On May 29th, Starbucks will close 8,000 of its stores for racial bias training. This is a response to the arrest of two Black men who were waiting to meet a friend at a location in Philadelphia. It made me wonder, what would it take to close public schools for a similar effort? If an […]
Current Events in Education
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
10 Things Teachers DID NOT Have to Deal With 10 Years Ago
Something is wrong—very, very wrong. Teachers across the country at all grade levels, in all subjects, teaching a wide variety of student populations, can sense it. There is a pulse of dysfunction, a steady palpitation of doom that the path we are on is not properly oriented. There is a raw and amorphous anxiety creeping […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
The State of the Teacher Union
As teachers organize in protest across the nation, the Supreme Court is preparing to release a decision that could change laws governing teacher unions. In March, the highest court in the land heard oral arguments for Janus v. AFSCME and plans to issue a decision on this landmark case this summer. Mark Janus is an […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
The Importance of the 2018 Mid-Term Elections: A Teacher’s Perspective
American democracy is at a crossroads. In November of this year, the American electorate will go to the polls to decide which party should control the Congress of the United States and set policy on the federal level. Majorities in many state legislatures and governorships across the nation will also be decided. As it stands […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Dear Madame Secretary DeVos: We Will Not Be Ignored
Dear Madame Secretary DeVos: In response to the recent surge of teacher walkouts, you stated that teachers should “serve the students that are there to be served.” I couldn’t agree more. I also understand why, as the highest-ranking Education official in the nation, you must discourage teacher protests. However, as a veteran public-school educator who […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
The Ins and Outs of Walking Out: Understanding Strike Law
Understanding the legality and process of recent teacher strikes is a daunting task. As a part of the public sector, education protocol is governed by statutory and case law. Since primary control of the public education system is relegated to individual states, school law differs from state to state. This includes laws about teacher unions […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
And We Will Rise: Day 3 of the Oklahoma Walkout
We are on day three of the Oklahoma Walkout. Our governor made the comment yesterday that we [teachers] were acting like a bunch of spoiled “teenagers who want a better car.” One of our legislatures went Live on Facebook and said we were never going to be happy and that he “wasn’t supporting teachers anymore!” […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Teaching The Legacy of Dr. King: Fifty Years Later
I sit to write on the waning hours of April 4, 2018, fifty years after the assassination and death of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was seven when we all heard the news of his death. Even at that young age, I knew something had happened that would change the direction of my nation, indeed; […]