Parents and educators alike often ask the same question: Why does it feel like so much classroom time is spent on behavior, emotions, and social skills instead of academics? The short answer is this: learning cannot happen until students are emotionally ready to learn. When Students Aren’t Ready to Learn When I was teaching in […]
Teacher Burnout
Posted inBook Review
Teachers Need More Than Affirmations
A Review of Jamie Sears’ How to Love Teaching Again How to Love Teaching Again: Work Smarter, Beat Burnout, and Watch Your Students Thrive by Jamie Sears, former elementary teacher and founder of Not So Wimpy Teacher, was, to put it simply, not for me. My critiques of this book are multifold, but I’d like […]
Posted inMental Health
The Perfect Storm: How Standardized Testing and the Pandemic are Pushing Teachers to Substance Abuse
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! How many of you go home after a challenging and stressful day in the classroom and kick back with a few drinks or other substances to help you unwind? Are you finding this is happening more and more frequently? […]
Posted inMental Health
From the Classroom to the Bedroom: Tips for Educators to Get More Rest
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Undoubtedly, as educators, we have all had some sleepless nights. There is a never-ending to-do list that haunts our desks during the day. The attention our students require is mentally and physically draining. We teachers have every reason to be […]
Posted inOpinion
Want to Keep Special Education Teachers? Try Mentorship
“[O]ne of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resistance, places where we know we are not alone.” -bell hooks Isolation island seems to be the name of the game when you enter into the special education profession. It’s often a sink or swim mentality which results in teacher retention […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Ask the Educator’s Room: What do I do if a student won’t stop lying?
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Welcome to The Educator’s Room advice column for teachers! Today we’re helping a teacher who is desperate to quit the club she runs. We’re also helping a teacher who’s a student is lying pathologically. See what our writers have […]
Posted inMental Health
Teachers Need Trauma-Informed Practices Too
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! I have recently talked to students who have experienced more death in the last few months than anyone should experience in a lifetime. I have had more friends who have lost loved ones, including young children than I can […]
Posted inOpinion
Being a Black Woman in Special Education is Traumatic. But We Can Change That
Education: To work in special education is never an easy feat. However, “educating within special education as a Black Woman is downright traumatic.” I thought this recently as I stood in the classroom, recalling countless conversations I’d had with my special education colleagues. Black students are referred and assigned to special education restrictive programming at a […]