A neighbor complains every time it snows. It doesn’t matter if it’s a feathery amount or a foot — to him, the impediment of snow is too much to handle. He hates the shoveling. He hates the noise of the snowblowers. He hates driving in it. He hates the cold. He hates teleworking. The list […]
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
How the Expiration of Emergency Paid Leave Will Cripple Schools
There are plenty of things we want to put behind us in 2020: the businesses that have struggled, folks who have lost their jobs, and, most notably, the friends and family we’ve lost in the pandemic. One thing we cannot leave behind in 2020 is emergency paid leave, but that is set to happen when […]
Podcast Review: 1865
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s the power a single year could have on the world. The year 1865 is no exception, especially April of 1865. That’s where host Lindsay Graham (who is not the sitting South Carolina Senator) drops us into the storyline, right after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and Vice President Andrew Johnson’s […]
10 Reasons Why American Reconstruction Is the Most Important Unit I’ll Teach This Year
When I first started teaching the second-half of American history, my colleagues and I fell in love with the curriculum. The Civil War, the World Wars, the industrialization and rise of America, and the jazz age all piqued our interests. But one unit that always left us wanting more was Reconstruction. Often glossed over as […]
9 Growing Gaps in Education Are A Learning Lesson for All
I read the news regularly and work diligently at having a solid give-and-take, reciprocal relationship with my students, but these 9 growing gaps in education have been quite a learning lesson for me. Our atypical 2020 school year (with hybrid/online learning and mask-wearing) has most certainly highlighted in ways I cannot ignore. 1. THE HAVE […]
Podcast Review: Nice White Parents
Since teachers listen to plenty of podcasts, we are going to start to review them. One of our firsts is Nice White Parents from the New York Times. Judging a podcast by its cover, the title certainly produces both evocative and provocative responses. All teachers and schools most certainly want to work with “nice parents” […]
Support Staff: The Real Superheroes of the 2020-21 School Year
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 […]
How School Boards Became the Most Important People You Never Voted For
There’s a number I can’t get out of my head: 20%. As folks affix their Trump and Biden signs in their yards and argue precipitously over politics with their neighbors, claiming how this is the “most important election of their lives” and how the other guy will “ruin America,” I’m still thinking about that number. […]