In Colorado, the ways public schools are funded has changed with a new proposal aimed at overhauling the student funding formula in the 2024- 2025 fiscal year. These new changes were spurred by Senate Bill 23-287, which increased the statewide base per pupil funding, set a new statewide base per pupil funding, and set the […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Examining the role of privilege and audacity in stigmatizing parenting
It is a privilege to sit back and criticize someone’s parenting. And yet, as teachers, paraprofessionals, social workers, and school leaders, we often do just that. Criticize. Recently, there seems to be a reemergence of conversations on parenting in education. The blame game has been played for long enough and it’s time to stop. As […]
Posted inElementary School
Abbott Elementary S3E1/2: Jeanine and the crew are back
In the season 3 opener of Abbott Elementary, we enter on career day and our regular characters doing what they usually do- operating school during chaos. However, this isn’t like any other regular episode of the blockbuster show stopped at the end of season 3 in April 2023. In the show timeline, five months have […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Unveiling the roots of math phobia: A journey toward joyful learning and equity
Math phobia: Let’s begin by reiterating one of my favorite phrases as a math teacher, “Everyone’s a math person.” Individuals who appreciate puzzles, sports, video games, and problem-solving can’t genuinely harbor a dislike for math. What breeds disdain is the culture surrounding math which creates such distress that many prefer to avoid it altogether. Renowned […]
Posted inBack to School
Using Thrity Umrigar’s novels to tackle summer reading apathy
One way I suggest engaging eleventh and twelfth-grade readers — especially for summer reading assignments — involves assigning modern novels outside of the traditional canon. Two books by Thrity Umrigar, The Space Between Us (2005) and Honor (2022) created a high level of engagement in my AP English Literature students at the onset of the […]
Posted inEnglish Language Learners
How to Navigate Censorship in a High School English Classroom
At a faculty meeting, a colleague once whispered to me, “So, what do you actually do in your English class if everyone already knows how to read and write?” Though it was an innocent enough question from a chemistry teacher, it brought me to the halting realization that the abstract nature of a high school […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Teach with humility; Achieve the impossible in teaching expectations
It seems to me that being a modern-day teacher is more challenging than ever before. On average, 15% of students nationwide receive IDEA services for individualized education plans (NCES, 2023). In addition, national movements to improve outcomes for struggling learners (eg. multi-tiered systems of support) have vastly shifted the roles and responsibilities of the traditional […]
Posted innews
Delays continue in FAFSA processing as White House announces March release of applicant information
The White House and the U.S. Department of Education jointly declared today that institutions should not expect to receive Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) applicant information until “the first half of March.”