I have been teaching social studies for twenty-five years, eight of which I focused on United States History, but February 11, 2020, was my third celebration of black history. Although I am a veteran educator, I am a novice historian. I am a rookie at social justice, and my students are my mentors. My third […]
Current Events in Education
Posted inHow to Fix Education
Getting Reading Right: The Education Week Online Summit
Getting Reading Right was the title and focus of the free online Education Week summit held on January 28, 2020. EdWeek reporters moderated with guest literacy specialists in six separate online chats framed by the results of the 2019 EdWeek Research Center survey on Early Reading Instruction. Online registered participants were eligible for a certificate […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Race-Conscious Reading For Preschool
Guest Writer: Marisa Lark Wallin Initiating conversations about race and culture in your regular reading can help young children resist being socialized into white supremacy. Black Lives Matter At School national week of action will happen this February 3-7, 2020. There are many things you can do to participate in the movement individually or with […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Mrs. Brown, is this World War 3?
After the holiday break, my students entered the classroom well-rested and eager to discuss current events. I had jokingly declared that we would start a war after the break, with the understanding before the events of the assassination of the Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, that the war we would “start” would be world war one. […]
Posted inOpinion
Restorative Practices, Exhausting Teachers
Restorative Practices (RP) is the new darling of education circles. As its goal, RP seeks to interrupt and halt the school-to-prison pipeline while helping students overcome and cope with trauma. To do this, RP relies on developing relationships with students which enables them to reflect on and repair the harm they have caused. RP’s […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines
“Why Didn’t Anyone Help Me?” The Truth Behind Abused Teachers Who Took Matters Into Their Own Hands
When the articles pop up on my timeline, I’m quick to click the link to each and every article that looks or sounds like this: “Teacher assaults student” “Educator and student fights” “Teacher fired after brawl with student” What I find to be interesting is that many, if not all of the teachers involved in […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
All Of The Good Teachers Have Already Quit…Or Are Thinking About It
Good Teachers: “Ms. Greer, we need to take your planning period today. We have a class of students in In-School Suspension (ISS) who need coverage for their third period. I know you had a webinar scheduled for our upcoming unit on parallelograms, but you can watch that at home. We need all ‘hands’ on deck, […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
“Why haven’t I learned that Harriet Tubman fought in the civil war?”
On a cold day in central New York, I had the fantastic opportunity to take 26 students to tour the Harriet Tubman National Park, located in Auburn, NY. After an enlightening hour, we loaded onto the yellow submarine (aka the school bus) and watched the movie Harriet at the local Movie Tavern. By the end of the […]