Like most teachers, I had been managing to keep a level head regardless of the immense pressure I am under in today’s classroom climate. Doing my best to provide quality virtual, hybrid instruction; remain positive and upbeat for my students; and having an overall optimistic demeanor in the face of a deadly pandemic. So naturally, […]
COVID-19
Posted inCOVID-19
How Reverse Halloween Helped My Students Feel Connected to Me As Their Teacher
If I’m being honest, not everyone understood the concept of reversing Halloween at first. But I was convinced the theory was sound. And perhaps because I’ve known how disconnected my own daughter feels, I’ve tried to find creative ways to connect with families. I’ve formed friendships with dogs, left a lot of things on doorsteps. […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Rebranding the Dreaded Essay: How to Demystify Essays and Make Them Meaningful During COVID-19
Whenever students hear the word “essay,” they groan, eye roll, and plead for something, anything else. Similarly, most adults I know remember high school or college essays they grudgingly finished just under the wire; late-night coffee, obsessive word counting, and a fair amount of teacher-specific bs-ing. It’s clear “The Essay” gets a bad rap, and […]
Posted inCOVID
This is Not the Way it Should Feel to Teach
What’s up with teaching. There is something amazing about that first sip of coffee on an almost cold enough to snow Sunday morning. Even at pretend 4:30 AM (because it’s still 5:30 real AMs to me), and at sixty-three real degrees in my living room, even though I have the thermostat set for what I […]
Posted inCOVID-19
I’m Not a Lunch Bunch Kind of Teacher But COVID-19 Has Changed Me
by Jennifer M. Sierra I’ve never been a “lunch bunch” kind of teacher. I’ve spent most of my career teaching high school—mostly juniors, a few sophomores, a few seniors. Even now, in my fourth year of teaching middle school, the concept of a lunch bunch is still way too elementary for me. Additionally, it’s […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
My Students Are Getting Me Through This Pandemic
I walk up the stairs trying to find the new weight room, the location of our school’s “rapid” Covid-19 testing area. My nose swabbed by a woman donned in full personal protection equipment makes me think of a scene from a dystopian movie. As I exit, I see one of my students arrive with what […]
Posted inCoronavirus, COVID, COVID-19
Shaking, Sanitized Hands: Building New Student Relationships while Grieving Old Ones
My hands were shaking as the bell rang for the first day of the 2020-2021 school year. I know it sounds cliche to say that my hands were shaking. Everyone writes that their hands were shaking to indicate nervousness but I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that my hands were literally shaking so hard […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Genius Hour: A Perfect Way to Make Virtual Learning BURST!
In the beginning … On this particular day in my classroom, you would have found a service dog standing faithfully by their owner as she explained how her dog detected her insulin levels. Or you might notice a laptop flashing intricate patterns of code while a robot zoomed up to you carrying a piece of […]