Fellow educators, you have made a career centered around giving to children. You have worked diligently to become an expert in your curriculum, designing dynamic lessons while connecting to the whole child. You might even call the students on your rosters, “your kids.” With your compassion for other people’s children as a focus, I ask […]
English Language Learners
Over 11 percent of students in the United States—more than 4.8 million kids—are English language learners (ELLs), and the number is on the rise. Though these students do not learn differently than their native-English-speaking peers, they do have particular educational needs.
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teaching Romeo and Juliet to Beginning Level English Learners
Guest Writer: Karissa Knox Sorrell Teaching English Learners who are new to the country and are non-English speakers is a challenge at every grade, but it can be particularly challenging at the high school level when students have to earn credits, pass multiple state end-of-course exams, and engage with complex texts on a daily basis. With […]
Posted inAdult Learning
American Values In the Classroom and Community: Where do we stand as a nation today?
As a teacher and American citizen, it is difficult to discern what values we stand for as a nation today. It seems that our government has blurred the lines between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, equality and discrimination, and honesty and scandal. In the pendulum swing from the “post-racial” Obama years to the quasi-authoritarian […]
Posted inAdult Learning
The Royal Wedding: Why Should We Care? One American Teacher’s Perspective
The news broke this morning: another school shooting, this time in Santa Fe, Texas. I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to entertain the thought that this most recent massacre is the 22nd school shooting this year. I can’t bear to think that ten more families will be planning funerals and that […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher, Current Events in Education, English Language Learners, ESOL, Featured, Opinion, Teacher Leaders
Mandy Manning Is The National Teacher of the Year We Need – And Deserve
Most Americans only know Mandy Manning, the 2018 National Teacher of the Year, by their own knee-jerk reaction to the State Teachers of the Year Award Ceremony at the White House and, of course, the political fallout that occurred thereafter. She’s a darling to those on the left, adorning her formal, floral black dress with […]
Posted inBook Review
Using “Hamilton: The Musical” in the Classroom
Hamilton in the Classroom Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard of the Broadway musical Hamilton, the hip-hop and rap production of the life of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, written by an award-winning musical playwright, composer, and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda. Many of your students know the play well. In fact, […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
As Ohio Goes, So Goes The Nation? An Interview with an EdChoice Parent
Since 1964, no candidate has won the White House without winning Ohio. Ohio is not just a battleground state; it is a bell weather. Therefore, Ohio’s educational policies should be spotlighted as well. Will Ohio’s voucher programs be promoted as solutions to the problems that plague public education? This recent Thanksgiving holiday brought lumpy mashed […]
Posted inEnglish Language Learners
Six-Word Memoirs as an Introduction to Narrative Writing
Six-word memoirs are not a new thing. A simple Google search will bring up Smith magazine and their six-word memoir site that all began in 2006. If you search Pinterest, you’ll find dozens of ways to use six-word memoirs with kids of all ages. That is all I did to piece together something that I […]