“The best teachers are like hip-hop producers: study the classics, select the best parts, then add some new flavor” (Chris Emdin, Professor/Author). This quote sums up my journey into distance learning very well. I was fortunate to have some experience in online education, having used it at the college level, but I was not prepared […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Reimagining Education-Community Not Classroom
“Mr. Dean, I wanna stay in here,” is the highest praise one can hope for from students. Teaching is often a thankless job, but students’ desire to prioritize being in your class rather than any other class is not something to take lightly. When considering what makes students want to stay in one’s class, I […]
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Hey Teachers, It’s July; How Are Y’all Doing?
Although I reside in upstate New York, my family from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has been visiting, so I appropriated y’all into my vernacular. (Please forgive my misuse of this enjoyable phrase.) For most teachers, July is the golden, sacred month that school does not touch. Many schools across the country end in May or June […]
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The American Myth of Justice for All & Critical Race Theory
2021 seems to be the year of parent engagement. Parents all over the states are advocating for or against teachers utilizing Critical Race Theory in class. Some parents view Critical Race Theory as a method to offer a more transparent and equitable education. Other parents view Critical Race Theory as problematic, as it may make […]
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School Librarians and Teachers Must Work Together To Make School Fun
How together school librarians and teachers can make school fun and more enjoyable for students through collaboration.
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Keeping Up With the Tech-Savvy Teacher Next Door
Jerremiah Johnson For years I’ve dabbled in technology integration within my classroom, or what I thought was integration. I taught my students to use Word documents and PowerPoint and eventually moved to Google docs and even shared assignments through a Google classroom. I thought I was doing the best I could all while keeping up […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Parable of a Teacher’s Post-Pandemic Pause
“I gotta fight every night to prove my love!” I will never forget this scene from the movie The Five Heartbeats when the boyfriend comes back to the table and find his girl with another man. Now, how in the world am I going to relate that line to teaching? For those of us in […]
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Frederick Douglass: “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
Click here to watch the descendants of Frederick Douglass read this speech. At the time of the delivery of this speech, Douglass had been living in Rochester, New York, for several years, editing a weekly abolitionist newspaper. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. In […]