By Elizabeth Cardiel After teaching for only three years, I was incredibly grateful to find a position in a bilingual 1st-grade classroom. Just a few months later the world was sent into quarantine and the profession of teaching was changed forever. My grade-level team and I had planned and brained stormed on the best ways […]
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Posted inAdult Learning
Here’s How We Can Believe in The Dreams of Youth Experiencing Homelessness
The most recent 10 years of my 20-year career in education have been focused on eliminating the barriers that homelessness presents in education. When I meet with students and families, I address immediate needs, such as transportation to school and access to food, as those are pressing. But I always ask one life-affirming question before […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
A Teacher Lost in the Dust
I am sitting in the back of the school bus. Waves rock my body as we navigate the red sandy-washed roads. I’ve been riding in traditional yellow buses just about my whole life as a student, teacher, and chaperone. This time is different. Traditional Navajo songs echo through the bus, intermittent with the news Dine’ […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines
Teach to the Rest: Three More Ways We Can Use the Pandemic to Transform Schools For the Better- Part 2
By Thomas Courtney Last year, I wrote about the opportunity we had to change the very way in which our schools operated. Twenty years ago, teaching to the test transformed our educational system. To many, the pandemic was simply the last piece of the puzzle that revealed the picture of what our schools had become. […]
Posted inAdult Learning
The Cakes in the Classroom Lesson Plan That Almost Didn’t Happen
Erika Bailey I graduated with a bachelor’s in history and a master’s in secondary education. I was a math interventionist for elementary and an afterschool program instructor before transitioning to a high school social studies teacher. During my tenure, I also worked as the choreographer for the drama club. Currently, I am pursuing higher education […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
On Feeling Flat: Teachers in 2021
Bridgette Gallagher is a high school English teacher in Saratoga Springs, NY where she has worked for the past 20 years teaching grades 9,11, and Creative Writing. In addition to being a teacher leader, she also serves as the Vice President of Secondary for the New York State English Council. We’re here. We love kids. […]
Posted inAdult Learning
Unfair Teacher Expectations: Changing the Rulebook for the Profession
Kelly Riesselman is a 5th-grade reading, writing, and social studies teacher in the Midwest. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a master’s in elementary education. Kelly’s goal as an educator is to help students learn to see their own self-worth, take responsibility for their own learning, and cultivate a love of learning. […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
And a Podcast Shall Inform The Students
Could podcasts kill the video star? “What the ____ is a podcast?” An eleventh-grade student who would go on to be accepted at an Ivy League school asked this question in response to my question: “OK, guys, how do y’all feel about creating a podcast?” Don’t get the idea that this interaction took place “back […]