To buy Cari’s book that details her sudden unemployment, “How to Finish the Test When Your Pencil Breaks” please click here. As a teacher who has been out of work for almost two years now, I find the holidays bring an interesting sense of out-of-sync timing. I can clearly remember the visceral relief at the […]
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Posted inFeatured, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, Uncategorized
Raising Boys' Achievement Involves More Male Teachers
It’s no shock to any reader – teacher or parent – to learn that boys are not just falling behind, they’re sinking. In the middle school where I teach, of our nearly 1,100 students, roughly 80% of the special education students are male. More than 2/3 of the students failing classes are male. More than […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, High School, Opinion
School Shootings From The Eyes of a Student and as a Teacher
I was a sixth grader when a rash of school shootings began in the United States. Between January 1995 and March 2001, 21 multi-victim shootings occurred at schools around the country. I am part of a generation of Americans who learned to be wary of their peers and their schools, who looked for the way out of the school in […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines, Opinion
The Gift of Giving: Sabbaticals for Teachers are Needed!
I just read an interesting blog on Surviving Teaching by Cool Cat Teacher, Vicki Davis and John Kuhn’s viral hit, The Exhaustion of the American Teacher.  Teacher burnout is a perennial problem. It is impossible to survive with idealism, purpose and dignity intact amid changing mandates, recessions, and media inflamed paranoia about American public education. Public schools do not advertise or […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, Featured, From the Front Lines
{Ask a Teacher} I Feel Like I'm Stuck In the Teaching Profession!
Question #4- I’m stuck. Literally stuck. This is my 12th year teaching and because of the pressure of kids passing tests, unruly students, privileged parents who are insanely rude to the teachers–I rarely want to come to work. I’ve considered quitting but ultimately my students will suffer. How can I get through this year without […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Opinion, The Unemployed Teacher
Teachable Moments During Teacher Unemployment
As teachers, we instinctively look for those teachable moments in the classroom. You know them – those moments when suddenly space and time open up to reveal an opportunity to take what is at hand and turn it into a way to delve more deeply into whatever subject we are teaching. Exercising this habit outside […]
Posted inOpinion, The Unemployed Teacher
Education Myths that Eliminate Good Teachers
Teachers are among the many casualties of this faltering economy, especially young, motivated teachers. So many promising educators –who have chosen a career path of little financial reward because they want to help growing young minds — are waiting in the wings, wondering when they’ll get their opportunity.  Those new teachers now must compete with […]
Posted inFeatured, Opinion, The Unemployed Teacher
The Unemployed Teacher: Why Do We Become Teachers?
This is my second school year (and 16th month) without a permanent teaching position. Like thousands of other out-of-work teachers, I spend many hours a week looking and applying for jobs. The world of unemployment is filled with extremely relentless efforts that produce very regular rejections. Sometimes you hit a job opening at just the […]