Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Don’t Say Gay legislation. Limiting classroom discussions of “controversial” topics, including many that we simply call “history.” Removing books from school libraries. Requiring online posting of lesson plans and instructional materials. Installing classroom cameras. Banning diversity training. Questioning social/emotional […]
opinion
Posted inOpinion
The Power of Language: Presidential Debate Edition
I try to teach my students that language has power. There are many unfortunate classroom moments when teenagers colloquially use words they shouldn’t. Often, after saying something derogatory, students will immediately look at me and explain. “Oh, I don’t mean it like that” or “It’s just a joke.” Most of the time, I do know […]
Posted inHigh School
The Importance of Addressing “I’m so bored” Comments
This past semester I was in the midst of teaching one of my favorite units that I’ve ever taught in my career thus far. My students read a play about characters who are a part of a First Nations community in British Columbia, Canada. The play, titled Where the Blood Mixes, deals with tragedy and […]
Posted inOpinion
Creating Dialogue: Teaching Conversation in the 21st Century Classroom
Like fingerprints, each student comes with their own unique perspective; and on top of that, their perspective will also be influenced by social, cultural and political practices. It is this diversity that makes our lives interesting. When we accept that these differences occur, it gives us the ability to learn, to develop our own ideas […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Opinion
What The Future, America?!
Nineteen years of education have enabled me to watch the pendulum swing back and forth a few times. We have gone from grouping to whole class to differentiation. Methods and techniques come and go, each time reintroduced with a new twist. So many things in education recycle themselves and each time educators are ignored as […]
Posted inCommon Core, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, Uncategorized
Perplexed in CT by Recommendations for EngageNY Curriculum
Perplexed: adj. 1. bewildered; puzzled. 2. complicated; involved; entangled. (o _ 0 ) ? I am perplexed as to why this word is on the EngageNY first grade vocabulary list, and again perplexed when I review the first grade units for English Language Arts (ELA) on this website. I am perplexed because I can see that several units in our […]