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
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
3 Things I learned from Teaching in A Fishbowl.
In case you don’t know what the term means (you probably do) teaching in a fishbowl is when your classroom is being observed by other professionals, administrators, colleagues, and stakeholders constantly. Essentially it means that your teaching is always on display. Now, I know you are thinking, “I would hate that!” but I assure you it has its benefits. When I … Read More