The Resurgence of the Pledge In the past, my school has been inconsistent about saying the pledge of allegiance. We’ve had it as a part of our video announcements with limited fidelity, and definitely not daily. I have only hazy memories of saying it as a student, perhaps on occasion in elementary school. This year, […]
High School
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Anniversaries are Testimony: One Year of Pandemic Teaching and Learning
One year. Just one. And yet, a year feels like a pivot point. So much sacrificed, rearranged. Discussing the turning point battles of the second world war with my students had me analyzing the impact of specific dates. I informed my classes: ‘”My grandparents want you to know the importance of December 7, 1941. Your […]
Posted inHigh School
Pronouns: The Least We Can Do for Students Who Identify As Transgender or Non-Binary
Discomfort For Solidarity In a recent staff equity meeting, the concept of staff responsibility in gender pronouns came up. It seemed that everyone there had at least one student who used pronouns that didn’t necessarily align with the sex they were assigned at birth. And, they all fully supported the importance of honoring student’s pronouns […]
Posted inCOVID-19
Opinion: The Teacher Stories We Tell Ourselves: Let’s Assume the Best
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 […]
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 […]