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 […]
Current Events in Education
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, […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, How to Fix Education, Uncategorized
Charter Schools Have Lost Their Way
Charter schools were first conceived in 1988 by then American Federation of Teachers President Albert Shanker. Shanker hoped to open up schools that would be led by teachers who would use innovative methods to help children learn. The idea was to allow students to come to a charter school even if it was not in […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Elementary School, Featured, High School, Instructional Strategies
Innovating at the End of the School Year
With only weeks of school left, it’s easy for students and teachers to check out. The weather is nice. The state exams are behind us and with them a certain sense of urgency. This time of year can drive a teacher crazy. In many schools including my own in New York City, students have been cooped […]