I’ve been challenged by parents plenty of times in my career. However, one that often protrudes in my mind is a 12-page email I received 7 years ago. In teaching about the post-Civil War Reconstruction, I shared both the late Abraham Lincoln and Radical Republican plans for what the South would look like as the […]
Ask a Teacher
Learn about how to ask a teacher about what really happens in a classroom.
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Budget Cuts? Don’t Take It Out On The Teachers – Or The Students
I spent the day today working with professional educators. This group of experienced teachers gathered to learn more about mentoring those just entering our profession. Technically, we’re there to participate in the California teacher credentialing program, which requires beginning teachers to partner with experienced support providers. But while I was sitting there, learning about learning-focused […]
Posted inSocial Justice
Failing our Poor Students: A Crisis of Morality and Character
Our schools aren’t failing, we all are. When outcomes for our poorest students are the concern, education reform advocates like to point to”failing schools”, but it’s not just about schools. It isn’t out-of-touch middle class parents, teachers and their unions, or civil rights organizations willing to challenge the “school choice” narrative. Those are only convenient scapegoats […]
Posted inChild Development
Teenage Girl Drama: Breaking The Everlasting Gobstopper
The film Mean Girls is a lesson for anybody teaching, living with, or raising teenage girls. The line between being “popular” and being “Plastic,” as the four main characters are satirized, is no doubt a fine one. Without some adult intervention, it can become an everlasting gobstopper that chokes out the functioning of the classroom. Certainly, […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Dealing With Personal Tragedy In the Classroom
I experienced quite a lot of personal tragedy last year. And as a result of my stress, my students experienced them too. I tried so very hard to keep my personal life from affecting my students, but I’m convinced that sometimes no matter what you do, some events just can’t be disposed of at the classroom […]
Posted inParents
More Rural Schools Journal: The Sick Day
On a recent Thursday afternoon, I decide to take a sick day. I just called for a sub to cover my duties tomorrow. I’m taking a “sick day.” My youngest, (of the three girls I have written so much about in the past) didn’t really want to go to school this morning, was clearly feeling […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
What I Hope for The Educator’s Room in 2017
Exactly 54 months ago, I made the decision to create a space for educators where we could laugh, debate and share about what really happens in the classroom. For months I did all of the obligatory things to make sure that I could secure a strong “debut”. I secured a name for the site (alas […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Who Will Care for the Teachers: A Podcast on Teacher Depression
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18% of the population. During this episode, Franchesca Warren breaks tradition and talks with not one but four fellow teachers who suffer from […]