The end of the year has finally come and you just finished dancing in the hallway with the other teachers while playing “Celebrate Good Times” on your cell phone. The halls look empty without students and your classroom is nearly cleaned out. You’re so used to stress that you don’t know what to do with […]
Current Events in Education
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Uncategorized
A Letter To Educator's Friends & Family
Dear Spouse, Child, Parent, Grandparent, Family Member, Friend, and / or Neighbor, I wanted to thank you. Thank you for allowing us to borrow this awesome member of our community. They have a difficult job. They know that. I know that. I’m sure they’ve told you about it. The challenges. The frustrations. The students. The […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
How to Build a Classroom Library on a Barely-There Budget
After attending a Penny Kittle workshop in spring 2014, I decided to set up a Reader’s Workshop in my twelfth-grade English class to radically change the reading/literature instruction. In order to do that, I needed a classroom library—an extensive one if I wanted the RW to work. The problem was I had 104 titles—many out […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Principals' Corner
Why Teachers Leave – and Possible Solutions
On paper, teaching seems like the perfect job. Summers at home, the workday ends at three, you’re off when your kids are off, and we get to work with children all day long. I mean, what more could one possibly want? As with life, things are not always what they seem. Teaching is hard. Parenting is […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, High School, Uncategorized
How to Keep Kids Reading All Summer
Each fall teachers ring their hands and furrow their brows at the lack of reading their students did over the summer. We bemoan the fact that the summer reading lists we hand out are shoved in a backpack in June and not looked at again until, well, for many kids, never. Many teachers lecture high […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Middle School, Special Education
Inclusion Students – The Elephant in the Room
There has been the great controversy for many years over the inclusion of special education students in the regular education classroom. Some parents are afraid that inclusion students will negatively impact their child’s education. Mainstream education teachers sometimes voice concerns over whether or not they can teach these students when they have no background in special […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Current Events in Education, Featured, High School, Instructional Strategies, Middle School
Student Mentors
It seems like by the time everything gets settled, the school year ends. Then in August, new freshmen arrive and need to be “broken in” to the high school climate. While we have amazing freshmen teachers to help with the adjustment period, sometimes they are not enough. In Japanese culture, there is a “senpai,” an […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School
Hosting an LGBQTA Prom
Last month the rural Vermont high school in which I teach at hosted a well attended LGBTQA prom as a culminating festivity for the 9th Annual Queer Allied Youth Summit. It was a first of its kind for our county, our community and our school; its success lay in the hands of a few teachers, […]