Twenty years ago, I spent my senior year of high school at home. Tens of millions of students shared this situation, and for good reason—a global pandemic raged across the globe for fifteen months, ultimately killing over two million human beings. I remember the recovery wasn’t at all what my classmates and I had hoped […]
Posted inCoronavirus, COVID, COVID-19
Shaking, Sanitized Hands: Building New Student Relationships while Grieving Old Ones
My hands were shaking as the bell rang for the first day of the 2020-2021 school year. I know it sounds cliche to say that my hands were shaking. Everyone writes that their hands were shaking to indicate nervousness but I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that my hands were literally shaking so hard […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Genius Hour: A Perfect Way to Make Virtual Learning BURST!
In the beginning … On this particular day in my classroom, you would have found a service dog standing faithfully by their owner as she explained how her dog detected her insulin levels. Or you might notice a laptop flashing intricate patterns of code while a robot zoomed up to you carrying a piece of […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The ABCs of Online Learning
The ABCs of Online Learning Assignments; lovingly and painstakingly created, yet woefully untouched. Bitmoji explosion; as if our bubbly, animated selves can cheerily force our students to really feel how much we care. Chatbox; little glimpses of classroom joy when students type, unprompted, Hi! How is everyone today? I just ate Cheetos! […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Mentoring: It’s Time To Rethink Para-Educators
Mentoring. Recently, several articles have appeared suggested mentoring may be a way to help with the academic loss that educators are calling the “covid slide”. That’s abuzz too, and for good reason. But I’m just as concerned, if not more so, about Natasha, who even in class is so incredibly shy that she can barely […]
Posted inBack to School
Whichever Way You Cut It School in 2020 is Hard
Guest Writer: Dr. Noor Ali, Principal, Al-Hamra Academy Fall 2020 school reopening has been a tricky, tricky business. It has been a time of untold stress and unfathomable planning. It has required flexing of all our known boundaries and delving into the great uncertainty that only a pandemic could unleash. From is this really a health […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Results of the Election: What’s Next for Educators?
A week after the election, we have a much better grasp of what is to come in two short months. Joe Biden was declared the President-elect over the weekend, bringing many solace and others concern. Over the weekend, President-elect Joe Biden’s website was updated to include information on the transition that will take place in […]
Posted inMental Health
Unseen Forces: The Students Who Often Aren’t Seen
The turning of pages and an occasional sigh filled in the dead spaces as my class of 7th graders quietly read or pretended to read the assigned text that afternoon while I roamed around the room visiting with an assortment of students checking in on their understanding of the text. The words “You can’t make […]