6 Tips on Teaching Social Studies in a Politically-Charged Era
I've been challenged by parents plenty of times in my career. However, one that often protrudes in my mind is a 12-page email I received 7 years ago. In teaching about the post-Civil War...
View ArticleWhy Teachers Should Add Debate to Their Curriculum
At the end of the school year this year, I looked at the list of causes of the Civil War. I've taught this once or twice, usually with just enough time to explain them. However, this year I finally got...
View ArticleThe STEM Revolution in Higher Education
I just got back from a fascinating conference about the state of STEM in U.S. schools, sponsored by U.S. News and World Report! I was compelled by the idea of a STEM revolution in higher education; as...
View ArticleMaking STEM Matter in Schools
I just got back from a fascinating conference about the state of STEM in U.S. schools, sponsored by U.S. News and World Report. I was compelled by the idea of making STEM matter in schools; as a middle...
View ArticleLGBT Perspectives in the Middle School Classroom
There has recently been a lot of buzz around a new short animated film entitled “In a Heartbeat.” I first saw it being shared on Facebook, and since it was posted on July 31st, it has been viewed over...
View ArticleBack To School Hacks: Digitize Your Syllabus and Lesson Plans!
This year I'm going back to school with a twist - I'm going to digitize my syllabus and lesson plans! A few years back I experimented with different ways to engage students on the first day - and first...
View ArticleEmpowering Students Through Choice
Last month, I wrote an article about how lack of creativity for teachers can hinder both progress and respect. The same thing can be said for our students: a lack of creativity can hinder progress,...
View Article3 Steps to Helping Students Develop College-Ready Writing Skills
Teachers are forever reminding their students that what’s going on in their classrooms will be ‘important to know in high school and college’ - but how many students actually believe them? I remember...
View ArticleThe Writing Gap: Why a Renaissance in Writing Instruction is Imperative
"Appositive?” “What is an appositive?” “Is that even a word?” These were snippets of conversations overheard in a teacher’s book study at Liverpool High School, a large, suburban school north of...
View Article“Let Them Eat Cake:” How Teachers Can Resist Banned Words
Used with permission from Susan DuFresne. Words never uttered can be extremely significant. Often the perception of words said (or unsaid) carry more importance than truth. In...
View ArticleLet’s Embrace the Move to Standards-Based Grading
When my Principal mentioned that we would start the move towards Standards-Based grading next year, all I saw were looks of horror on most teachers’ faces. Look, I get it. Change is hard. Super hard....
View ArticleTeaching The Legacy of Dr. King: Fifty Years Later
I sit to write on the waning hours of April 4, 2018, fifty years after the assassination and death of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was seven when we all heard the news of his death. Even at that young...
View ArticleThe Royal Wedding: Why Should We Care? One American Teacher’s Perspective
The news broke this morning: another school shooting, this time in Santa Fe, Texas. I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to entertain the thought that this most recent massacre is the 22nd...
View ArticleA School Boycott Isn’t the Way To End Gun Violence
On this suggested school boycott-let's be serious. In The Atlantic, former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan suggested a massive nationwide school boycott to pressure our leaders into action to...
View ArticleOpinion: Age-Grading is Stupid
Age-grading is, in a word, stupid. It is built on a cultural conception of development that precludes the ability of individuals of different ages to have healthy, appropriate interactions and learn...
View ArticleIt’s time to talk about the culture of fear around standardized testing
The temperatures are warming. The skies are bright. The birds are chirping. Spring fever is in full effect, and everyone is awaiting summertime! Unfortunately for educators and students, there is a...
View ArticleOpinion: Why Teachers Shouldn’t Write Curriculum
The word “curriculum,” as it pertains to education, can include everything from the materials used to teach our students to the planned learning experiences. If we think of the Common Core standards as...
View ArticleIn Defense of Fairy Tales in High School
Last year, I taught The Princess Bride in my classroom, which is a fairy tale satire. To make sure my students understood what, exactly, William Golding was making fun of, we spent about six days...
View ArticleLet’s talk about Testing Anxiety in Children
I can still remember how I felt as I looked at the tears falling from one of my brightest students as she sat in her assigned seat for the Georgia Milestones Assessment last spring. Because I was...
View ArticleGetting Children to Understand The Value of Teaching Shakespeare
Every year, I get to the part in my high school curriculum where I start to introduce Shakespeare's Macbeth. And every year, the students complain. "Why do we have to read this?" "What's even the point...
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