Three weeks ago I made the difficult decision to leave my school and accept a 4th grade co-teaching position at another public school just blocks away. When I came back to teaching after a year in grad school, one thing that had changed for me was a deeper commitment to build community within and outside my […]
Principals’ Corner
Principals.
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
What Every (New) Principal Needs to Know
For some principals, the 2019-2020 school year will be their first time taking the helm of a school. Yesterday, we asked a question from a new principal to our 100,000+ subscribers about what a new principal should NEVER do and here are the answers they gave: New principals should NEVER… talk data on the first […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, How to Fix Education, Instruction & Curriculum, Principals' Corner, Teacher Leaders
Teacher Resignation Accepted
Guest Post: By Patricia Wood August 2004- Jan 2016 Resigned. My teaching career is over. “Hey Mr. S, can I talk to you for a minute?” I poked my head into my principal’s office, hoping I could ask his advice. I wanted to know how to proceed on taking advantage of the unpaid family leave […]
Posted inHigh School
Don’t Forget Us: A Letter to Principals
I have taught under four principals in my short career, and unfortunately, none of them has inspired me to be a better educator. Tragically, all but one have contributed to my loss of faith in our current education system. When I pursued this career, I imagined my administrators to be like the Hall Directors at […]
Posted inHigh School, Interviews, Opinion, Principals' Corner, The Unemployed Teacher
Transition Time: Finding the Right School Fit Over Summer
Summer means leaving a school for greener pastures for many educators, but how is one to know if the new school is going to be better? Here’s a brief checklist I’ve used during interviews in years past to figure out whether a school is a possible home or a major flop: 1. Outlook and attitude […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Principals' Corner
Differentiation Isn't Dead
Differentiation is the one word in education that make the most subdued educators scream out in pain. Principals use it in evaluations like it’s going out of style, and content specialists talk about it like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Meanwhile, educators maintain intense fear when the word “differentiation” is uttered in conversation because […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Principals' Corner
Differentiation Isn’t Dead
Differentiation is the one word in education that make the most subdued educators scream out in pain. Principals use it in evaluations like it’s going out of style, and content specialists talk about it like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Meanwhile, educators maintain intense fear when the word “differentiation” is uttered in conversation because […]
Posted inUncategorized
Who Will Care for the Teachers?
When I sat down to write this piece, my purpose was to scribe a thinly veiled, autobiographical accounting of my own experience of surviving the middle school classroom while I struggled with depression. However, wanting to avoid the cathartic-memoir trope, I planned to include information on the prevalence of depressive disorders among classroom teachers .I […]