I am sitting at my desk in my classroom preparing to begin our second semester in this New Year and I’m overwhelmed (as usual) with what needs to be done.Overwhelmed.My focus  is not only preparation  for the upcoming semester, but also on two new students who start Monday. Which means I have no idea where […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Unspeakable Things We Must Speak About
The next time every teacher in this country faces his or her students, whether this week or after the winter break, it will be with a heavy heart and deep sadness. Teachers died on Friday trying to save their students. And there is not a teacher still living who would not do the same. Much […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Opinion, Teacher Branding, The Unemployed Teacher
Education is Changing, and We Must be Ready. An Unemployed Teacher Offers a Place to Start for the New Year.
To buy Cari’s book that details her sudden unemployment, “How to Finish the Test When Your Pencil Breaks” please click here. As a teacher who has been out of work for almost two years now, I find the holidays bring an interesting sense of out-of-sync timing. I can clearly remember the visceral relief at the […]
Posted inLegal, Opinion, Uncategorized
Are More Gun Control Laws Needed?
In light of the horrific tragedy that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut, it is only fitting to discuss gun control laws in our nation. Gun control laws were barely mentioned in this year’s presidential campaign. However, mass shootings have been occurring with more frequency in our country’s recent history.Columbine. Virginia Tech. Tucson. Aurora. Gun control laws […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion, Principals' Corner, Uncategorized
Use Your Holiday Break to Get Political
This summer at my first PSEA Summer Leadership Conference (our union getaway in Gettysburg, PA), I heard what was probably the most interesting speech in years. The president of Student PSEA, a college senior about to begin her student-teaching that fall, talked about politics and education. She said that, while in high school leading up […]
Posted inFeatured, From the Front Lines, Opinion, Parents
Being the Change From the Inside Out
Respect. Responsibility. Perseverance. As teachers we are supposed to not only be good role models for value and character, but we are also supposed to help our students grow in these areas as well. Time and again we hear how society has developed a ‘lack of character’ over the course of several generations. I’ve read numerous articles […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
A Year Without School, Measured in… Fun!
Thanksgiving has just passed, and I’m thinking about my son’s school year so far. Around this time in traditional schools there are parent teacher conferences, 1st quarter report cards have gone out, and the choppy month before winter break begins (where it feels sometimes like there are more breaks than school days). But this year, […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, High School, Opinion
School Shootings From The Eyes of a Student and as a Teacher
I was a sixth grader when a rash of school shootings began in the United States. Between January 1995 and March 2001, 21 multi-victim shootings occurred at schools around the country. I am part of a generation of Americans who learned to be wary of their peers and their schools, who looked for the way out of the school in […]