Carl Frye was one of the first colleagues I came to know well at Blue Ridge when I arrived in 1998. I wouldn’t coach until the winter, but, as the athletic director, he welcomed me to the School during the opening faculty meetings that August. He was already a legend at Blue Ridge, but that […]
Ask a Teacher
Learn about how to ask a teacher about what really happens in a classroom.
Posted inAsk a Teacher
ATA: A child started a rumor about a teacher’s marriage. Now she wants to try out for her sports team.
A Teacher Asks… I am a 12th grade teacher and had a parent (and their child) last year who spread a rumor that I was having an affair with another co-worker. This lie was “corroborated” because both of us coach teams and we’re friends. Nothing inappropriate has (or will ever) happen, but the damage is […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
ATA: Where do you store your materials for the summer?
A Teacher Asks… We get out of school next week, and usually we lock everything in our cabinet and go home for the summer. This year, we’re having to take all of our personal belongings home or put them in storage at our county office, but space is limited, as our school is being repainted […]
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The Breakfast Blitz: A single dad grateful to be an educator
This column is a series of fiction stories inspired by reality. We publish short stories written by teachers each week. This week, a principal recounts her last week before summer break. Mr. Harris—Coach H to most—had three full-time jobs: teaching sixth-grade science, coaching middle school football, and raising two little girls under the age of […]
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ATA: A Teacher Asks… My Principal Betrayed Me…
A teacher asks… Am I being a butthole? Let me explain. For the past two years, I’ve looped with my students, first from 1st grade to second grade and then to third grade. My principal promised I’d follow them through 5th grade. On the last day of school, he called me into the office and […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Seeing Them Clearly: What my students taught me about stereotypes
Educators don’t always have the luxury of complete control of the curriculum or class size. What we do have is the power to check if stereotyping students is a silent danger that could impact how we teach and what students learn. We, ourselves, are just as likely to be stereotyped by the students who may […]
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Seven Inspirational Tips for the New (or old!) Teacher
A Survival Primer for New Teachers Dear New Teacher, It was John Steinbeck who wrote in his novel East of Eden, “…the repository of art and science is the school, and the schoolteacher shields and carries the torch of learning and of beauty.” This first year, while you are mired in lesson planning, meetings, assessing, […]
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U.S. surgeon general issues an advisory for a warning label on social media platforms for adolescents
The U.S. Surgeon General has issued an advisory highlighting the urgent need to address the mental health challenges faced by children, adolescents, and young adults in the United States. The advisory, titled “Protecting Youth Mental Health,” emphasizes that these challenges are real, widespread, and, most importantly, treatable and often preventable. Recent national surveys reveal alarming […]