Palo Alto High School English teacher David B. Cohen has done a favor for the teaching profession by writing Capturing the Spark: Inspired Teaching, Thriving Schools. The book pushes back again a tired and prosaic cynicism about the teaching profession that reflexively asserts that American education is in a sad and dilapidated state, soiled by […]
Opinion
Posted inChild Development
On Being Responsible Adults
I’ve always taught my students that we live in a democracy. We even practice it on a daily basis, voting on anything that needs settling, with a “majority rules” mentality. We also discuss the importance of good sportsmanship- a lot. So suffice it to say that when we have an election, and people begin rioting about […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
I Think I Failed You – A Civics Teacher’s Letter to her Former Students
Dear Former Students, I have started this letter a thousand times in my head in the last week. It’s hard to get past the first line: I fear I may have failed you as your Civics teacher. You have probably known me for many years as the one person in your life with unfailing trust […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Will President-Elect Trump be Good for Education?
This past Tuesday, America elected a new President to provide leadership, guidance, and safety for our great country. On January 20, President Obama will spend his last day in the White House, and President-Elect Trump will take over as Commander in Chief for the United States. This is big stuff, considering the difficult election Americans […]
Posted inTeacher Leaders
150 Articles Later: A Reflection on My Time at The Educator’s Room
In October 2012, my local newspaper published “Exhaustion of the American Teacher” by John Kuhn. I remember reading the article once. Twice. Four-hundred times. It simply spoke every frustrated, burnt out end of my professional being. If you haven’t read it yet, please stop reading this article and go there. So, like any curious reader, […]
Posted inOpinion
Why We Need to Vote Down Ballot
I’m just as overwhelmed by the 2016Â presidential election as any of the rest of our readers. The problem is we’ve already made up our minds – so we’re ready to vote and move on. According to Rasmussen, less than 2% of Americans are undecided on whom to vote for in this nearly infinitely long and […]
Posted inCommon Core
We Need our Educators Now More than Ever
We desperately need dedicated educators willing to build a career around serving today’s learners and today’s communities-our tomorrow depends on it. Under the guise of “reform”, public education and teaching have been under a years-long attack driven by private interests in collusion with policymakers looking to profit from and gain control of a private education […]
Posted inOpinion
Homeschooling: Making Education Natural Again
This year has been one of change for me. In January, I left teaching to follow a dream and move with my family to an ecovillage in rural Missouri. Since then, we have been homeschooling our two kids. When we were telling my family about our decision to leave mainstream life behind, they were – […]