Have you heard about the Positivity Project, sometimes referred to as “P2?” Maybe you have seen the hashtag: #OtherPeopleMatter? Or possibly you have seen an adult or child wearing a green shirt or hat with the positivity project logo? The Positivity Project, started by two West Point-trained military veterans, was not initially about schools, but […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
TR’s Birthday Message to America’s Youth: “Get in the Arena of Life” and “Never Expect Things to be Easy”
Happy 160th Birthday to President Theodore Roosevelt. The most famous speech Roosevelt ever delivered is one that should be etched into the mind of every American student. Why? Because his particular brand of wisdom is one that is desperately needed by an American citizenry that often finds itself hopelessly adrift. For young people asking themselves […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Abandoning the Factory Model of Education
Guest Writer: Paige Satcher How often do we walk by middle, high school, or college classrooms with students sitting perfectly still in neatly aligned rows, eyes fixed on a textbook or on a teacher in the front of the room? How often do we see those teachers whose classrooms are always pin-drop silent and whose […]
Posted inFeatured
5 Things to Consider Before Coming out as LGBTQ+ in the Classroom
By: Tory Waggoner I came out to my students as both queer and gender-nonconforming while working in a district just outside of Portland, OR. I was not prepared for the backlash I faced from colleagues, students, and parents. I thought in the liberal mecca of the Portland metro area that I would be relatively safe, but […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Organizing Discussions on Controversial Topics
We are always challenging students to think differently: branch out, think outside the box, get out of their comfort zone. As a social studies teacher, I’m often trying to incorporate issues and ideas into our study or conversations that are relevant to students’ lives; things they may be facing now, or will likely deal with […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
When Tariffs Impact Schools
“Is the faculty meeting in the cafeteria, or the auditorium?” I ask two of my colleagues, who both give me smiles filled with bemusement. “We don’t have an auditorium,” comes the reply followed by a resentful chuckle. How could I forget that the auditorium is no longer operational and that an entire wing of a […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
[Opinion] Ending School Terrorism
Guest Writer: Doug Carroll, Ed. D. In a free society, there is an expectation in the exchange for protection by the government a certain amount of personal liberty will be voluntarily sacrificed. Since the terror attacks on 9/11, U.S. citizens have invested trillions of dollars to protect the homeland from terror attacks diverting scarce financial […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
A Conversation with Dr. Jeff Butts, 2019 Indiana Superintendent of the Year
Superintendent Dr. Jeff Butts was recently named the 2019 Indiana Superintendent of the Year by the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents (IAPSS). He is the superintendent of the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, a school district on the west side of Indianapolis. He will represent Indiana in the National Superintendent of the Year competition. […]