If schools are like homes, then the location of a teacher’s classroom is often considered prime real estate. However, I did not know how much my neighborhood mattered until faced with forced relocation. Next year, the large suburban high school where I have taught since 2003 will move from random to integrated, from scattered to […]
classrooms
Posted inAdult Learning, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, New Teacher Bootcamp, The New Teacher Chronicles
Dispelling Myths about Teachers
“Stop being such a martyr.” “All these teachers do is whine about how bad they have it.” “It is your choice to put so many hours in. No one is forcing you to do all this.” And my favorite, “You knew what you were getting into.” Yes, I write about the realities of education and […]
Posted inFeatured, High School
Embracing Change: A Teacher’s Journey Across The Desk
When I began at my school in the fall of 2010, change was already in the pipeline. The school was in its fourth year, growing at breakneck speed, and poised to continue to change for the foreseeable future. I was brought on to teach most of our upper grade history courses. This included classes from […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, Uncategorized
Who is Making Educational Decisions?
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] In all of the debate about Common Core and its related testing we are missing the real problem facing teachers and parents today. That problem is the placing of educational decisions […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Why I Lend Out My Personal Books to My Students
In my incredibly messy classroom, behind my desk are my personal books- novels ranging from Pride and Prejudice to Splintered. They are worn underlined, and some have sticky notes in them. About six weeks into the school year, one of my students wanders over there to look at my pictures, then they pick up a […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, Current Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, Opinion
What Am I Thankful For? A Damn Good Public Education
When people ask what one another are thankful for, there are a variety of great answers. Family, is notably and rightfully among the top answers. Many people are thankful for their friends who’ve helped give them guidance. Others are thankful for a home and a place to lie their head, or the food that’s on […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Opinion, Parents
What Is The Most Important Thing A Teacher Can Ever Do?
“To be endowed with a benevolent disposition, and to love others, will almost infallibly procure love and esteem; which is the chief circumstance in life, and facilitates every enterprise and undertaking; besides the satisfaction, which immediately results from it.” — David Hume, “Of Impudence and Modesty” My youngest daughter, Emma Kate, was born two months […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, English Language Learners, Featured, From the Front Lines, Middle School, Principals' Corner, The State of Education
How Can We Build "Cultural Capital" With Our English Language Learners?
By Maria Montalvo-Balbed Often, principals or school leaders with whom I am working ask me to provide them with no more than three implementable strategies to make an ELL population successful. I wish it were that easy to name just three “things” to help students automatically develop great listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. As […]