This year in education has been anything but peaceful. I needed this one-week break for Thanksgiving. In August, billions in school funding were abruptly withheld just as the school year began. On top of that, ICE has targeted students and parents on campus, with teachers stepping in to physically protect them and their families. Special […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Classroom Battlefields: The Nation Needs to Pay Attention
The nation needs to pay attention. -“Let’s sit in our bubble space.” -“The first thing we do is always the same, we pick up our pencil and write our name.” -”We don’t put that in our mouth; that has germs.” Ahh, the soundtrack of a typical first grade classroom. Many elementary school teachers are […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
When My Therapy Dog Became My Co-Teacher, and Changed How I Teach
The first time I brought my therapy dog, Little Dude, into my classroom, I expected curiosity, excitement, maybe even distraction. What I didn’t expect was how instantly he transformed the energy of the room, or how profoundly he would reshape the way I think about teaching. I had been volunteering with Little Dude through The […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
New student loan caps in “Big Beautiful Bill” could deepen shortages in critical professions
The Department of Education and a federal rulemaking committee have agreed on new regulations tied to H.R.1 that will significantly reshape graduate and professional student borrowing. The law caps federal loans at $100,000 for graduate students and $200,000 for professional students, while ending Grad PLUS loans in 2026. Because only “professional” programs qualify for the […]
Posted inDepartment of Education
Critics slam Trump administration for moving to dismantle Department of Education during American Education Week
In the latest move under the Trump administration’s plan, the Education Department has begun transferring its employees to other federal agencies with the goal of ultimately asking Congress to dismantle the Department of Education. In a press release sent Tuesday, the Department signed six new interagency agreements to transfer some of the largest grant programs […]
Posted inFeatured
The Struggle with Comprehending Nonfiction Texts
Teaching students to read nonfiction texts can be a daunting task. Nonfiction texts can be written in many different formats and styles, depending on the subject matter. Providing multiple examples of texts that we see in today’s world, teaching them how to comprehend and think critically about the content, as well as effective note-taking techniques, […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
My Literary Crimes: A Defense of Teaching Storytelling
I was 25 when I read Dylan Thomas’ Lament Poem to a room of amateur poets at one of their monthly gatherings in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. As Dylan Thomas. I was 25 and a genius and these poets, the way I understood them, were a spit in the face of Poetry and the killers of the […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Kindness is a muscle; Teachers Need to Flex it Now More Than Ever
By Nosakhere Griffin-EL, Ph.D. When you turn on television it seems like everyone is being unkind to each other. Politicians are hurling insults, using dehumanizing words to blame “the other side” for government shutdown; sport analysts rant about why a player isn’t living up to his million dollar contract; celebrities trade insults in a never […]