How much is too much to expect from a special education teacher? Overwhelmed teachers across the country are reporting that the current budget crisis is impacting their ability to serve the students on their caseloads effectively. In many states, there is not set limit to the number of students a teacher may have on their […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Is it Time for the Beef Between Veteran Teachers and Teach for America to End?
Have you ever had a conversation with a fellow teacher that made you consider changing your whole mindset about something? This afternoon I had a long conversation with a former teacher who I used to support as an Instructional Coach. This teacher is in his fourth year of teaching and is a graduate of the […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Mathematics
Math for the 21st Century Student
I’ve always believed that part of my job as a teacher was to prepare my students to be lifelong learners. Students in school today can expect to have more than one career during their working lives. This makes it imperative that they are comfortable training for a new career. For this reason, students leaving high […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Legal, Opinion, Social Studies, Uncategorized
20 More Weeks of Blizzards: A Groundhog's Day Pred-Election
Today marks the 129th year that Punxsutawney Phil (well, maybe the 30th version of him) will come out of his burrow to either see his shadow or not, declaring whether winter will be extended by 6 weeks, or whether spring is pending. However, after today, there’s still 20 more weeks of blizzards to endure. They […]
Posted inUncategorized
I Just Left #ECET2 and I am…
I just spent the last two and a half days in San Diego with hundreds of educators from across the country. I attended break out sessions on social justice and “managing up”, and listened to some pretty phenomenal Ted talk-style speeches, all as part of Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers’ National Convening. Not […]
Posted inUncategorized
"Dear Future Me…"A Great Reflection Assignment for Students
If you are one to focus on the future or the past very much, you may want to know that there’s a website out there called, “Futureme.org.” With this website, you are able to write an e-mail to yourself and send it at a future date in which you wish to receive it. I wrote an e-mail […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, Special Education
The Experts Among Us: The Value of Mentorship
My first year of teaching, I knew nothing about teaching. I had a vague concept of what teaching looked like based on television shows, movies, and books. As a lateral entry teacher, I had to study and take a test that demonstrated my understanding of child development, special education, and the tenets of teaching and learning. […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Instructional Strategies
Teaching the Basics in Education
My classroom is a non-traditional environment in education. Knowing that children are, children, my environment is designed to promote the way they learn best; through being able to wiggle around, get up and move if needed, make choices and decisions. and develop crucial social skills through working in small groups. For so many years early […]