Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! A few days into this school year, I received a text from my husband. It was short, simple, and straight to the point: “It’s amazing the difference a qualified and responsible one-on-one aide makes in the lives of a […]
How to Fix Education
Why We Need More “Black Ms. Frizzles”
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! When I started teaching in the U.S. in 2018, I had a student, let’s call him ‘Eddie,’ who was unbelievably quirky, to say the least. In class, he always tucked in his shirt, speed-walked everywhere, was always on the […]
Where Are All the Teachers of the Deaf?
Facing a Crisis for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Students and the Profession Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Teachers continue to leave the educational profession at alarming rates – further exacerbating the teaching shortage in schools across the country. Under overwhelming teaching conditions, those who remain […]
What A Trip to Colombia Taught Me About the US Testing Frenzy
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Testing Frenzy Déjà Vu In recent news, NAEP scores fell dramatically due to COVID-19’s impact on learning. Every media outlet has a take on the situation, and everybody seems concerned. The Secretary of Education said recently that we all need to “raise the bar and […]
Teachers and Students Need More Mental Breaks
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! I’m sitting down to write this piece on the last official day of my fall break. Tomorrow will be the weekend rush to make sure that the house is ready for my kids and me to return to our […]
Be a Teacher Who Votes
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! I recently learned a new statistic that deeply surprised me: In the past three midterm elections, 33% of the teachers in my state’s union did not vote. Although this generally matches or beats the state-wide voter turnout trends – 64% of […]
Why I’m Running for School Board (And You Should Too!)
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! In March of 2020, when the pandemic hit, I had already been contemplating retiring. I had been teaching English at a Northern California high school for 31 years, and it seemed like the end of the 2020 school year […]
Is It Fair to Test Learning Loss?
Executive director of FairTest weighs in on standardized testing reform Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! The Nation’s Report Card As I prepared to interview Harry Feder, the new executive director of FairTest, the latest Nation’s Report Card was published. As a result, our chat felt especially timely. […]