“Will this test even count?” One of my students unmuted briefly on Zoom to ask about the impending end-of-year state assessments. A normally reticent child who preferred clicking his responses away in the chatbox, spoke up confidently now as if on behalf of the whole class. I stammered my way through a response that sounded […]
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Why I Microwaved My Strawberries: An Analogy for this Entire School Year
Setting the Stage It’s Tuesday and I’ve just closed my classroom door so I can eat my lunch. I have pulled apart students in two separate fights already in the first part of the morning and I’ve heard rumors of others happening through the building. My first-period lesson didn’t happen because the technology wasn’t working. […]
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Innovation in the Classroom: Are We Valuing the Teachers That Can Make It Happen?
Christy Sutton is an educator with over fifteen years of classroom experience. She holds a B.A. in Communication Disorders and Deaf Education and a M.A. in Instructional Design. Christy is passionate about human-centered approaches to education, individualized learning environments, and teacher retention. She is currently an intervention teacher for middle and high school students. She […]
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The Trauma of Being a Black Educator
There is so much more to being a teacher than the content you teach, especially when you are a Black teacher. My experiences as a Black teacher are heightened even more and undoubtedly shared by many fellow Black educators. When asserting one’s voice is seen as angry, when a desire to be alone is seen […]
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The High Costs of Ignoring Health in Schools
Shane Trotter is the author of Setting the Bar: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Era of Distraction, Dependency, and Entitlement. As a writer, social studies teacher, and High-School Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, he has been challenging youth development norms for over a decade. He has been published by websites with millions of readers, such […]
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Tips for Supporting Multilingual Learners with Writing
Caitlin Johnson is a K-5 teacher of multilingual learners in Minnesota. She loves learning about her students’ cultures and languages. She is currently studying to obtain her master’s degree in literacy education at Concordia University, St Paul. If you are a teacher, you’ve seen the look of a reluctant writer. You’ve probably witnessed the eye-rolling, […]
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The Role of History in Understanding Black Experiences in Mathematics Education
“It seems to me that whenever we start[ed] succeeding, they start[ed] canceling the programs. When we succeed, the powers that be…they don’t want us to succeed.” retired Atlanta Black mathematics teacher, 2018 Authors: Jenice L. View, Toya J. Frank, Jay Bradley, and Marvin Powell In our previous article, we introduce the Trajectories study, our project […]
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There’s One in Every Class: The Musings of a College Instructor
Steve is currently the Director of the Rose Warner Writing/Critical Thinking Center at the College of Saint Scholastica. He has been teaching college composition for over 30 years, working with students from a diverse range of institutions, including high school, community college, university, a state prison and even overseas (The American University in Cairo). His […]