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 […]
helping students
Posted inFrom the Front Lines
7 Hidden Reasons Teachers Deserve a Pay Raise
Across the country, teachers are fighting for their rights to a fair salary, and for good reason. If you think teachers don’t deserve better pay because you truly believe that they only work from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon, you’ve clearly never met a teacher. Teachers today do so much more […]
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 […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, From the Front Lines
My Mission to Create Successful Students
How can teachers create more success in the classroom? Teachers everywhere clamor for the answer to this question in the face of increasingly higher demands on state assessments. In interviews with various teachers, Nieto (2003) revealed that caring will change the behavior of students. Further, Kottler, Kottler, and Zehm (2005) note that the teachers who […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured
Why Emotions Matter in the Classroom
A teacher’s job is about more than just knowledge of content area. At times, it seems that so much of what we do every day has more to do with teaching social skills and everyday life skills than what our subject matter. Is it a waste of time to focus on the emotional well-being of the […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Opinion
10 Ways Disengaged Students are like Zombies
With all the zombie flicks out there today, I’ve started to become enthralled with the concept of zombies. I mean, how does a zombie epidemic start anyway? If you watch the movies and television shows out there, you’ll see that multiple theories exist for how zombies might come about, but there’s no research on it or how […]
Posted inFeatured
Teaching: Why It's Not Just a J-O-B to Me
I often bring my work home with me–if not physically, then mentally. I’m a reflective person by nature, and I carry around the weight of my decisions, good or bad, everywhere I go. When I cannot right what’s wrong, fix every problem, or make the unjust just again, my passion for what I do makes […]
Posted inFeatured, How to Fix Education, Opinion, Uncategorized
Drive: Debunking Standardized Tests & Merit Pay In One Book & Video
I’m going to admit – I’ve been a bit flummoxed lately. Perplexed. Bemused. Set back. I tussle with many of life’s questions, but one of the greatest is — How do I help my students achieve more? As a 9-year teacher, I stand in front of the classroom with a wide variety of tools on […]