Furniture in classrooms has stayed relatively the same for years; there is a desk, with a sturdy, upright chair, and maybe a table with chairs- if a teacher happens to be so lucky. However, this standard desk and chair arrangement are not conducive to a productive work environment. Not many careers mandate workers to sit […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Motivating The Unmotivated Middle School Students
I have been working as an RTI Specialist in my current district for seven years. This means I have helped students who perform below average, or are very close to performing below average (based on Standardized test data) for seven years. Over the course of these seven years, I have noticed a few things about […]
Posted inThe State of Education
We Don’t Really Care About Education…Do We?
Regardless of the lip service we pay to it, we, as a society do not really care about education. While there are a lot of people who do care, and put in great work to better the lives of our children, globally we, as a society do not care at all. Look no further than […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Summer Break: An Antiquated Institution That Needs To Go
Summer break is an American institution. A time when students across the nation leave their intensive classes and venture off to the woods, the pool, the mountains, and the basement. For many students summer break has become synonymous with relaxation, spending time with their family and friends, camp, and heat waves. For educators, summer break […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Dilution of Gifted Programs
by Guest Writer: Kelly Ann Guglietti Elementary school gifted programs are being diluted. Our society values those students excelling in math and science to lead our country’s future in biological sciences, environmental sciences, medicine and law to name a few disciplines. But why are school systems being allowed to water down gifted programs due to […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Joys of Being a Teacher with Special Needs
by: Kathryn Garner My heart races on the first day of school as I project my “Meet Your Teacher” slideshow onto the SMART Board. The generic tidbits of personal trivia come first. I tell my students where I am from, what I like to do, and where I went to school. My new students look […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Schools Must Have A Standard for Student Publications
This time of year is the worst time for a journalism advisor. The campus yearbook, the school’s biggest group project if you really think about it, is finally distributed for the school and community to see after months of intense creative designing, photo editing, late night work sessions, and high-pressure deadlines, all to selflessly chronicle […]
Posted inSocial Justice
Modeling Kindness in the Classroom
Lord knows we need more of it. No need to recount here what we’re experiencing today as a global community. As educators, we know that we cannot just read the headlines and go off to our jobs and try to forget them, part of our jobs is dealing with those troubles on a very intimate […]