Welcome to 2018, where schools are permitted to hold pep rallies for students to “get them excited” about standardized tests (like that ever worked!?), but if a teacher makes his students – 95% of whom are free and reduced lunch – pancakes during the tests, that leads to him being fired. Seriously. This isn’t an […]
Opinion
10 Things Teachers DID NOT Have to Deal With 10 Years Ago
Something is wrong—very, very wrong. Teachers across the country at all grade levels, in all subjects, teaching a wide variety of student populations, can sense it. There is a pulse of dysfunction, a steady palpitation of doom that the path we are on is not properly oriented. There is a raw and amorphous anxiety creeping […]
The Importance of the 2018 Mid-Term Elections: A Teacher’s Perspective
American democracy is at a crossroads. In November of this year, the American electorate will go to the polls to decide which party should control the Congress of the United States and set policy on the federal level. Majorities in many state legislatures and governorships across the nation will also be decided. As it stands […]
Why the Teacher-Hero Model of Education is Doomed to Fail
“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald I’m not a hero. Neither are my colleagues. And here is the really important thing to note: no one should expect us to be. And here is the really, really important thing: the success and failure of modern American education […]
Teaching The Legacy of Dr. King: Fifty Years Later
I sit to write on the waning hours of April 4, 2018, fifty years after the assassination and death of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was seven when we all heard the news of his death. Even at that young age, I knew something had happened that would change the direction of my nation, indeed; […]
50 Years Later: What Teachers Need to Remember About Dr. King’s Legacy
“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want […]
Today We Walked-The Oklahoma Edition
Today we walked out in Oklahoma. Not out of selfishness or resentment. Not out of discourse for our jobs. Not out of spite. [bctt tweet=”We walked out – for our kids. ” username=””] We walked out because we do not have adequate supplies for our classrooms. We do not have a curriculum for our students. […]
Educators React to the March for Our Lives
Young People Take the Lead On March 24, 2018, in the wake of the February 14, 2018, school shooting in Parkland, Florida, anti-gun violence marches were held in the nation’s capital and around the globe. A record 800,000 attended the DC march, coordinated and led in large part by the students who survived the Parkland […]