“Peanut Butter! Peanut Butter!” squeals a spirited 3rd grader and instantly everyone stops, racing over to see what’s been found this time. You see, “peanut butter” is the code word students agreed upon to alert others when they find something cool. It can be a squirmy worm, a gorging caterpillar, an oddly shaped seed, […]
Opinion
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Opinion, School Improvement
What if We Eliminated Standardized Testing?
A significant amount of research has pointed towards standardized testing causing a high level of stress in students, and teachers alike. While the merit of standardized testing can, has, and will continue to be argued over for years to come, imagine for a moment a world in which standardized testing is eliminated from K-12 education altogether. I […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Making the Dual Language Decision
We all know that communicating with parents is essential to being an effective educator, but when the majority of your students speak a different language at home, it becomes frustrating to have to find a translator for every single phone call. I’ve also learned, after numerous confusing emails, not to completely trust Google Translate. I […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Attention Right-Wing: Teachers Aren’t Promoting an Anti-American Agenda
On the eve of Independence Day, columnist Charles Krauthammer appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show and stated that a waning pride in America is largely because “we teach our children about all the pathologies in the United States and very little about the glories.” To be fair, as Carlson acknowledged this precipitous drop in […]
Posted inBack to School
Going Bare: Forget the Pinterest Ready Room
I love scrolling through all the beautiful Pinterest classrooms and seeing just how beautiful a classroom can really be. However, when I looked at my classroom and it was never really Pinterest ready. I felt a pang inside of me wishing I had the money or ability to do this. I realized that I had […]
Posted inOpinion
From (AP) Hell to (Oxford) Heaven and Back: A Summer Confession
34,000 Feet – Somewhere Over the Atlantic I was utterly crushed. There is absolutely no other word to describe it. On the eve of my last day of a magical family holiday, I got the bad news. For the second year in a row my AP scores were disappointing…VERY disappointing. In the wake of last year’s […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Making STEM Matter in Schools
I just got back from a fascinating conference about the state of STEM in U.S. schools, sponsored by U.S. News and World Report. I was compelled by the idea of making STEM matter in schools; as a middle school teacher, I know this is the prime time to hook kids into STEM. This is the […]
Posted inOpinion
Facing Student Death
I’m in total, utter shock. I just learned about the tragic passing of a former student. Upon looking at news articles about the passing of one, I unexpectedly stumbled upon the recent death of another former student. Talk about a punch in the gut: two young lives tragically plucked from the Earth when they should […]