Guest Writer: Chele Allan It’s taken me quite a while to psychologically and emotionally process the Parkland school shooting. As a teacher in Florida, this is very close to home. My own school had an active shooter less than one block from the campus earlier this school year. While the shooter wasn’t after students, he […]
Opinion
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
More Than A Teacher
Teaching is an art, a sacrifice, and has the goal of changing the future one child at a time. It’s a noble profession, but does that make you all that you are? I think the public forgets we are more than teachers. We are parents and children. We are husbands, wives, and significant others. We […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
I Used To Teach on $30,000: Supporting West Virginia and Oklahoma Strikes
Like most college graduates in 2005, I was just glad to have a job in education. Better yet that I was hired at my Alma mater school, nestled in the coal region of Pennsylvania. Here I knew the teachers, the culture, and the community. But I still remember a conversation my uncle, who just retired […]
Posted inOpinion
Are the Kids Alright? Student Reflections on School Shootings
If an event is taking place out in the world, I want my students to know my classroom is a safe space for them to discuss those situations inside our classroom. As a literacy coach and teacher, it is important I give my students the time to process and reflect before we have discussions. To […]
Posted inOpinion
You Are NO Education Expert…UNLESS You Have Done THIS!
Maybe this sounds harsh, but if you haven’t attempted to teach young people in the era of smartphones; if you haven’t competed with their ubiquitous presence, compulsive aura, and endless usage, then you probably don’t know what you are talking about regarding teaching, pedagogy, or education in general. If you haven’t had students become borderline […]
Posted inElectives & Special Areas
Using Popular Music in the Secondary Classroom
Teachers born between 1950 and 1980 makeup both the baby-boom generation and those known as “Generation X.” The music with which they grew up is a reflection of the historical periods that produced it – Vietnam, the Cold War, the Fall of Communism, September 11, 2001, and the events that followed. Teachers of social studies […]
Posted inSocial Studies
Social Studies in a Political Era
“Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall!” Several of my 8th-grade students chanted President Trump’s campaign slogan several times when I explained to the students our next unit would be on immigration. One student, perhaps the brightest I’ve ever taught, approached me after class that day and asked me, bluntly, “Mr. Miller, what […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
If That’s What it Takes, Students Should Be Outspoken, Feisty, and Rebellious
I’m mad. I’m furious. And I feel alone. According to EveryTown for Gun Safety Support Fund, “Since 2013, there have been nearly 300 school shootings.” How did we get here? How did we get to a society which broadcasts more violence and hatred than kindness and generosity? A society where people are more likely to turn […]