedules (multiple projects,
simultaneous deliverables) across development
and marketing teams in the US and Asia.
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Delivered high-level sales and marketing
presentations to company officers, investors,
and clients.
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Developed business plans for products across a
variety of markets and industries.
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Created marketing requirements documents,
product launch plans, sales training,
competitive analyses, etc.
1993-1994
Director of Product Development
Midisoft Corporation
Redmond, WA
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Managed developers creating products in the
music, multimedia, and education markets.
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Responsible for user interface development,
feature specification, and overall product line
strategy for five products across multiple
versions and multiple languages.
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Developed, implemented, and monitored software
testing plans.
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Created user education materials for the
company’s multimedia and education products.
1989-1993
President
Music Technology Associates, Inc.
Boston, MA
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Founded consulting company specializing in
product development, user education, and product
marketing for companies in the music technology
and multimedia industries.
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Developed award-winning products for the Windows
Multimedia PC platform such as “Music Mentor for
Windows.”
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Produced and performed “Striving for Glory: The
Windows 3.1 Theme Song” at Comdex for
Microsoft’s launch of Windows 3.1.
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Provided technical writing, product development,
product marketing, and business strategy
services to clients such as Yamaha, Roland,
Midisoft, Microsoft, Asymetrix, and others.
1987-1989
Director of Education Technology
The JLR Group, Inc.
Boston, MA
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Managed company’s corporate communications,
multimedia production, desktop publishing,
technical writing, and educational software
development.
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Designed the Petrucci PostScript font for the
Finale music publishing system.
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Created content for company’s contribution to
Yamaha’s Music in Education Program.
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Created the Up and Running user education and
marketing program for Rolandcorp US.
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Wrote documentation for Kurzweil K-250 version 6
synthesizer, Kurzweil 1000-series expanders, and
MP-1 micro-piano.
Education
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Bachelor of Arts in English, Boston University,
1986, Boston, MA
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