by Melissa Bryan Transitioning Into September Last week, in an online educational leadership course I attended, we viewed a scene from the film Invictus. In it, Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) explains to pro-Rugby player Pienaar (played by Matt Damon), what helped him survive imprisonment. Nelson relates that a poem, “Invictus” by William Ernest […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Reading to Learn: What Bob Moses Taught Me About Mathematics
Kim Lee is a physics teacher at Pinole Valley High School in West Contra Costa Unified School District. She has been teaching for the last four years. She is the teacher sponsor of the Anti-Racism Club and helps run the Peer Tutoring Program. She is committed to promoting diversity and equity through STEM education, as […]
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Want Happy Teachers and Students? Start with Relationship Building in the Classroom
What is the key to success in the classroom? Relationship building. Creating positive teacher-student connections may be the most important thing you can do to build a solid foundation in your classroom. Let’s dive into why. Why Relationship Building in Classrooms is Essential According to Edutopia, building strong relationships might be the first and most […]
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Visualize: How Seeing What’s Coming Changed My Teaching
When last year turned everything on its head and I felt like pretty much everything was out of my control, I turned to the Roman Stoics to help me differentiate what was within my control, and what was not. It’s no doubt it helped me to weather the COVID storm not just as a teacher, […]
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The Crucial Need for Mentorship in Post Pandemic Education
My mentor teacher was a six-foot two-inch Black Male, who exuded confidence, creativity, and a command of a room I envied on so many levels. He described himself as an Ex-Black Panther “intimate” different than a member, an “intellectual free-raider” who made sure he “always lived to fight another day”. My mentor was a self-proclaimed […]
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Teachers Have Known This for Years: A Generation Hollowed Out
America, Circa 2021 Young Americans are starting back to school in a few weeks and they are in trouble. Deep trouble. After almost a quarter-century teaching at a public high school, I never imagined I would write a book ominously titled, Hollowed Out: A Warning About America’s Next Generation. But, to be blunt, American school teachers have […]
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Post Pandemic Education: The Transition Back to Brick and Mortar
As a high school teacher, I already struggled with trying to get freshmen out of the “middle school mentality” long before this pandemic. Now, we have a new generation of students who not only have never set foot in our high school but ones who have missed out on that crucial transition period where they […]
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To Mask Or Not To Mask? Wear the Mask; Protect our Kids
Since nearly the beginning of this pandemic, the very idea of masks has been politicized. A study, Politicizing the Mask analyzed demographic and voting data to confirm what many of us could conclude anecdotally. States and areas that supported Trump are significantly less likely to wear a mask. We can now see this playing out […]