I was an educator in the Missouri Public School System for 31 years. I have been an educational national motivational speaker for 27 years. I once spoke at the Missouri Honors Society Conference. Teenagers from all over the state attended. Afterwards, teachers brought their female students up to me. When I asked them what was […]
Posted inDepartment of Education
Banners at Department of Education Honor Education Leaders, But Charlie Kirk’s Inclusion Draws Criticism
WASHINGTON, D.C. — New banners featuring prominent figures connected to education and American history were installed outside the United States Department of Education headquarters on Maryland Avenue on March 1, as part of a campaign highlighting leaders who have influenced learning and public life. Among those featured on the banners are Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther […]
Posted inInterviews
Gratitude Tour: Shirley Underwood
In the spring of 1979, I completed my final semester at the University of Tennessee. To earn my degree in Secondary English Education, I had to student teach. I don’t recall having any choice in where that would happen so I must have been assigned to Carter High School in the Knox County school system. […]
Posted inTechnology
Stop the over-reliance on educational technology
Educational technology is great, and it is one of the key ways that districts can provide their teachers with a variety of options to help their classrooms. BUT, there is a cost. Especially for teachers in rural communities. My last school was located in a rural community in the mountains of East Tennessee. Rural, low-income, […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
I Thought Using Lysol Was Against the Hague Convention
It was Monday. As usual, we were sitting in the conference room. The room overlooked the football field. Kids hopped the fence and cut through the graveyard behind the school. I sipped my coffee and smirked. I wondered why a boy and a girl were going to the graveyard so early. Smoking? Vaping? Then the […]
Posted inClassroom Management
Biting, kicking, wandering the classroom: Teachers say there’s a rise in misbehavior even among the littlest kids
by Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report February 17, 2026 SAN MATEO, Calif. — School had been in session at Lead Elementary for less than an hour, but already Andrea Quinn had paused teaching her first graders nearly 20 times. First, there was the child who had zipped his entire face inside the hood of his […]
Posted inMathematics
Teacher vs. Tutor: Navigating the “Shadow Education” of Hong Kong
“Am I Not Enough?” Navigating the Teacher-Tutor Power Struggle in Hong Kong The first time it happened, I was reviewing a calculus problem on the whiteboard. I was midway through explaining the conceptual derivation of the chain rule—passionate, animated, trying to get that “lightbulb” moment—when a hand shot up in the back. It was Jason, […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
Introduction to Gratitude Tour: An educator’s journey in retirement
In my final years of a career I’d not planned and sometimes questioned, multiple events led me to think about how very grateful I was for past Heads of School, colleagues, students and even high school friends who’d carved out a career in teaching. In the spring of 2024, I was wrapping up my 26th […]