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 […]
teachers
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Schoolhouse Crisis: Teachers Exiting
We are in the midst of a schoolhouse crisis. A Learning Policy Institute study predicted a shortfall of over 100,000 teachers each year starting several years ago. The science seems to be confirmed by anecdotal evidence of teachers heading for the exits. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released findings last fall […]
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
Dear Teacher Friends, It’s Time to Show More Empathy
It’s always wonderful when teachers from different parts of the world can come together and laugh, joke, complain, or cry about the same common things happening in our classrooms. “I’ll Wait.” “Where are all my pencils?” “This PD could’ve been an e-mail!” *Insert teacher on the way to break meme* Yes, we can all agree […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Opinion: Teachers are Not Robots
The year is 2020, and by now everyone thing in America can be automated- from payments for your household bills to access our medical records to how we secure our houses when we leave. The ease of this automation allows us to have more time to live a more “fulfilled” life. As a teacher, I […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Opinion: The War on Teachers is a Civil War
By Adam Sutton There is a war going on, and it’s a war against teachers. It is headlined by pushes for charter schools, attacks on teacher unions, and policies promoting edtech and testing over teachers. However, those headlines are only made possible by the civil war that pits teachers against teachers. While teachers squabble with […]
Posted inOpinion
Accountability is a Joke
Guest Writer: Adam Sutton Accountability has been a required buzz word when talking about school reform for 20 years. It ties results to school spending. In particular, test scores and student achievement data are expected to rise with spending. Accountability’s current usage is useless and divisive. Accountability, as it stands, is a way to lay […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teachers Are Professionals
“This Friday all teachers can wear jeans! Just donate $1 for our Sunshine Club and wear your school shirts!” While I was excited to FINALLY be able to ‘dress down’ something bugged me around the premise of having to pay to dress comfortably.No matter how perturbed I was, I had 30 children to get ready […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Why I Almost Quit Facebook
Guest Writer: Meran Khon “Did you see this?” The question came in a text message from my principal, accompanied by a screenshot of a Facebook post by a parent. The photograph showed a close-up of a child’s finger, but it was the all-caps type and multiple exclamation points that made me catch my breath. This […]