About this time last year, I comforted a co-worker after her first post-observation “conversation.” The principal had berated her without allowing my co-worker to defend her lesson plan. Just a few weeks earlier, I had been the target of a post-observation meeting. The principal claimed that my lesson plan was ineffective and not “best practices,” even […]
Professional Development
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
NCTE and ALAN Conference Highlights
I spent the weekend before Thanksgiving in Atlanta, Georgia at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE (ALAN) conferences. As a first-timer, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. I have been to local and state-level teacher conferences before as well as national blogging […]
Posted inCharter Schools
[Podcast S2E12] How to Engage With Students Who Are Behaviorally Challenged
Have you ever received a child in your class who as soon as you see them you know they will be a behavior challenge? Call it teacher intuition, but you can feel it- and most times you’re right. You stay up late racking your brain for strategies for these students, but many times you don’t […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
Revamping Your Resume for a Career Change
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Almost three years ago, I wrote an article entitled, “Jobs For Teachers Who Leave the Profession” about the various jobs teachers could do outside of being in the classroom. After being shared over 1,000,000 times, I figured we should do an update […]
Posted inFeatured, Professional Development
The Importance of Attending Professional Conferences
Last Friday, I attended and presented at the Michigan Council of Teachers of English (MCTE) annual fall conference held in Lansing, Michigan. This was my third consecutive year attending and presenting at a professional conference after many, many years of not going at all. I do not think it’s a coincidence that the past three […]
Posted inCommon Core
Have You Been To A #GAFE Summit?
I’ve been teaching for 26 years – English, AVID, Yearbook, Reading, History and any sort of intervention class that gets thrown my way. I’ve been through whole language and back. I’ve survived NCLB. I’ve been trained in teaching the Gifted and Talented, the At-Risk and 21st-century students. And last weekend, I went to my first […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
Teaching Class (With Class)
In the past, we’ve explored the “10 Ways to Fix Education” mini-series. We’re resurrecting this topic, and one way I’d like to fix education is teaching class (with class). This homophone highlights two items that should be at the forefront of our working memory and, well, our work. The first association – class, a noun […]
Posted inBack to School
The Teacher Olympics – 35 Summer Events For Every Educator
With Rio upon us and, for some, the advent of another school year, I wondered what it would be like if our first days of in-service were summer Olympic-based… if only we could compete in: [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ […]