It was year five in my teaching career, and our principal called us in to bemoan our writing scores from the previous year. It was all the same buzzwords (fidelity, accountability, etc.), and I remember asking a question that changed my teaching beliefs. “If we want kids to be better writers, why aren’t we making […]
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Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
5 Tips for Welcoming First-Time Virtual Students
Virtual learning has its share of issues–slow internet, social disconnection, a lack of cohesion between teacher and student.
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
“Unveiling Bias in G.E.D.: The Untold Stories of History
A professor revisits standardized testing, immigration policy, and the salience of Paulo Freire in times of cultural war. This is in a series on a teacher’s experience teaching a cross-cultural G.E.D. To read the first article, click here. One issue surrounding the G.E.D. has gotten shorter shrift among educators and academics: the test’s somewhat jingoistic […]
Posted inAdult Learning
Going Back to High School to Teach a G.E.D. Class in a Language Not My OwnÂ
A professor revisits standardized testing, immigration policy, and the salience of Paulo Freire in times of cultural war
Posted inEnglish Language Learners
The Headlines About Student Reading Levels are Sobering, But There’s Hope if We Change the Conditions
This morning I opened my laptop, and in my inbox, there were two article titles on reading levels that immediately gave me anxiety. Hear me out. What Teaching Secondary English/Language Arts Used to Be Like As a former High School English teacher, my goal was to make my students think critically about the world around […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teachers Beware: Curse of the Cellphone Screen Zombie Stance
For years, I watched in horror as the curse of the cellphone screen zombie took hold of every student I had, worsening with every update. If having to keep them off their phones all day wasn’t bad enough, most of their time spent in class was on a school-issued device, zombifying them by the hour. […]
Posted inProfessional Development
Co-creational professional development is not just another fad for teachers
When teachers are told they need professional development, it often creates negative emotions that are not addressed by leadership. To teachers, professional development is commonly seen as a time investment that does not address day-to-day job challenges. Co-creational professional development presents a unique opportunity for teachers to have a voice in the creation of their […]
Posted inBook Review
Fighting Fake News: A Book Review for Educators
From political conspiracy theories to the drama of who’s dating who in the celebrity sphere, fake news is all around us. It bombards us from the magazine racks in the grocery store checkout lanes. It pops up on our social media feeds, enticing us to click to see more. Sometimes it even makes it to […]