Know your audience! This is what marketers and educators have in common, especially as they both are focused on Generation Z (Gen Z) students, children born 1997-to the present. The one defining characteristic of Gen Z? These students (K-12) have never known a world without the internet or cell phones (mostly smartphones). For them, Google and Wi-Fi […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teachers Pay Teachers-The Fast Food of Education
At first glance, Teachers Pay Teachers, a monetized lesson plan site, appears to be a win-win offering. There are lesson plans and educational materials marketed by vendors (teachers) who make a small profit on the sale. The first win is for the teachers selling the plans. Many teachers could use the extra income from selling […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Your Testimony is Your Teacher Self-Care
Anleeta Eaton-Buchanan Each day, I would get that dreaded, daily, routine question from a colleague, “How are you doing today?” And without hesitation, I would muster up a smile, say “fine,” and if I am really feeling myself, I’d add a clever anecdote or synopsis of my weekend. Boom. I have no issues or problems, […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Tier 1 should be BAE (Before Anything Else)!
Tier 1 is before anything else. Intervention, magic bullets, and remediation are terms that are all too common these days. We hear the echoes of these cringe-worthy words in meetings and PLCs across campuses and districts. Somehow, over the years, these elements have taken center stage as some of the leading roles in education. How […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
Self-Care Is Priority One for This Teacher
January is finally over. I swear this month had 974 days in it. After returning from Winter Break I felt as if I just could not keep up with myself. There is always so much to do and so very few hours in the day to balance everything. Normally this is when my really bad […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Preparing Students For Teacher Absences
I was gone two days this week because my fiancé had back surgery. Two. Whole. Days. This may not seem like much to most, but I teach special education with some very routine-oriented students and this was a huge whammy in their little lives. I know we want our classrooms to become autonomous and for […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
Respect in the Classroom: Earned, Not Expected
There was a sub for one of my paras a couple of weeks ago and she set up shop in my classroom. We went through the day as usual, with her thoroughly enjoying her role after being out of the classroom for the past few years. At the end of the day, as I was […]
Posted inClassroom Management
Putting the S in PBIS
Almost 26,000 schools across the U.S. are implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS). A central characteristic of this Department of Education-funded initiative is customization. There is no one “right way” to implement PBIS and implementation is likely to differ across systems, schools and even individual classrooms. Intervention tiers are built around the principles of […]