As a teacher listening to calls to defund the police, my first reaction is to shrug and revel that someone else is feeling the misery of being expendable at budget time. Why should I suffer alone? That is a short-sighted view of the movement to defund the police. It’s not a movement to harm police. […]
education
Let the Pandemic be the Mother of Innovation in Schools
The school year is winding down and the states are opening up. Some people are wondering how this summer is going to shape up. Will we be traveling? Having backyard barbecues? Going to the beach? Will we see a resurgence of COVID 19? Educators (and parents), however, are looking toward the fall. Will schools reopen? […]
Opinion: Right Now Things Are Hard, But It’s Going to Be Fine
Right now, things are hard. Nothing feels fine, or normal. As we all know, teaching in person is different than teaching online. There are many things that we as educators are dealing with right now. How do we ensure that our students are learning, when there are some students without the ability to attend online […]
The Case for Graphic Novels in the Classroom
Right now, the world is flooded with articles about teaching at home and adjusting to teaching during this global pandemic. This is not going to be one of those articles. Instead, this article is going to focus on graphic novels and their place in the classroom. To clarify, when I say “graphic novels,” I’m specifically […]
Opinion: The Signs That All Hell Has Broken Loose in Education
Guest Writer: Jill Jackson One of the things I have noticed as I’ve worked with teachers is the chaos. The chaos of professional development (either too much training with no time to actually try anything or so little training teachers are searching social media in desperation to write their own curriculum each night). The […]
The Lost Identity of Teachers: The COVID-19 Story
Due to COVID-19, on Thursday evening, it was announced that all schools in my state would close for two weeks starting the following Monday. Immediately, teachers began cloning themselves, figuring out how to recreate their daily learning experiences in absentia. Remember, a teacher’s value is their ability to listen and analyze the needs of a […]
Shaking Up the Literary Canon
As an English teacher, I’ve noticed that most students tend to gravitate towards contemporary novels, rather than classic literature. Many of them tend to relate better to the characters in modern literature. It makes sense that students would be drawn to these stories, with themes that can relate directly to their lives and struggles today. […]
“Why Didn’t Anyone Help Me?” The Truth Behind Abused Teachers Who Took Matters Into Their Own Hands
When the articles pop up on my timeline, I’m quick to click the link to each and every article that looks or sounds like this: “Teacher assaults student” “Educator and student fights” “Teacher fired after brawl with student” What I find to be interesting is that many, if not all of the teachers involved in […]