“Ms Lamons, do you remember meeting me online? Honestly, that whole year is a bit of a blur.” It just hit me. I met my incoming seniors for the 2023-2024 school year for the first time online. I met them behind the infamous Black Square Boxes. I engaged with them for an entire school year […]
Coronavirus
Struggling to Learn: How Decreasing SNAP Benefits Will Hurt Students
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! In the state that I teach in, one in three students depend on SNAP benefits for food. More than half of my state’s students come from low-income households. On a single teacher’s salary, my two children qualify for free […]
What COVID Could Have Taught Us
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! The three-year anniversary of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic coincides with my birthday. I remember having a school potluck on that Friday, not knowing the very next day that we would be informed that we would not be […]
COVID-19 Prematurely Aged Student Brains: What Does it Mean for Educators
by Jeannette Odom Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Research on the effects of COVID-19 on adolescent brains is at the forefront of education today. A study from Stanford University suggests that the pandemic has physically altered adolescents’ brains, making their brains appear several years older than […]
What A Trip to Colombia Taught Me About the US Testing Frenzy
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Testing Frenzy Déjà Vu In recent news, NAEP scores fell dramatically due to COVID-19’s impact on learning. Every media outlet has a take on the situation, and everybody seems concerned. The Secretary of Education said recently that we all need to “raise the bar and […]
Ask The Educator’s Room: Violent Students and A Harassing Parent
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Welcome to The Educator’s Room advice column for teachers! Today we’re helping a teacher who’s less than excited about teaching a former student. We’re also helping a teacher who is trying to support trans and gender non-conforming students at […]
Why I’m Running for School Board (And You Should Too!)
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! In March of 2020, when the pandemic hit, I had already been contemplating retiring. I had been teaching English at a Northern California high school for 31 years, and it seemed like the end of the 2020 school year […]
The Solution to Burnout is Solidarity
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! In Minnesota, nurses recently ended a three-day strike. They’re highly trained professionals, mostly women, who are tired of being underpaid and overworked. Sound familiar? Educators know this experience all too well. In recent weeks, the “teacher shortage crisis” has loomed […]