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Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teachers Matter: Attributes of an Effective Secretary of Education
Recently, Elizabeth Warren made headlines with what seems to be a surprising announcement to many. Warren, who is among many other contenders for the 2020 presidential election, announced that if elected president, she will ensure her Education Secretary is “a former public school teacher who is committed to education.” This comment comes after her (one […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Power of Play for All
The 1950s were something of a “golden era” of play. […] Schools had multiple recesses throughout the day, the concept of homework barely existed, and the school year itself was about 4-5 weeks shorter. Fast forward to today….. American kids now spend an average of just 4-7 minutes a day on unstructured outdoor play, and […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Out with Lesson Plans…In with Lesson Design!
Surprise! Lesson design is not a new phrase or concept. However, in the midst of ever-changing educational demands, lesson design has taken a back seat to “lesson plans.” From 5 E to Madeline Hunter, there is a myriad of ways to plan for students. One commonality between these various lesson templates is the idea that […]
Posted inLegal
Copyright Violations in the Classroom: When Beg, Borrow, and Steal Turns into a Crime
When you are a newbie teacher entering the profession, a veteran will pull you to the side and say, “It is okay to beg, borrow, and steal.” It is a teacher right of passage to be told this knowledge and to implement it. Because many schools across the United States are lacking the appropriate resources […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Charter Schools Won’t Bring Us Racial Equity
Earlier this month was National Charter Schools Week, but I was not celebrating. To explain, let me start by saying what equity is, and what it’s not. A common social justice definition of equity is everyone getting what they need to thrive. Equity is not improving outcomes for some, while others get the same or […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Career Clusters Should Not Limit Students
Like most people who attended school in the ’90s and early 2000s, I fully brought into the college = success, no college = failure ideology. I came to teaching as an aide at the age of 22 and expected to encourage students that they must attend college, no other paths. I learned a hard lesson […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Bringing Climate Change into the E/LA Classroom
English/language arts students have the privilege of being “transported across the globe, back in time or into the future” as they read poems, plays, novels, and articles because classrooms are “spaces of discovery, possibility, and participation where students learn to empathize with experiences of people like and unlike themselves” (Beach et al, 2017). These students […]