I think the chart below pretty well sums up my first week back in the classroom: Day of the Week Wardrobe Sleep Pattern Monday Navy blue pants Suit and navy pumps 5:00 AM – Alarm goes off and I enthusiastically get out of bed to start my day. 3:30 PM – I’m home and spend […]
Linda Darcy
Dr. Linda T. Darcy. EdD is the Director of Teaching and Learning for LEARN, a Regional Education Resource Center on the Connecticut Shoreline. Her credentials as an Equity Consultant include serving as the Diversity Trainer for the Connecticut Legislative Offices, Anti-Bias/Anti-Racist Trainings for dozens of school districts and government entities in Connecticut, speaker at the National Summit for Courageous Conversations and panelist for several national conversations on anti-racism in education.
Posted inTeacher Leaders
Back in School: Pre-Game
The anxiety dreams have begun. I have several, but here’s the basic plot of my most frequent night-terror: Some how it went unnoticed that I didn’t have enough credits to graduate from high school (in 1985) . . . a fact that was missed by my undergraduate college and the four subsequent graduate institutions which […]
Posted inUncategorized
Who Will Care for the Teachers?
When I sat down to write this piece, my purpose was to scribe a thinly veiled, autobiographical accounting of my own experience of surviving the middle school classroom while I struggled with depression. However, wanting to avoid the cathartic-memoir trope, I planned to include information on the prevalence of depressive disorders among classroom teachers .I […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, From the Front Lines, High School, Instructional Strategies, Opinion
No One Wants to be ‘Managed’
Years ago I stopped presenting, coaching and even talking about ‘classroom management’. Who wants to be managed? To be ‘handled’? As an adult, I want to be led. Students want to learn and they want (yearn for) boundaries; AND they want to be led. Creating and adhering to a list of concrete rules and automatic […]
Posted inFeatured, Uncategorized
Building Long-Term Relationships: The Puzzle of Teacher Retention
Studies related to teacher attrition have become ubiquitous. From the Gates Foundation to Harvard’s Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, to the Connecticut Center for School Change, educational researchers are searching for the enigmatic key to unlock a new understanding of the issue. The answer, however, remains elusive. Despite this treasure trove of studies, […]
Posted inFeatured, Middle School
Off-Team Blues in Middle School
The final bell rang and I look out over the sea of empty desks in my classroom. “Where is everyone?” I ask the spattering of students who showed up. The response: “Team 2 has a field trip today.” Ah. It’s not easy being an ‘off-team teacher’ in a team-based middle school. We are always the […]
Posted inFeatured, Instructional Strategies, Middle School
My Year Teaching in the Cloud Forest: Part 1
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] I like a challenge. When skateboarding became the rage in the 70s (I’m talking metal wheels short wooden boards) I was the first in the neighborhood to go careening down the […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum
My Favorite Videos
A couple of years ago, I learned how to ‘rip’ videos from the internet and embed them in a powerpoint. That was the beginning of an era. I have wiled away many an hour on youtube, TED talks and other internet sites watching videos . . . one video leads to another and another and […]