Every year, I get to the part in my high school curriculum where I start to introduce Shakespeare’s Macbeth. And every year, the students complain. “Why do we have to read this?” “What’s even the point of Shakespeare?” “I don’t understand anything that’s happening right now.” “What is this?!” And every year, I tell them […]
education policy
Posted inThe State of Education
Let’s talk about Testing Anxiety in Children
I can still remember how I felt as I looked at the tears falling from one of my brightest students as she sat in her assigned seat for the Georgia Milestones Assessment last spring. Because I was mandated to sign my life away on a form acknowledging the serious nature of standardized testing, all I […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
Is Teaching Even About Teaching Anymore?
“Teaching isn’t even about teaching anymore.” When these words flowed from my fellow coworker’s mouth, I felt my heart skip a beat. She was absolutely right. Although I’m still considered a newbie in this game called teaching, I knew exactly what she was talking about. Teaching Has Become a Business From my limited view, I […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
[Opinion] Ending School Terrorism
Guest Writer: Doug Carroll, Ed. D. In a free society, there is an expectation in the exchange for protection by the government a certain amount of personal liberty will be voluntarily sacrificed. Since the terror attacks on 9/11, U.S. citizens have invested trillions of dollars to protect the homeland from terror attacks diverting scarce financial […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
10 Things Teachers DID NOT Have to Deal With 10 Years Ago
Something is wrong—very, very wrong. Teachers across the country at all grade levels, in all subjects, teaching a wide variety of student populations, can sense it. There is a pulse of dysfunction, a steady palpitation of doom that the path we are on is not properly oriented. There is a raw and amorphous anxiety creeping […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
The Importance of the 2018 Mid-Term Elections: A Teacher’s Perspective
American democracy is at a crossroads. In November of this year, the American electorate will go to the polls to decide which party should control the Congress of the United States and set policy on the federal level. Majorities in many state legislatures and governorships across the nation will also be decided. As it stands […]
Posted inThe State of Education
I Didn’t Sign Up To Be A Hero
I did not sign up to be a hero. No, that was not part of my plan. At least, not in the way that most people think of heroes. When most of us think of heroes, we think of warriors or people who put their lives on the line on a regular to protect others […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines
Dear TER Readers and Educators: Let’s Change the World
Dear TER Readers and Educators, I’m not asking for much, just your help changing the world. It may sound like an overstatement, but I wholeheartedly believe that improving the American education system is the only path to lasting, meaningful change in all areas of society and citizenship. I also wholeheartedly believe that the educators in […]