Like most teachers, I had been managing to keep a level head regardless of the immense pressure I am under in today’s classroom climate. Doing my best to provide quality virtual, hybrid instruction; remain positive and upbeat for my students; and having an overall optimistic demeanor in the face of a deadly pandemic. So naturally, […]
COVID-19
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Compassionate Teaching is Key Especially During This Pandemic
Over the past few months, I’ve been noticing tweets from users about their teachers and their online class experiences. These two stood out to me in particular: teachers be like "i know these are troubling times" then be the trouble during the times — Jeffery Perkins (@JefferyxBball) November 29, 2020 A student just wrote “My […]
Posted inCOVID-19
How Reverse Halloween Helped My Students Feel Connected to Me As Their Teacher
If I’m being honest, not everyone understood the concept of reversing Halloween at first. But I was convinced the theory was sound. And perhaps because I’ve known how disconnected my own daughter feels, I’ve tried to find creative ways to connect with families. I’ve formed friendships with dogs, left a lot of things on doorsteps. […]
Posted inCOVID-19
James Gets a Grip on Losing: A Lesson for Today
By Julie Letofsky I’ve been thinking a lot this past week about James, a child in my second grade class years ago. James loved recess more than anything that went on in the classroom. Basketball, soccer, even just tossing a football – James lived for these activities. He was hyper-competitive; he HAD to be the […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Rebranding the Dreaded Essay: How to Demystify Essays and Make Them Meaningful During COVID-19
Whenever students hear the word “essay,” they groan, eye roll, and plead for something, anything else. Similarly, most adults I know remember high school or college essays they grudgingly finished just under the wire; late-night coffee, obsessive word counting, and a fair amount of teacher-specific bs-ing. It’s clear “The Essay” gets a bad rap, and […]
Posted inCOVID
This is Not the Way it Should Feel to Teach
What’s up with teaching. There is something amazing about that first sip of coffee on an almost cold enough to snow Sunday morning. Even at pretend 4:30 AM (because it’s still 5:30 real AMs to me), and at sixty-three real degrees in my living room, even though I have the thermostat set for what I […]
Posted inCOVID-19
I’m Not a Lunch Bunch Kind of Teacher But COVID-19 Has Changed Me
by Jennifer M. Sierra I’ve never been a “lunch bunch” kind of teacher. I’ve spent most of my career teaching high school—mostly juniors, a few sophomores, a few seniors. Even now, in my fourth year of teaching middle school, the concept of a lunch bunch is still way too elementary for me. Additionally, it’s […]
Posted inCoronavirus, COVID, COVID-19
Shaking, Sanitized Hands: Building New Student Relationships while Grieving Old Ones
My hands were shaking as the bell rang for the first day of the 2020-2021 school year. I know it sounds cliche to say that my hands were shaking. Everyone writes that their hands were shaking to indicate nervousness but I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that my hands were literally shaking so hard […]