We got the kids back. So why is it still so hard to reach them? Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Like many educators, I was excited when we managed to reopen our little Washington DC charter school last August. As middle school principal, I’d […]
COVID-19
Posted inOpinion
Before You Quit Education, What’s Your Plan?
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Are you exhausted beyond the point of no return? Does your exhaustion signal an exodus? If your answer is yes, are you pretty darn close to saying enough is enough? You are not alone! The education world is in […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines
Teaching Was Never Sustainable
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! I am approaching eight months since my last day as a teacher. I miss the excitement, joy, and challenges of working with young people. But, I’d be lying if I said I have any second thoughts about my decision to leave the classroom. […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
Paid Time Off Is a Thing of the Past for Teachers
By: Dana Brown Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! “I’ve decided that I will return to work on Friday. I am out of sick leave and COVID days. I am still positive for COVID, and the CDC suggests quarantining for five days if symptoms resolve, or ten […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
How to Uncover Hidden Homelessness in the Classroom
Tornadoes, wildfires, evictions, and rising housing costs displace families in ways previously unknown in our communities. National data showed that nearly 1.4 million children, PK-12, experienced homelessness during the 2018-2019 school year, in a pre-pandemic world. What happened since has likely chopped up the data and scattered it in the wind to be found and […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
A Teacher Lost in the Dust
I am sitting in the back of the school bus. Waves rock my body as we navigate the red sandy-washed roads. I’ve been riding in traditional yellow buses just about my whole life as a student, teacher, and chaperone. This time is different. Traditional Navajo songs echo through the bus, intermittent with the news Dine’ […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Dear First Year Teacher: This Is a Time Like No Other
It’s been nineteen years since I walked into my first classroom, but I remember it like yesterday. It was a small private school on the far south side of Chicago. The school had little money, I was the only English teacher for 9-12 grade, and my 80+ students came from a whole range of experiences and socio-economic circumstances.
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Parable of a Teacher’s Post-Pandemic Pause
“I gotta fight every night to prove my love!” I will never forget this scene from the movie The Five Heartbeats when the boyfriend comes back to the table and find his girl with another man. Now, how in the world am I going to relate that line to teaching? For those of us in […]