My friend and former student-teacher called me the other week: "I need to vent to you for 10 minutes." "We were supposed to get the vaccine once our meetings finished today. I received a text at 12:50p telling me the window for the vaccine was 1p-4p. As I was heading out the door, I received [...]
I cannot believe I'm saying this, but teachers have begun proctoring standardized tests, and many more will do so in the coming months. This Presidents' Day, I am sending this petition to President Joe Biden and other government leaders of education. Please support by signing and sharing with others. American K-12 students should be granted a waiver [...]
When I studied for my M.Ed. in Leadership, the lasting lesson that I pulled from my coursework was from a program called Understanding By Design (now called "Backward Design"). It essentially advocates effective teaching is to lesson plan by beginning with the outcome - whether for the year, unit, week, or lesson. Why? The most [...]
In the children's book Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, author Judith Viorst's protagonist Alexander continually falls victim to an awful 24-hour period, saying things like: "I fell asleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair," "All the other kids had cupcakes, Hershey bars, and other desserts, [...]
“How do we teach kids about this tomorrow?” This seems to be the question every American social studies teacher is asking themselves this evening, clutching the notion of the American republic in their hands like a broken teacup. As America continues to be ripped in two from its seams to its soul, we have, over [...]