Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, making heart health education essential for students from an early age. Teaching students about heart health can: Encourage lifelong healthy habits, including regular exercise and balanced nutrition. Reduce the risk of obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease later in life. Promote mental well-being by emphasizing the connection … Read More
What is Yours to Do? Teach Happier Blog Series
Former NFL player and author of Protect Your Peace, Trent Shelton says, “We can’t control what the day brings, but we can control what we bring to the day.” During this unsteady time in education, what can we bring to the day? What can we realistically do? As I was thinking about this month’s Teach Happier blog and considering a … Read More
The Hardships and Highlights of A Middle School Teacher: A Thank You For ALL You Do!
Teaching Middle School is hard. There are layers and layers of developmental science that teach us educators all about the why’s and how’s and when’s and wow’s of adolescence. Socially, new social circles are emerging. Diverse opinions are converging. Physically and emotionally, young emerging adults feel like roller coasters who are operating at unstoppable and slow moving speeds (that often … Read More
Teachers: Take Note of Sunshine in the Winter
We made it through February and here we are in March. March has always been my least favorite month as a teacher. Growing up in Western New York, March is the month where you’re like, done with the snow…but it’s still going to snow. You get teased with a few fair-weather days, but the dirty slush pushed around again and … Read More
Rethinking Teacher Evaluations: Consistency Over Performance
The topic of teacher evaluations often stirs a mix of anxiety and debate among educators. I feel the stress and anxiety in classrooms all around the country. While these assessments aim to measure teaching effectiveness, they tend to (more often than we’d all like to admit) promote a culture of “performance” lessons—special classes designed to impress school leaders. This raises … Read More