For the sake of this article, we will call him Jarvis. Jarvis is a current junior at a math/science magnet high school in Georgia where he has the second-highest GPA in the entire building. Not his grade. The building. Out of 2,275 students, there is the only person who has a higher GPA than he […]
students
Posted inClassroom Management, Instructional Strategies
[The Rural School Chronicles] A Toolbox for Working With Challenging Students
At the beginning of this year, I noticed a boy who is in one of the homerooms I work closely with. Stationed at the end of a hall to watch students as they come in, near his room, I would see him approach. Head down, eyes down, every day; a look on his face that […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Instructional Strategies
Teaching in a Time of Coercion
Last week, my fellow TER writer, Jessica Classen, wrote about being kinder to our students in the classroom. It reminded me of some research that came out a few years ago about how the levels of depression and anxiety rise in societies that have higher levels of coercion. I have been thinking a lot about how we […]
Posted inFeatured, Opinion
Three Things that Make Me Tired About Teaching
I have always loved learning. Not the sit in a desk and absorb everything from a lecture, but hands-on interactive discussion that is true learning. In my 19 years of education, I have seen three things that slowly are breaking down our education system. These three things make me exhausted each day before I even […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, Opinion
Why Teaching Is the “Most Liberal Job in America”
This column is written as a complement to the column “Why Some Teachers are Conservative,” by fellow TER writer Jeremy Adams. When the Harrisburg Patriot-News and Washington Post declared teaching the “most liberal job in America,” one would be hard-pressed to find a reader overcome with shock and surprise. In fact, maybe this has become […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, Opinion
Why Teaching Is the "Most Liberal Job in America"
This column is written as a complement to the column “Why Some Teachers are Conservative,” by fellow TER writer Jeremy Adams. When the Harrisburg Patriot-News and Washington Post declared teaching the “most liberal job in America,” one would be hard-pressed to find a reader overcome with shock and surprise. In fact, maybe this has become […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, Instructional Strategies
Talking About Brussels (and Ankara, Lahore…) With 3rd Graders
Wednesday morning as our daily morning meeting came to an end, one of my students raised her hand. A quiet, thoughtful girl, she wanted to know if our class would be doing something in response to the terrorist attacks in Brussels. In the winter after the Paris attacks, we had put together a “peace party” […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Opinion
There Are Kinder Ways: Engaging Hesitant Students
Every now and again we have class periods that make us happy. The fun ones, during which everyone is engaged in the lesson, the room is filled with an infectious energy, and at the end you are sure that everyone, or at least nearly everyone, got the point. I had one of these classes recently. […]