Yes, you do have to help everyone. I cannot tell you deeply it irks my soul when teachers give up on kids. Of course, if you asked them, they would insist that they haven’t given up. I disagree. Â Being willing to help a student who asks for it is not enough. It is not enough […]
teaching and learning
Posted inTeacher Leaders
10 Steps to a Positive Classroom Culture
Creating a positive classroom culture is hard work. We are living in a time of high anxiety and our students can feel that tension. Many no longer feel safe or welcomed in their communities just as many no longer feel safe expressing themselves. As educators, it is our responsibility to create classroom environments that are […]
Posted inOpinion
Tracking is a Dirty Word
To track or not to track? Is that a question? Have I already lost you? Tracking has been a dirty word for decades. Mostly for good reason. But. Leveled classes might have a place. We all know that “tracking” happens when we offer advanced courses and co-taught sections. The limitations of scheduling mean groups of […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines
The Hardest Parts Of Teaching
These are the hard parts of teaching: Waking up from a nightmare where you’re out of breath and can’t find your classroom and are teaching in a foreign language to a group of kids who could care less about being there and you wonder, when you wake up, how that part of your fears will […]
Posted inCommon Core
Have You Been To A #GAFE Summit?
I’ve been teaching for 26 years – English, AVID, Yearbook, Reading, History and any sort of intervention class that gets thrown my way. I’ve been through whole language and back. I’ve survived NCLB. I’ve been trained in teaching the Gifted and Talented, the At-Risk and 21st-century students. And last weekend, I went to my first […]
Posted inOpinion
You Probably Shouldn’t Be a Teacher If…
I can’t imagine having any other job besides that of a teacher. In fact, I think it is the greatest job in the world. But I definitely had my moments when I doubted whether or not I had made the right choice. And I think that I worked with plenty of people who had made the […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines, Instructional Strategies, Opinion
The Counter-Productivity of the Testing Mentality
The other day, I came to team planning with some really great exploration activities and math tasks for students to use to deepen their understanding of the concepts we were learning in class. As the person who writes the formal lesson plans for our department and a graduate student, I take my job seriously, and […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Mathematics
Math for the 21st Century Student
I’ve always believed that part of my job as a teacher was to prepare my students to be lifelong learners. Students in school today can expect to have more than one career during their working lives. This makes it imperative that they are comfortable training for a new career. For this reason, students leaving high […]