Look around your school. Who would be the person to talk to your students about race and how it affects minorities? Who would start the conversation about Alton Sterling or Philando Castille? If you cannot think of anyone, there is an issue. If you don’t think children need to discuss racially charged incidents, there is an […]
effective teachers
Posted inHigh School, Literacy, Special Education
Dewey in 2016: Still Relevant?
When I was pursuing my master’s in education, I spent a great deal of time examining the philosophies of various critical theorists. Vygotsky, Piaget, Freire, Montessori, Gardner, Pestalozzi and a whole host of other big educational names became part of my courses of study. Knowing these philosophers and their perspectives even helped me pass Florida’s […]
Posted inUncategorized
Who Will Care for the Teachers?
When I sat down to write this piece, my purpose was to scribe a thinly veiled, autobiographical accounting of my own experience of surviving the middle school classroom while I struggled with depression. However, wanting to avoid the cathartic-memoir trope, I planned to include information on the prevalence of depressive disorders among classroom teachers .I […]
Posted inFeatured, Teacher Burnout
Teacher Burnout: When to Leave the Classroom
Often it can seem the perceived view of teachers is we are fun, loving, organized, caring, sweet, innocent people because we love children. We spend hours creating lessons that engage our students and develop their passion to grow as people, and learners. What is more fun, caring, organized, loving, sweet, and innocent than that? We never […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies
Stop Grading Everything! On Grading What Matters
What should teachers include in their grade book? Coming from several school cultures where there is a category for everything and almost everything is graded, I notice a recurring theme. Students who typically do well continue to do so, but the students who struggle rarely find success. The fact that homework, classwork, quizzes, and tests […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Mathematics
Failure is not an Option: The Interactive Approach to Learning
So many articles out there lately talk about the downfalls of education and the humiliation of the public school teacher. The question is, do we have the resources out there to help those struggling students–the ones in urban areas living in poverty–to meet the same standards as their peers? If you ask my boss, the […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, Special Education
The Experts Among Us: The Value of Mentorship
My first year of teaching, I knew nothing about teaching. I had a vague concept of what teaching looked like based on television shows, movies, and books. As a lateral entry teacher, I had to study and take a test that demonstrated my understanding of child development, special education, and the tenets of teaching and learning. […]
Posted inFeatured, Instructional Strategies
Thank You In Advance: The Power of Expectation
One of our counselors recently came in to speak to each of my block classes about an upcoming mentoring program in which they were about to be involved. As she spoke, she kept saying things like, “I know this may be new, but I thank you in advance for cooperating and giving it a chance. Thank you […]