During the 2014-2015 school year, I landed a brand new job. This teaching gig seemed to be exquisitely designed for me. I had just received my Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing, and I was excited by an opening at my county’s most prestigious arts school. The job ad for a creative writing […]
Posted inAdult Learning, Instruction & Curriculum, New Teacher Bootcamp, The New Teacher Chronicles
Summer Reading For Teachers: How To Fly A Horse
One of the most engaging and sometimes infuriating side effects of being a teacher is that we see connections to teaching in the world around us all the time. We are constantly aware of how a trip to the museum or the beach could be a field trip, how TV shows portray school and teachers […]
Posted inBook Review
Reading Outside of the Canon: Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes
Why this novel? At the end of the year, I ask my students to write advice and words of encouragement for next year’s class. I present their wisdom during my first-day-of-school presentation. For my juniors (both honors and regular), this phrase (or something similar) is the most common: Read Nineteen Minutes. Out of all of […]
Posted inThe State of Education
Accountability in Education-Part I
Accountability in Education Student outcomes involve far more than proficient standardized test scores, and accountability for outcomes is a shared burden that extends outside the school. Families, communities, businesses and policymakers- these parties and more are all stakeholders in student outcomes and need to meet the challenge of empowering learners in a collaborative way, with […]
Posted inAdult Learning, Instruction & Curriculum
Adventures in Real World English/Language Arts: The Planning Stages
I adore literature. Ever since I was a little girl, I loved books (I blame Beauty and the Beast). And eighteen years later, I am teaching American Literature and British Literature, it is a dream career. Then this summer things changed. The state of Louisiana realized that not every student is going to college, and […]
Posted inFeatured, Social Studies, The Traveling Teacher
The Traveling Teacher: Normandy, France
June 6, 1944, D-Day, would be one that forever changed the world. For months, Americans, British, Australian, Canadian, French, and other Allied Powers trained for months when they would invade the Western Front and help turn that Nazi Germans back. The risks, sacrifices, and dividends were beyond measure. So is trying to put to words what it’s like […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Strategies for Establishing Positive Teacher-Parent Relationships
The importance of parent involvement in education has been studied extensively over the years, and findings show that by involving parents in a child’s school experience, children will have a more positive attitude about school, will make more effort to perform well, and will persist more with schoolwork (Jones & Jones, 2016). As such, parents […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Are Schools Perpetuating America’s Problems?
Nancy Easton, my pastor, began this week’s sermon (words / audio) with a clip from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. The man who graced public television from the late ’60s through the early millennium drew full attention from an equally diverse audience that was, at the least, aware of the impact of Fred Rogers, and, at most, daily childhood […]