by Guest Writer Bailey Cavender As a first year teacher, I never really understood summer vacation until school ended for the year this past week. Sure, I enjoyed summer vacation while I was a student. It was nice to have some time to read books for fun or to watch a movie […]
Teacher Burnout
Posted inOpinion
An Awful Moment: Choosing to Say Goodbye to a School
Fellow educators, many of us on the front lines in the schools of America are bearing witness to “an awful moment” in the history of education. We are losing many soldiers, as the fight becomes too hard to bear. As many of you in education know, education is clearly supposed to be about the students. […]
Posted inProfessional Development
The Reality Conundrum: What We Know Works vs. What We are Required To Do
The reality is this: what we know works and what we are required to do as teachers often don’t align. The conundrum is how to choose. We want to choose what we know is best for our students 100% of the time. Sadly, our institutional inertia and regulation and testing means that too often isn’t possible. […]
Posted inParents
More Rural Schools Journal: The Sick Day
On a recent Thursday afternoon, I decide to take a sick day. I just called for a sub to cover my duties tomorrow. I’m taking a “sick day.” My youngest, (of the three girls I have written so much about in the past) didn’t really want to go to school this morning, was clearly feeling […]
Posted inParents, Teacher Burnout
Teacher Sacrifices vs Sacrificing Teachers
This is a snip from an article in my “library,” and was written by a non-teacher lucky enough to have a teacher-spouse. It struck a chord with me, because I wonder sometimes how my wife feels about the time I spend at school, the amount of work I bring home from school, and the amount […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
A Dear John Letter to My Career in Education
Dear Education Career, It’s been a great 15 years, and I thank you but it’s time for me to go now. I remember when we first met back in college. You were so enticing; working with kids, the other professionals dedicated to making a difference, empowering change and knowledge in a strong field. When I […]
Posted inTeacher Burnout
Teaching is Really all About Love
It took me years to embrace this truth: teaching really is all about love. To all those cynics who immediately say there is more to it: yes, of course, the skills of a teacher extend beyond the heart. But nothing matters without love. Why is this so hard to accept? Even those of us who […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines
The Hardest Parts Of Teaching
These are the hard parts of teaching: Waking up from a nightmare where you’re out of breath and can’t find your classroom and are teaching in a foreign language to a group of kids who could care less about being there and you wonder, when you wake up, how that part of your fears will […]