I make my living by teaching politics to high school seniors and college students. I am not a “read-the-textbook” kind of teacher. I want my students to watch the news. I want them to read political biographies. I want them to watch the complete seven seasons of The West Wing. Of course, few of them […]
Opinion
Posted inElementary School, Featured, Opinion
What If You Couldn't!? — Shifting our Thinking about Teaching
Going into the classroom to finish up the second decade of my career I still learn. My room and my style are different from that first class 19 years ago, but the philosophy behind what I do has not changed. I believe in active learning. I believe in appreciating differences. I believe every child has […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion
How to Stop Zombie Students Dead in Their Tracks
Last week, I wrote about how disengaged students are like zombies. It’s scary how quickly the epidemic of disengaged, zombie students spreads when you don’t take appropriate steps to prevent it, but thankfully there are measures you can take to bring your students back to life without creating a mob. Prevention Imagine a classroom where […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, Opinion
Thoughts on Grading Part 1: To Give or Not to Give a Zero
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a district meeting, and we discussed grading, which is a sensitive subject. While we all grade differently, teach different ways and teach different grade levels (6th-12th), there is one element we all agree on- secondary students are not turning assignments in when they are due. I cannot […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion
Why I Don’t Assign Homework
Homework: The eternal struggle of student, parent, and teacher. I see it all over my Facebook feed and Twitter feed. The lament of parents bemoaning the amount, the complexity, or the sheer ridiculousness of their children’s homework. Homework seems to be the bane of everyone’s existence, doesn’t it? Teachers hate grading it; students hate doing […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Opinion
10 Ways Disengaged Students are like Zombies
With all the zombie flicks out there today, I’ve started to become enthralled with the concept of zombies. I mean, how does a zombie epidemic start anyway? If you watch the movies and television shows out there, you’ll see that multiple theories exist for how zombies might come about, but there’s no research on it or how […]
Posted inFeatured, Opinion
Maybe It’s Just the Wrong School
There are so many people who really hate their job. It is a simply a pay check and that is all. Teaching isn’t like that. It is truly an art and your heart pours into your job. Teaching is part of your soul and many of us would teach for free. Sometimes if you are […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, Opinion
When Life Happens While You Teach
We’ve all been there as educators; trying to teach, coach, supervise, or sponsor school events while life inside and outside of the school comes at you full force. Recently my daughter got married. She decided to get married in September, of all times. She is also a teacher, so I really had a hard time […]