We’d be hard pressed to find an innovation that has changed our modern living as much as the light bulb. When Thomas Edison and his employees experimented with methods to bring about an incandescent light, they finally arrived – almost by accident – on using a cardboard filament. After its success, he famously quipped “I […]
Jake Miller
Mr. Jake Miller is the 2016 National History Day Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, a 2017 NEA Global Fellow to China, and a former candidate for county-wide office. Miller has written more than 500 articles, most of which have appeared on The Educator's Room. He's the opening contributor to TER's book When the Fire Is Gone. Learn more about Jake at www.MrJakeMiller.com
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Why Engaging Students with Politics is Worthwhile
One of my friends approached me last week while at church. Now an administrator, he was a teacher who taught at Dover High School at the height of the ‘intelligent design’ debate, where a school board wanted it taught instead of the theory of evolution. He taught biology, nonetheless. In initiating the conversation, he said, “I […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Opinion
Making Learning Extra-Ordinary: A Sarcastic Stab at EduJargon
During my first week as president of our local association, I shared a copy of a “Faculty Meeting Bingo” manipulative with all our members as a joke regarding educators’ over-reliance on edu-jargon. Eventually, this information made it to our superintendent, who wasn’t too pleased with the actions of his new opposite. Yet I utilized the wait time to […]
Posted inChild Development
Teenage Girl Drama: Breaking The Everlasting Gobstopper
The film Mean Girls is a lesson for anybody teaching, living with, or raising teenage girls. It’s no doubt that the line between being “popular” and being “Plastic,” as the 4 main characters are satirized, is a fine one. And, without some adult intervention, it can become an everlasting gobstopper that chokes out the functioning of […]
Posted inTeacher Leaders
The Myth of Teacher Planning Time
The contract between my local education association and school district regarding Teacher Planning Time specifically states that: “professional employees shall be scheduled for a minimum of 200 minutes per week of planning time during the student day. Planning time shall be scheduled in blocks of not less than thirty (30) minutes. In the elementary schools, […]
Posted inAdult Learning
Traveling Teacher: National Museum of African American History and Culture
I was recently able to attend a conference earlier this February in the nation’s capital, and the hottest ticket in town is the National Museum of African American History and Culture, or NMAAHC for short. In the span between its opening (September of 2016) and Valentine’s Day, 2017, 1 million visitors have walked through the […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Protesters Were Wrong to Block Betsy DeVos From School
One of the continuing traditions of my classroom is to display 100’s of inspirational and thought provoking quotes. And one of the quotes I have on that border is by famed Chicago journalist Sydney J. Harris, who says, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” While I’ve had more than my […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines
Distrust of Facts Highlights Need to Return to Primary Sources
“Get your facts first,” quips satirist Mark Twain. “Then you can distort them as much as you please.” These words were first put to print in an 1899 Rudyard Kipling interview of the timeless sage, but they could have just as easily been written yesterday. In an era where the news makers are jabbing back […]