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I’ve watched plenty of Marvel movies and read plenty of comics with my kids before we returned to school just a few weeks ago. As a teacher, it was great to feel like an Avenger as appreciative and supportive words from parents, school board members, and, most notably students countered the inane, ignorant comments we’ve gotten used to the past decade or so. Read more here...
As we continue to grapple with the changes that are impacting our communities, school reopening plans are at the forefront of most conversations. It is not hard to recognize that most everyone is flying by the seat of their pants as decisions are made and unmade with little notice… Read more here.
As schools across the country grapple with implementing online instruction, conversations about the future of education abound. So, it was no surprise when my buddy sent me this podcast: How To Test Out of College While You’re Still in High School. To read more, click here.
The dark circles under my eyes have returned. The fatigue is deep and familiar–it feels like January tired. And, today is only my third day of teaching in the hybrid model! My husband asked me how the first day went. I replied: “It was not my best opening day.” …Read more.
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A Final Lesson For Us All in Propaganda as a Teacher
Recently, a teacher in Paris named Samuel Paty was beheaded after giving a lesson on the importance of freedom of thought. With all going on in the news these days, I barely noticed it at [...]
I’m Not a Lunch Bunch Kind of Teacher But COVID-19 Has Changed Me
by Jennifer M. Sierra I’ve never been a “lunch bunch” kind of teacher. I’ve spent most of my career teaching high school—mostly juniors, a few sophomores, a few seniors. Even now, in my fourth [...]
4 Ways This Teacher Is Thankful
Teachers are constantly pushing. Pushing students to write better. Pushing them to read more challenging materials. Pushing them to make better arguments. Pushing them to practice their music. Then, when students master the task at [...]
My Students Are Getting Me Through This Pandemic
I walk up the stairs trying to find the new weight room, the location of our school's "rapid" Covid-19 testing area. My nose swabbed by a woman donned in full personal protection equipment makes me [...]
A Message from the Year 2040: How a Year of COVID Learning Forever Changed My Life
Twenty years ago, I spent my senior year of high school at home. Tens of millions of students shared this situation, and for good reason—a global pandemic raged across the globe for fifteen months, ultimately [...]
Shaking, Sanitized Hands: Building New Student Relationships while Grieving Old Ones
My hands were shaking as the bell rang for the first day of the 2020-2021 school year. I know it sounds cliche to say that my hands were shaking. Everyone writes that their hands were [...]
Genius Hour: A Perfect Way to Make Virtual Learning BURST!
In the beginning ... On this particular day in my classroom, you would have found a service dog standing faithfully by their owner as she explained how her dog detected her insulin levels. Or you [...]
The ABCs of Online Learning
The ABCs of Online Learning Assignments; lovingly and painstakingly created, yet woefully untouched. Bitmoji explosion; as if our bubbly, animated selves can cheerily force our students to really feel how much we care. [...]
Mentoring: It’s Time To Rethink Para-Educators
Mentoring. Recently, several articles have appeared suggested mentoring may be a way to help with the academic loss that educators are calling the “covid slide”. That’s abuzz too, and for good reason. But I’m just [...]
Whichever Way You Cut It School in 2020 is Hard
Guest Writer: Dr. Noor Ali, Principal, Al-Hamra Academy Fall 2020 school reopening has been a tricky, tricky business. It has been a time of untold stress and unfathomable planning. It has required flexing of all our [...]
Results of the Election: What’s Next for Educators?
A week after the election, we have a much better grasp of what is to come in two short months. Joe Biden was declared the President-elect over the weekend, bringing many solace and others concern. [...]
Unseen Forces: The Students Who Often Aren’t Seen
The turning of pages and an occasional sigh filled in the dead spaces as my class of 7th graders quietly read or pretended to read the assigned text that afternoon while I roamed around the [...]
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Was Someone Actually High When They Proposed The Hybrid Teaching Model?
The Importance of Understanding Child Development
Teaching in 2020: Where Everyone Gets a Choice, Except Teachers
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Create Your Destiny for 2020