In sharing last week’s article on the Hidden Stories of the Average American Classroom, several teachers began discussing the need to “Maslow” before you “Bloom.” But what exactly does that mean? Past Writings on “Maslow Before You Bloom” Tomaz Lasic actually wrote about this topic with an article of his own in 2009, where he noted […]
School Improvement
The Mental State of Teaching
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James Is anyone else climbing into this boat and dropping anchor? I know I am. My life has been turned upside down since January with personal struggles, professional struggles and just day-to-day struggles that seem to be heavier than […]
Hidden Stories of the Average American Classroom
I recently attended a professional development presentation on poverty, and one slide that struck me was the structure of the average American classroom. In fact, I cannot stop thinking about it. Doris Baboian (our presenter and Director of Student Services in my district) noted a 2007 joint study by the U.S. Department of Education and […]
Crisis In Flint = Disaster For A Generation Of Students
When hearing news about the financial issues of major cities in the United States, headlines often point to Camden, Cleveland, St. Louis, and, of course, Detroit. Countless articles have been published about the downturn of these formerly bustling hubs. Detroit alone has garnered international development attention from planners looking to avoid such collapses in the […]
Zero Tolerance For Zero Tolerance
As Russell J. Skiba points out in his research on zero-tolerance policies, it’s quite difficult to find the “moment” when our schools implemented zero-tolerance policies in our school, but we can trace the impact of them to the 1994 Free Schools Act as a time when districts were quick to suspend students for fear of […]
What is Close and Critical Reading?
More than six years ago my school district found itself on the state’s list of failing schools. We were not making annual yearly progress (AYP) and it was becoming evident that we couldn’t keep doing what we had always been doing. Our demographics had drastically changed when the industry-heavy area began to crumble and families […]
Why July is the BEST MONTH to be a Teacher (It’s Not What You Think!)
Oh July! How I love thee! The previous school year is in the rear-view mirror and thankfully getting smaller by the day. The next school year feels far off and gleefully removed; after all, a school year only becomes real when it has long enough tentacles to plant the birth pangs of stress in my […]
How to Totally Rock a Teaching Interview
If you’re looking for a new job, you know that the toughest part about finding a new job is the interview process. It’s intimidating enough to interview with just one person, but you’ll find that as a teacher, you’ll almost always interview with a panel of people. Unless you totally rock it, this teaching interview […]