Teaching is more than lessons, assessments, and children. It involves extra work outside of the classroom. Seasoned teachers know there are many “extras” that come with the job. We attend board meetings, committee meetings, planning meetings, curriculum meetings, after-school clubs, summer school sessions, PTO and Site Council presentations, school plays and school-sponsored events outside of the 7:45-3:45 daily […]
Posted inFeatured, Opinion
Enough is Enough: How to Know When to Pack it Up & Take a Break
“Are you working, Mommy?” my son asks me when I pull out my laptop. The crate that sits beside the couch has become my mobile office–full of papers to grade, books, data collection, and lesson plan ideas. My routine every weeknight has become this: stay at work until five-thirty, say goodnight to the cleaning lady […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Literacy, Opinion
The Queasy Mix on Social Media
I uploaded videos of my mother and her sisters to YouTube. Seated together on a sunny summer afternoon, four of seven sisters, they chat about family recipes and stories of their youth. I shared the clip this past summer on the popular video platform so my cousins could also enjoy watching their mothers and aunts. Now, I […]
Posted inFeatured, Fine Arts, Middle School, Series, The International Teacher
The International Teacher: Constructionists, Iterations, Flow in my Classroom
Do not cite deep magic to me…I was there when it was written.” (Chronicles of Narnia); By Melissa Kandido Melissa Kandido teaches IB Art, IB History, IB English, & IB Geography for middle and upper grades at the Windhoek International School in Windhoek, Namibia. She is sharing with us her experiences and adventures this year […]
Posted inFeatured, Professional Development
New Teacher Support Systems: They Need Them!
Teaching is hard work, but the rewards are infinite. And for brand new teachers fresh out of college, those rewards seem really far away. We have colleges that are designed to teach teachers how to “teach,” but it is not until a person actually enters the classroom alone, can the true education begin. As our […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
YES, the American TEACHER can Save AMERICA!
Teachers complain a lot and I mean A LOT. Trust me I would know. My parents were teachers who complained during meals. My best friends are teachers who sprinkle more complaints over their cafeteria lunch than salt and pepper. We gripe about administration. We bemoan the manners of our students. We open our arms to […]
Posted inFeatured, Fine Arts, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, Series, The International Teacher
Broken Beauties—the Art of Brokenness
By Guest Writer Melissa Kandido Melissa Kandido teaches IB Art, IB History, IB English, & IB Geography for middle and upper grades at the Windhoek International School in Windhoek, Namibia. She is sharing with us her experiences and adventures this year as an international educator and IB teacher. The synthesis work I gave to my IBDP12 (International […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Middle School
Placing Highly Qualified Teachers
Every child deserves excellent teachers. For this reason I and a large number of my colleagues stayed together in a large urban middle school. All of us were not only properly certified and experts in our fields but we were involved in continuing education as well as being teacher leaders within our school and at […]