It’s three weeks into virtual teaching, and I’m already tired of the first unit on Economic Theory. Being a few days behind coupled with the fact that the next unit on Personal Finance is far more exciting and interesting, I’m just going to give the unit 1 test on Economic Theory this week. In the […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Opinion: The Self-Indulgence of Blaming Others…Even in Education
You can tell a great deal about a person by listening to—or, in our era of online posting, reading—their thoughts about who is to blame for troubles in the world. We all have troubles to process, after all, both real and perceived, and the temptation to find a scapegoat for every imperfection we see is […]
Posted inDo The Work
Is it Time to Kill Mockingbird and Embrace Mercy?
Is it Time to Kill Mockingbird? Until recently, To Kill A Mockingbird was one of few classics I actually liked. I’ve usually pushed back against the canon, but I could get behind a story about a precocious young tomboy who helps her father fight against racial injustice. But, as I read it once again with […]
Posted inTeacher Self Care
Smile for the Camera: Adjusting to the New “Normal” in a COVID-19 Classroom
This year, teaching is lonely. Like many other districts across the country, we are teaching and learning online for the foreseeable future. I desperately want to be back in person with my students, but our national leadership is more concerned with political gain than American life. Wearing a mask is a political statement, cases aren’t […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
COVID-19 Has Made Me Rethink My Instruction: 5 Online Tools to Use in Language Arts Classes
We’re a week away from returning to in-person teaching for the new school year and the obvious anxieties and fear about being back at school, where the spread of COVID-19 feels inevitable and is on everyone’s minds. This year, teaching will take on new challenges and risks, and no amount of mental preparation will make […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Reimagining Schools After COVID-19
Since March, the United States has been in a pandemic due to COVID-19. Over 189,000 lives have been lost to this virus. Our country is being led by an unfit leader who has appointed a Secretary of Education with no experience as a public educator. It almost seems like we’re in the twilight zone. Personally, […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Support Staff: The Real Superheroes of the 2020-21 School Year
I’ve watched plenty of Marvel movies and read plenty of comics with my kids before we returned to school just a few weeks ago. As a teacher, it was great to feel like an Avenger as appreciative and supportive words from parents, school board members, and, most notably students countered the inane, ignorant comments we’ve […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Class Divide in Emergency Learning: A Crisis Overseas
By: Barry Anthony Parrenas & Mer Inisa Ogario September 10, 2020 Six years ago, our hometown was struck by Yolanda (international name: Haiyan), the strongest typhoon that has made landfall in recent history. At least 20,000 people died and went missing after the storm; several of our families and friends included. Directly facing the Pacific […]