TL;DR: COVID impacted our students in different ways. Find ways in the classroom to be authentic when it comes to supporting students’ social-emotional learning. We’ve all heard it. Within the last two years, educators have been focusing on the health of the social-emotional learner. In a previous blog, I wrote about the SEL of an educator. In order to be … Read More
The Best Gift Is You
TL;DR: This post shares a yearly tradition to write a poem for staff and students on the last day of the school year before winter break as encouragement and to build community. I thought I would share with you, for this month’s blog, a poem I wrote for my school’s students and teachers. This is something I started doing back … Read More
Be Prepared
TL;DR: It isn’t enough to just have more substitutes; we need better substitutes. Substitutes, teachers, and administrators can all work to be better prepared. The Case for Better Subs Substitute teacher. Guest teacher. Sub. Whatever you call them or know them as, they are a crucial part of the education system. This year especially, as the world continues to grapple … Read More
Middle School Parents and Guardians Want to Hear from You!
TL;DR: Middle school students aren’t great communicators with their parents. As teachers, we have to facilitate that communication by providing adults at home with information without overwhelming them. Let’s make that communication positive! Developmentally, we know middle school students, particularly older middle school students, are beginning to explore who they are apart from the adults with whom they live. While … Read More
Calling All Superheroes: How to Rescue Our EL Students in a New School
TL;DR: Superheroes work best when they have a plan and a team. This post shares 10 questions to consider and get answers to when working with new EL students. How to Rescue Our EL Students in a New School POW! What do we do now? When Hua arrived at our school last week, many of our teaching teams were in … Read More