Discomfort For Solidarity In a recent staff equity meeting, the concept of staff responsibility in gender pronouns came up. It seemed that everyone there had at least one student who used pronouns that didn’t necessarily align with the sex they were assigned at birth. And, they all fully supported the importance of honoring student’s pronouns […]
Mental Health
Posted inCOVID-19
Opinion: The Teacher Stories We Tell Ourselves: Let’s Assume the Best
We (yep, all of us) are stressed. Students are swamped with work and desperate loneliness. Parents are at their wits’ end trying to keep their jobs, kids, and sanity afloat. Teachers are exhausted from the literal and emotional headache of online learning. Administrators are trying to balance the needs of their staff and students […]
Posted inCOVID-19
Being There For Our Students During a Pandemic
In 17 years of teaching, I shudder to think of the number of essays, poems, and stories I’ve read or graded. It is part of the territory I suppose. The majority of the time, the pieces are normal. Then, there are those that make one’s blood run cold. I honestly do not remember the topic […]
Posted inAdult Learning
The Day a School’s Mental Health Professional Needed a Mental Health Day
Guest Writer: Kendra Fogarty Kendra Fogarty is a school counselor whose greatest accomplishment in life has been raising a Gemini toddler. She is also a content crafter who typically writes by moonlight to harness that insomniac midnight magic. Her soul is fueled anytime she gets lost in the woods, nails a dessert recipe, spins a […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teachers: The Way Home Is Through Baghdad
That holiday break we recently finished was not a vacation. It was only a breath, a moment of pause in a pandemic. Sure, many of us rested but how many educators feel refreshed and ready to return? This piece is not about toxic positivity. No one has the patience for phrases like, “You got this!” or “We […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
4 Ways This Teacher Is Thankful
Teachers are constantly pushing. Pushing students to write better. Pushing them to read more challenging materials. Pushing them to make better arguments. Pushing them to practice their music. Then, when students master the task at hand, teachers find something else to improve. It’s implicit in the job. This constant drive to grow and be better […]
Posted inMental Health
Unseen Forces: The Students Who Often Aren’t Seen
The turning of pages and an occasional sigh filled in the dead spaces as my class of 7th graders quietly read or pretended to read the assigned text that afternoon while I roamed around the room visiting with an assortment of students checking in on their understanding of the text. The words “You can’t make […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
The 5 Stages of Grief Pandemic Style
This morning I attended a virtual conference on Teacher Self Care presented by the Educator’s Room. First of all, this was so nice to be connected with like-minded people and not feel isolated for a change. During one session presented by Caitlin Mehra on emotions. It was here I had my own “Aha” moment regarding […]