We all know how it feels to attend a half-hearted PD session we don’t think will be useful in our classrooms. Maybe it’s the content that feels irrelevant or the structure of the session. Whatever the cause, teachers are tired of attending PD that doesn’t fit our personal needs or the needs of our school [...]
The year: 1980 Activists in education are needed now more than ever. I was thirteen years old when I saw this coming. A smug ex-actor with Brylcreemed hair dropped a condescending line in a presidential debate. That isn't a big deal by itself, especially when you consider how low the presidential decency bar currently is. [...]
The temperatures are warming. The skies are bright. The birds are chirping. Spring fever is in full effect, and everyone is awaiting summertime! Unfortunately for educators and students, there is a huge hump to get over...standardized testing. End of the year assessments are looming over us. It seems like the entire school year comes down [...]
The U.S. Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, and I do not see the world the same way. She is interested in privatizing education to support an agenda where parents can use public monies to attend private (mostly religious, mostly Christian) schools. DeVos and her allies have supported charter schools, which have diverted much-needed resources from public [...]
There was a sub for one of my paras a couple of weeks ago and she set up shop in my classroom. We went through the day as usual, with her thoroughly enjoying her role after being out of the classroom for the past few years. At the end of the day, as I was [...]