Deirdre Faughey is a secondary English language arts (ELA) teacher at Oyster Bay High School in New York. She has worked in the field of education since 2005 in urban and suburban school settings. Deirdre completed her master of arts in English education and her doctorate of education in curriculum and teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. She completed coursework for certification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) through Stony Brook University, and earned a master of science in education for education leadership at Queens College, City University of New York, where she earned the Emerging Scholar and High Academic Honor Awards. While completing her doctoral studies, Deirdre led a five-year study of teachers’ use of performance assessments for local Measures of Student Learning (MOSL) for the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE). She also worked with a team of researchers to develop sample classroom practices for helping ELA teachers who support English language learners in the ELA classroom. The ideas and strategies she developed are featured in videos and documents provided by the New York State Department of Education (NYSED). Deirdre has published several articles in the English Journal, and in 2021 she won the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Paul and Kate Farmer English Journal Writing Award. In 2022, as editor of the English Record (published by the New York State English Council), she won an NCTE Affiliate Journal of Excellence Program Award.