I will never forget the most tragic moment in one of my students’ lives. It was the first year I taught, and he was in my homeroom. Nobody expected him to be there that day. Why? Both his parents died in a car accident the day before. And, then – there he was. The first […]
Opinion
5 Things I’d Tell Myself in My Earlier Teaching Years
My first few years of teaching were spent scrambling to assemble the perfect lesson plans that would engage my students and still be fun. I spent hours at work instead of with my family. I was completely dedicated and yet afraid of failure. Sometimes, I felt a little lost and sometimes wondered if I had […]
Making Sense of Special Education Paperwork: 3 Systems That Save Me Each and Every Time
I took a new position this year, one where the teaching I’ve been doing is the same, but the paperwork is not, I am a special education teacher in a resource room for kindergarten through third grade. For those of you are new to the special education area (like me) and are literally wallowing in […]
Book Review: The Smartest Kids in the World
The inside cover of Amanda Ripley’s book asks the question, “What’s it like to be a child in the world’s new education superpowers?” – namely South Korea, Poland, and – yes, of course – Finland. To accomplish this, she follows the lives of three separate American teens who serve as foreign exchange students there. In […]
Hiding in the School Building: Why Lockdown Drills Suck
We had our first lockdown drill today. For anyone unfamiliar with these drills, it’s practice for not if, but when we have an armed intruder in our school. It involves hiding all students away from any windows or doors and locking them in a secure place. If I am being completely honest, these drills make […]
TEACHING RESPECT: Removing Creativity Hinders Respect for Teachers
Lack of respect is something that I’ve discussed with many of my fellow educators, as it has seemingly run rampant in recent years. Â The product of our discussions usually center around our love for teaching, but also, we discuss how difficult it has become to maintain in an environment where we do not feel respected […]
Is The Moment of Death Different For a Teacher?
Some day—barring an unforeseen accident or circumstances beyond my comprehension—I will lay dying in my deathbed. I think about this a lot, probably too much. And I know it is macabre and slightly ghoulish to reflect on it as often as I do. I don’t mention this habit to my wife or friends. After all, […]
I No Longer Want to Be Professionally Developed Due to Brain Overload
I love conferences. I always have, and now that I’m working in education, I love them even more. My background is in history and archaeology, so there was always a lot of them. You would prepare research, or just go and listen to what other people in the field were doing. Plus, it was always […]