Yep, Teaching is Still Political As we get ready to start the year, the political tension of equity work is once again front and center. While Critical Race Theory is not banned in our state, the collective community temperature is boiling. In just the past few weeks, our district has experienced: A hiring and firing […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
To Stop Student Suicides, We Must Prioritize Mental Health
I thought I would recognize the signs. I didn’t. My student, Rachel*, was fifteen years old. Although some things set her apart from her peers (she was an immigrant and spoke English as a second language), she was in many ways a typical teenager. She loved music, wore glittery t-shirts, and enjoyed laughing with her […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Ordering Experience: Transitioning into a Successful September Through Lyrical Poetry
by Melissa Bryan Transitioning Into September Last week, in an online educational leadership course I attended, we viewed a scene from the film Invictus. In it, Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) explains to pro-Rugby player Pienaar (played by Matt Damon), what helped him survive imprisonment. Nelson relates that a poem, “Invictus” by William Ernest […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Reading to Learn: What Bob Moses Taught Me About Mathematics
Kim Lee is a physics teacher at Pinole Valley High School in West Contra Costa Unified School District. She has been teaching for the last four years. She is the teacher sponsor of the Anti-Racism Club and helps run the Peer Tutoring Program. She is committed to promoting diversity and equity through STEM education, as […]
Posted inCOVID-19
A Year Later After I Resigned From Teaching in a Pandemic
I’m one of those people who liked the app called Timehop that shows pictures and statuses from social media from prior years. This morning, there was one of my little dogs, Emerson, before we had to put him down due to health complications. The image was of him sitting in my garden, tilting his little […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Want Happy Teachers and Students? Start with Relationship Building in the Classroom
What is the key to success in the classroom? Relationship building. Creating positive teacher-student connections may be the most important thing you can do to build a solid foundation in your classroom. Let’s dive into why. Why Relationship Building in Classrooms is Essential According to Edutopia, building strong relationships might be the first and most […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Visualize: How Seeing What’s Coming Changed My Teaching
When last year turned everything on its head and I felt like pretty much everything was out of my control, I turned to the Roman Stoics to help me differentiate what was within my control, and what was not. It’s no doubt it helped me to weather the COVID storm not just as a teacher, […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
ASK A TEACHER: Parents, You Can Decide Where Stimulus Money Goes, Here’s How
Now Is the Time to Join Your School’s Governance Team Here’s Why, and How to Do It The State of California is pumping stimulus money into schools like a kid pumps pencil shavings into the back of his desk. As a teacher, I’d like to see more than my union, or my district decides what […]