Have you ever been saddled with a student who failed the previous year in your subject and found that they were either just as motivated or less motivated than the year before? Yeah. Me too. I took some time to research some strategies that will help us motivate those students who just didn’t make it […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Dealing With Personal Tragedy In the Classroom
I experienced quite a lot of personal tragedy last year. And as a result of my stress, my students experienced them too. I tried so very hard to keep my personal life from affecting my students, but I’m convinced that sometimes no matter what you do, some events just can’t be disposed of at the classroom […]
Posted inMathematics
An Invitation and a Demand for Equity in Mathematics
I heard a refreshing voice today. One that silenced the annoying diatribe I have encountered so many times in the past regarding the mathematics dilemma. (Caution: A moment of personal trajectory coming in 3…2…) As an African-American womyn, I am twice marginalized by the discipline of mathematics, and yet access to it has catapulted me […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
How to Teach Parents to Help their Children Develop a Growth Mindset
Research has shown that when students have a fixed mindset they are less likely to find success than those with a growth mindset. As teachers, we can do many things to encourage a growth mindset. However, parents play a huge role in the lives of students, so coaching them using growth mindset language is essential […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Five YA Novels to Understand Refugees
Staying informed by watching and discussing current events is one way for students to know what is going on in the world outside their immediate universe. Sometimes those events seem so far away–even when they are happening in our own country. Research has proven repeatedly that reading builds empathy. Whether the latest current events about how […]
Posted inParents
More Rural Schools Journal: The Sick Day
On a recent Thursday afternoon, I decide to take a sick day. I just called for a sub to cover my duties tomorrow. I’m taking a “sick day.” My youngest, (of the three girls I have written so much about in the past) didn’t really want to go to school this morning, was clearly feeling […]
Posted inBook Review
‘Hillbilly Elegy’ and the Blight of Rural Schools
“I was one of those kids with a grim future,” author J.D. Vance begins in his book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. “I almost failed out of high school. I nearly gave in to the deep anger and resentment harbored by everyone around me. Today people look at me, […]
Posted inHigh School
Let’s Talk About Race: Jodi Picoult’s ‘Small Great Things’
Racism is different. It’s fraught, and it’s hard to discuss, and so as a result we often don’t – Jodi Picoult. Every year that I have taught, To Kill a Mockingbird has been in the curriculum. As a lover of literature, I am excited to share this masterpiece with my students. And every year, most students […]