The nation needs to pay attention. -“Let’s sit in our bubble space.” -“The first thing we do is always the same, we pick up our pencil and write our name.” -”We don’t put that in our mouth; that has germs.” Ahh, the soundtrack of a typical first grade classroom. Many elementary school teachers are […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
When My Therapy Dog Became My Co-Teacher, and Changed How I Teach
The first time I brought my therapy dog, Little Dude, into my classroom, I expected curiosity, excitement, maybe even distraction. What I didn’t expect was how instantly he transformed the energy of the room, or how profoundly he would reshape the way I think about teaching. I had been volunteering with Little Dude through The […]
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New student loan caps in “Big Beautiful Bill” could deepen shortages in critical professions
The Department of Education and a federal rulemaking committee have agreed on new regulations tied to H.R.1 that will significantly reshape graduate and professional student borrowing. The law caps federal loans at $100,000 for graduate students and $200,000 for professional students, while ending Grad PLUS loans in 2026. Because only “professional” programs qualify for the […]
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My Literary Crimes: A Defense of Teaching Storytelling
I was 25 when I read Dylan Thomas’ Lament Poem to a room of amateur poets at one of their monthly gatherings in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. As Dylan Thomas. I was 25 and a genius and these poets, the way I understood them, were a spit in the face of Poetry and the killers of the […]
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Kindness is a muscle; Teachers Need to Flex it Now More Than Ever
By Nosakhere Griffin-EL, Ph.D. When you turn on television it seems like everyone is being unkind to each other. Politicians are hurling insults, using dehumanizing words to blame “the other side” for government shutdown; sport analysts rant about why a player isn’t living up to his million dollar contract; celebrities trade insults in a never […]
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Building from Scratch: How we raised standards in a new International Baccalaureate School
Starting a new program is every educator’s dream and nightmare. You get to design everything from scratch—but you also carry the weight of every decision. In 2016, I embraced one of my greatest challenges yet: becoming the MYP Language Teacher and Head of the English Department at a new International Baccalaureate (IB) school in Amman, […]
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Reclaiming your peace in special education
At the beginning of my teaching career, I benefited from the fierce advocacy of veteran teachers who advocated for students and staff. I was very empowered by their support. As they retired, I often found myself being the only person willing to stand up for our most vulnerable students: students with disabilities and students from […]
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The Power of Stories as Bridges: From assumption to understanding
I grew up in 1970s Las Vegas, during the era of school desegregation and redlining, a discriminatory housing practice where banks and the government literally drew red lines around minority neighborhoods, denying families access to fair home loans and shaping inequities in schools and educational opportunities. I didn’t know what redlining was back then. What […]