AN ACT DECLARING APRIL “THE WORST MONTH TO TEACH” Be it enacted by The Educator’s Room Readers and Writers: Whereas, by now, students and teachers have shared on average 130 classroom days together; Whereas teachers have hit the “survival mode button” more times than Staples customers have hit the “That Was Easy” button; Whereas students […]
Opinion
I Wish Everyone Knew How Long It Takes to Plan Great Lessons
Teachers know what perfect storms in our profession look like. When you’re a teacher, the colloquialism “when it rains it pours” just isn’t enough. When it rains, we feel like we’re antediluvian Noah – minus the ark. Often, the only way out of the flood is the feeling after a great lesson has seen its […]
What a Teacher Wants: One Teacher’s View
What do teachers want? Within the last four months, there has been so much controversy in the education including but not limited to, a teacher who was arrested for questioning a superintendent’s salary, there have been multiple school shootings, movements to arm teachers in the classroom, and strikes. So what do teachers want? I don’t […]
5 Signs You Have Become a Teaching Dinosaur – Are you Ready for Retirement?
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he’s a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he’s to setting. It happens suddenly in the course of a teaching […]
One Future of K-12 Education: From the Factory to a Personalized Model
From the Factory to a Personalized Model If you’re old enough, try to think back to the way teaching and learning was designed 40 or 50 years ago. The teacher was the “sage on the stage.” He or she had the subject information in their mind, and it was up to the teacher to make […]
Artist is Not a Dirty Word
I have been accused of demoralizing our profession by using the word “artist or art” when I refer to teaching. I stand by it. I was an artist before I was a teacher, a mother, or even a wife. Teaching is an art, and I challenge anyone to question it. Yes, we are artists, but […]
Using Current Events in Teaching the Executive Branch
As an eighth-grade civics teacher, I am about to start my unit of study on the Executive Branch. To be honest, I’m a little scared. Strike that. I am very scared. “Why are you scared, George?” you may ask. “If you stick to the facts, you’ll have nothing to worry about,” In normal times, I’d […]
The Death of Reflection in English/Language Arts Classrooms
I had the saddest experience today. In English IV, British Literature, I assign my students a coat of arms assignment. They have to design a personal coat of arms on a poster then write about the color, animals, motto, and research their first and last name. They have to write an experience they went through […]