by: Lorianne Palinkas I have taught middle school ELA for over twenty years. I have taught sixth, seventh, and eighth grades at all levels. My favorite thing about middle school is the magic of watching people come into our building as children and come outgrown! I wanted to be a teacher my whole life. […]
Ask a Teacher
Learn about how to ask a teacher about what really happens in a classroom.
Teachers Didn’t Sign Up for This
It’s 11:49 pm on Tuesday night at my house. The kitchen is clean. The house is locked up. The kids are asleep, my dog is asleep, and for once, I can sit down and hear the sounds of nothing in my house. Yet, as I finally sit down in my recliner to try and grade […]
ASK A TEACHER: Parents, You Can Decide Where Stimulus Money Goes, Here’s How
Now Is the Time to Join Your School’s Governance Team Here’s Why, and How to Do It The State of California is pumping stimulus money into schools like a kid pumps pencil shavings into the back of his desk. As a teacher, I’d like to see more than my union, or my district decides what […]
Students and Families; It’s Time to Retire Our Headsets
Several years ago, I retired as a volunteer firefighter. Soon thereafter, I put my helmet and my badge in a glass case. This year, as a teacher, I ended my last Zoom class. I then took off my headset and I realized that I’m going to be placing it in a glass case too. In […]
Ending the Epithet “Try-Hard” Once and for All in Classrooms
“Stop being such a try-hard, Tina.” There are many words kids use to insult one another. Most of them are so bad I wouldn’t dare print them here. They’re also so wrong and reprehensible that teachers quickly swoop in and stop it. But for this term – the “try hard” – teachers just laugh it […]
The Four Quadrant Strategy:Teaching Your Learners to Ask the Right Questions
Sanam Edwards is a teacher in DPS International, Gurgaon (India). She enjoys building the student’s voice and choice within the classroom environment while infusing her quirky sense of humor into daily activities. She is an advocate for technology in the classroom and is constantly on the lookout for new ways to engage the students emotionally, […]
The Price of Accessibility for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Students During a Pandemic
Tiffany Johnson-Dreher has worked as an Itinerant Deaf/Hard of Hearing Teacher for 20 years, primarily with caseloads in the K-12 setting. While school days involve visits to different buildings each day, the gifts are being with students of varying ages and often being with them over several years. She is passionate about her students, about diverse KidLit, and […]
Would Education Collapse If Teachers Stopped Working for Free?
On Friday, the science teacher on my team rolled past my door on Friday afternoon. In hand – or on wheels, rather – were 2 carts full of spirit wear that she and her student council members created, sold, and distributed. “Only crazy people come back to school on Fridays.” When our school’s nurse retired […]