Teaching Should not be “Survival of The Fittest” As a teacher, it can be hard to escape the political aspects of the job. As a mentor of mine once cleverly stated: “Choosing a career in education is choosing a career in politics.” These politics are not making our profession any easier, and they tend to increase pressure on teachers to produce … Read More
Stop Teaching to The Middle
A Broken System. This is something that I’ve heard a lot of college professors utter when talking about lesson planning or unit design: “teach to the middle.” This idea makes sense in a more traditional lecture based instructional model, but fails to meet the needs of the modern student. This also only makes sense if we want to continue destroying … Read More
3 Things Your Administrators Wish You Knew
Sometimes things aren’t what they seem… As a teacher I very rarely thought of things from the perspective of my administrator. I still tend to develop training, development, and the services I provide to schools and districts from a teacher-centered perspective. It has always been and always will be my belief that initiatives and instructional
Stop Hoping For Better Students and Focus on Better Teaching In Your Classroom
Quit Complaining About “These Kids.” Seriously, stop it. We spend a lot of our days visiting districts, observing classrooms, and talking with teachers, and I’m starting to hear something more often than I should. I keep hearing teachers say things a long the lines of: “This would work, but ‘these kids’ can’t do it…next year will be better.” I’ve had … Read More
5 Mistakes Districts Should Avoid When Rolling Out A New Initiative
So as you sit in a meeting, you start to hear rumblings of a new initiative that your district will be rolling out. This could be anything from a new policy, a new vendor coming in, or maybe a new curriculum that is being purchased. We all have the same gut reaction, “Grreeeaat…another thing to do.” As teachers, we are … Read More