When I began my teaching career, I had to follow several routine requirements to proceed: fingerprinting, background checks, and vaccinations. These are the basic required vaccinations:  Varicella-zoster; MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella); Seasonal influenza; Human papillomaviruses (HPV) (eleven through twenty-six years of age); Others as determined by the ACIP and state and local public health […]
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Posted inAsk a Teacher
Teach to the Rest: How the Pandemic Could Be the Best Thing for Education in 20 Years
What’s getting you through 2020’s chaos? For me, it’s the knowledge that education could change, and not by a little. As with all things education, I’m not alone of course, And many others have come before me. I know because I used the pandemic to read them all. Reardon and Timar. Ravitch and Tatum, Delpit […]
Posted inCOVID-19
Special Education and Social Distancing- The Struggle All Around
Erin Popper has been a Special Education Teacher in Florida for seven years. She has taught a wide range of disabilities in various classroom settings. She earned her Master’s Degree in Special Education from Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers, FL. Erin’s extracurricular activities include, but are not limited to, coaching high school swimming, […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
A Canary in the Coal Mine: The Truth We Need to Remember Post-Pandemic About Virtual Schooling
Education these days feels a bit like science fiction, doesn’t it? When I think of my students and my own daughter learning virtually, I wonder if anyone else is remembering Keanu Reeves’ character Neo in The Matrix? If you aren’t much into the science fiction genre, just picture a man plugged into a computer while […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Building a Plane While Flying, Lessons Learned from a Hybrid Teacher and His Student Teacher
In our district, it has become obvious that a return to what school once was will now come in phases. And that means an interim period where we are, as my principal recently remarked, building a plane while also flying it. My student teacher and I departed that flight in phase one of our district’s […]
Posted inCOVID
Remote Elementary Teaching Sucks. Get Over It and Prepare for Survival
This remote teaching thing sucks, but I realize it’s not about me. What am I going to do about it? I have no magic wand to wave to make COVID go away or to have students do school the way they should be able to without all the social distancing and with all the snack-sharing, […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
All the Things We Lose to Standardized Testing…Even During a Pandemic
While many debates on whether or not standardized testing should be a part of the 2020-2021 school year, I (and many other educators) are still wondering why it exists at all. Don’t get me wrong, I see value in data and tracking student progress. However, I absolutely do not see value in billion-dollar testing companies, […]
Posted inSocial Justice
Stop Pushing Your Black and Brown Students Out of School
I have always known my place as a white educator – and that place is one of constant growth, reflection, and education. When I was in my teacher prep program, I knew I wanted to teach in a high needs school. Admittedly, I was scared to pursue it immediately even if I knew it was […]