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     An award-winning educator with more than 20 years in education (16 of those in the classroom),  Dr. Blades is a highly-sought consultant, speaker, and presenter who thrives on empowering teachers and students alike. While completing her Doctorate of Education in Instructional Leadership, she created the POWARRful Teaching Strategies framework based on her classroom observations to give teachers an effective, comprehensive tool for activating curiosity, engaging students, and advancing higher-level thinking and doing. 

     Dr. Blades has an inherent ability to spot gaps and develop creative solutions to fill them, evidenced in that she also founded The Mediocre Teacher Project©,which is dedicated to helping teachers avoid and battle through burnout by incorporating their unique gifts and talents into their daily practice. In 2017, she amplified the conversation by launching The Dr. Marquita Blades Show-Candid Conversations that Create Change, an internet-based broadcast focused on discussing current trends and issues in education.  Dr. Blades is also a co-founder of The Gyrlfriend Collective, an independent publishing house that connects, supports, and uplifts women by giving them a platform to share their voices through written publications. She has individually contributed to many publications, podcasts, and interviews; a comprehensive list can be found here. 

     With widespread interest in her rigorous, inclusive approach to student engagement and collaboration, Dr. Blades hosted the inaugural POWARRful Teaching Conference in May 2021. In January 2022, she established the Dr. Marquita S. Blades POWARRful Teaching Changing Lives Scholarship at Nova Southeastern University's Abraham S. Fischler College of Education & School of Criminal Justice. The award will benefit students enrolled in graduate-level courses.