We are on day three of the Oklahoma Walkout. Our governor made the comment yesterday that we [teachers] were acting like a bunch of spoiled “teenagers who want a better car.” One of our legislatures went Live on Facebook and said we were never going to be happy and that he “wasn’t supporting teachers anymore!” […]
Special Education
Today We Walked-The Oklahoma Edition
Today we walked out in Oklahoma. Not out of selfishness or resentment. Not out of discourse for our jobs. Not out of spite. [bctt tweet=”We walked out – for our kids. ” username=””] We walked out because we do not have adequate supplies for our classrooms. We do not have a curriculum for our students. […]
One Future of K-12 Education: From the Factory to a Personalized Model
From the Factory to a Personalized Model If you’re old enough, try to think back to the way teaching and learning was designed 40 or 50 years ago. The teacher was the “sage on the stage.” He or she had the subject information in their mind, and it was up to the teacher to make […]
Using Popular Music in the Secondary Classroom
Teachers born between 1950 and 1980 makeup both the baby-boom generation and those known as “Generation X.” The music with which they grew up is a reflection of the historical periods that produced it – Vietnam, the Cold War, the Fall of Communism, September 11, 2001, and the events that followed. Teachers of social studies […]
Related Service Professionals Can Ease Teacher Demands
Related service professionals are a key component to many students’ success in education. For many students who receive special education services, related services, such as occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, or hearing support, are a factor which helps to make his or her educational experiences more meaningful and worthwhile. Despite these opportunities, many teachers […]
Making Special Education Work For Everyone
I teach in a mild/moderate special education classroom, meaning that all of my kids are on IEPs and have been placed in my room because they meet disability criteria that my school district recognizes. They are able to attend a regular education classroom for all other subjects besides reading, language arts, math and adaptive behavior. […]
Making Sense of Special Education Paperwork: 3 Systems That Save Me Each and Every Time
I took a new position this year, one where the teaching I’ve been doing is the same, but the paperwork is not, I am a special education teacher in a resource room for kindergarten through third grade. For those of you are new to the special education area (like me) and are literally wallowing in […]
My Coming Out As A Conservative Teacher
The phone rang, and on the other end was the principal of the elementary school I had interviewed at just a few days prior. The middle school where I had worked until the end of that school year had to lay me off due to low numbers in my special education specialty area. But, my […]
