Recently, after reading a troubling article in the New York Times detailing students’ alarming pranks against teachers, I found myself drawn to the comments section. While I shared in the outcry for discipline and action, I couldn’t help but cringe at the focus on the perceived lack of empathy displayed by the students. Research indicates […]
Languages
Posted inEnglish Language Learners
Writing in Reverse: A strategy to strengthen student writing
In the high school English classroom, one assessment continues to reign supreme: the essay. Informative, argumentative, and narrative essays have stood the test of time and for good reason. Essays allow students to showcase a multitude of skills across the common core, from research to literary analysis, creative writing to conventions. Not to mention the metacognitive […]
Posted inSocial Justice
Understanding Ramadan: A Classroom Teacher’s Guide
This year at the end of February, approximately 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide will be observing the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month of the lunar Islamic calendar, which begins the morning after sighting the last sliver of a crescent moon before a new moon and lasts for 30 days. The observance of […]
Posted inCulturally Responsive Teaching
Tea, Bannock & Poetry – A Teacher’s Tale
I pulled into the parking lot and parked in my usual place. I was always early, and there was only one other car in the parking lot. I hopped out and got my extension cord to plug in the block heater. The cord was still frozen and had to be carefully untangled. The drive to […]
Posted inPedagogy
Honor Mother Languages in Your Classroom
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! As a young girl, newly immigrated from Guatemala, I wondered whether my new teachers and classmates saw the real me -an individual with diverse thoughts, ideas, language, and culture. I felt alone and scared as I tried to overcome […]
Posted inEnglish Language Learners
English in America: Is English Really our “Official” Language in Schools?
English, the “Official” American Language Although the United States does not have an official language, everyone knows that English is the language of the land. Despite our history of multilingual immigrants who later became Americans, English has always been the “American language.” Our school system has reinforced this idea and has caused many challenges for […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
5 Tips for Navigating the International School Job Fair
Many teachers dream of leaving their home country to be an international teacher. It’s hard to blame them. The class sizes are often astronomically smaller, the pay is better (compared to the new country’s standard of living), and the benefits often include housing, airfare, more time off, and a chance to travel and learn a […]
Posted inAdult Learning
American Values In the Classroom and Community: Where do we stand as a nation today?
As a teacher and American citizen, it is difficult to discern what values we stand for as a nation today. It seems that our government has blurred the lines between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, equality and discrimination, and honesty and scandal. In the pendulum swing from the “post-racial” Obama years to the quasi-authoritarian […]