If you want to start an argument among educators, discuss gradebooks and grading practices. There are various opinions floating around about grades and various grading rules teachers must follow based on mandates from the principal or school district. I have worked at different schools during the course of my career and below are some of […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teaching the Kids We Have Right Now: LGBT+ Youth in the Classroom
In a recent NPR piece interviewing author Alex Wagner, she stated: “I think we do a lot of work in this day and age focusing on the future and on the past….we don’t invest enough in the present.”[i] Wagner was talking about her exploration of her genetic backstory, but the fact is, we focus on […]
Posted inAdult Learning
The Facets of Personality and Successful Teaching
Anyone who has ever been a cooperating teacher for an up-and-coming student teacher knows how difficult it can be to evaluate one’s protege negatively. As I observed my student teacher. I am inspired to evaluate my own teaching style and the elements of my personality that go into my efforts to be a master teacher. […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
What If School Was More Like Summer Camp?
Every March, the fourth grade class at my school takes an annual overnight trip to a YMCA Camp. For many of our students, this is a novel and unforgettable experience; and, it has proven to be just as formative a trip for me as a teacher. I observe levels of interest, engagement, and enthusiasm at […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Dear Oklahoma Legislators: Walk A Day In Our Shoes
Dear Oklahoma Legislators, Let me start by saying I love my job. I was made to be a teacher. I teach special education in the Moore district. I am not complaining about my job or all it entails. However, I want to give you a glimpse into what I did TODAY. And mind you every […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
Are Elementary Teachers Jacks of All Trades or Masters of None?
Recently, I was facilitating a discussion with high school teachers about Kylene Beers book When Kids Can’t Read What Teachers Can Do – A Guide for Teachers 6-12. In chapter four, Beers explained that one of her students did not understand how to find the main idea and that she did not do a good […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
10 Things Teachers DID NOT Have to Deal With 10 Years Ago
Something is wrong—very, very wrong. Teachers across the country at all grade levels, in all subjects, teaching a wide variety of student populations, can sense it. There is a pulse of dysfunction, a steady palpitation of doom that the path we are on is not properly oriented. There is a raw and amorphous anxiety creeping […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
The Importance of the 2018 Mid-Term Elections: A Teacher’s Perspective
American democracy is at a crossroads. In November of this year, the American electorate will go to the polls to decide which party should control the Congress of the United States and set policy on the federal level. Majorities in many state legislatures and governorships across the nation will also be decided. As it stands […]