We (yep, all of us) are stressed. Students are swamped with work and desperate loneliness. Parents are at their wits’ end trying to keep their jobs, kids, and sanity afloat. Teachers are exhausted from the literal and emotional headache of online learning. Administrators are trying to balance the needs of their staff and students […]
High School
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Nobody Trusts Teachers
Nobody trusts teachers. Imagine a snowy Wednesday morning in February–a scheduled remote teaching day and a day following an actual, old-school type of snow day. [bctt tweet=”Now imagine teachers driving on those snow-covered roads to teach via Google Meets in empty classrooms. ” username=””] Picture many of those same teachers scrambling for child care because the […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
The Teacher Learns the Lesson: Reminiscing on 48 Years of Teaching
Every future teacher has a lot to learn in college, but as I would soon find out after my college graduation day, nothing beats the “on the job training” you get when you go through that first year of teaching. I was so excited when I received my first teaching job in Florida back […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
FIVE Miserable COVID Truths Teachers Don’t Say Out Loud
I had extraordinarily high bookish ambitions when I realized I was going to be stuck at home for a year. As a fan of classical texts and modern classics, I had some woeful gaps in my reading resume. I was going to read John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. I was going to read Ralph Ellison’s, […]
Posted inBook Review
Publishing So White: 7 Essential Black Young Adult Authors
Last week, The New York Times published a piece examining the whiteness in the publishing industry. (Thank you to Pod Save the People for bringing it to my attention in your underreported news section. I learn something new from you every week!) In the five major publications, they analyzed, from 1950-2018, 95% of their authors […]
Posted inTeacher Self Care
Disrupt Grind Culture, But How?
Disrupt Grind Culture I have been in school my entire life, constantly learning and moving towards my next achievement. I went to college right after high school, as expected in my family and town. After graduating early from college, I went to grad school the next term and started teaching as soon as I earned […]
Posted inSocial Justice
Dear White Teachers, Black Students Matter
Dear White Teachers, Black Students Matter After George Floyd’s murder, I woke up to a string of messages from one of my Black students, M. She poured her heart out to me at three in the morning, releasing the burdens she carries as a young Black woman in America. She said she was desperate to […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
10 Reasons Why American Reconstruction Is the Most Important Unit I’ll Teach This Year
When I first started teaching the second-half of American history, my colleagues and I fell in love with the curriculum. The Civil War, the World Wars, the industrialization and rise of America, and the jazz age all piqued our interests. But one unit that always left us wanting more was Reconstruction. Often glossed over as […]