The school year is starting to settle down for schools across the country. Some students have been in the classroom most of the year, some half the year, and some schools spent most of the year completely online. There are no bones about it, for teachers and parents flexibility and adaptation were the names of the game.
While some of these adaptations over the past year are temporary, like mask-wearing and social distancing (Yes, one day we will get back to normal living), other areas of the school and teaching experience have changed for the better. …
Pre Covid-19 I would hear friends and family ask “Are you afraid as a teacher that you will lose your job to all these computer education programs out there?” I would chuckle to myself as I thought about all the research relating that a great teacher is the single most important factor in student achievement. They would look at me with a worried face that I could lose my job but I knew there is no replacing great teachers.
Since the pandemic has occurred amazingly I have not had a single person ask me whether they thought my job was…
The concept of growth mindset is fairly simple: learning is more effective if the student believes that they can learn. A student that believes that they can’t is harder to impact academically than one that believes they can regardless of their current intelligence or skill. Many teachers advocate for this in the classroom and believe in it but still many classrooms lack growth mindset in practice. While the concept is simple, like exercise, practice and integration can be more difficult.
Traditional school by design is anti-growth mindset. Think of all of the standardized testing done in schools and it makes…
Being a new teacher can be overwhelmingly terrifying. For those teachers that are in that boat you know. For those that left that boat, you may have forgotten. For those that will never get into teaching, you will never know.
Having a class to manage can be anxiety-inducing all on its own, but once you add in lesson planning, grading, principal evaluations, curriculum maps, and test benchmarks that anxiety can become a full-on panic attack.
Research as recent as of 2020 indicates that 44% of new teachers will leave the teaching profession within 5 years. And that is research BEFORE…
The resources that have become available over the last 20 years have truly been amazing. Technology has changed the way we live our daily lives from our entertainment to our communication. It has changed the way teaching and learning occurs in the classroom. One thing that hasn’t occurred with all these changes with teaching is showing students how to be resourceful.
I find it amazing that when I forget an important date in history when I want to fact check the news, or if I just want to find a DIY video I can flip out my phone and get…
It is hard for many writers to feel like they are doing something unique and new because it feels like everything has been done already. You want to stand out from the average and common literature but how do you do it. I have learned that it isn’t about being so much original but rather being authentic. Authenticity is something that never gets old for readers of literature, viewers of film, and listeners of music. …
The first thing I ever wanted to be when I was a kid was a comic book artist. I loved superheroes and the grand stories told when I was a child. Even at eight years old though I could recognize that my drawings weren’t very good. When I came into middle school I was so excited to have an elective for the first time — a choice. So I signed up for introduction to art class. What I wanted more than anything was an art teacher to teach me what I didn’t know with concepts and methods how to do…
I have always been fascinated with stories of survivors, particularly of the time during Nazi Germany. What interests me so much about it is how a person can go through hell on earth and survive. How did these people survive while others perished? How were they able to find a reason for living while millions today who are not hunted down and living in concentration camps struggle to find meaning in their life? What made them so different?
Among my research, there have been two stories that have stood out to me. The first is from thebook Man’s Search For…
The chance to fail and try again isn’t an equal one.
Is Privilege Only About Money and Race?
One of the most sought after titles and possessions in today’s western society is that of becoming a millionaire. The idea is constantly pushed out from game shows (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) to books (The Millionaire Mind) and especially through modern music. The message is clear: Get rich and get it as early as you can.
Interestingly enough the average age of a millionaire is around 62. The accomplishments of young millionaires and billionaires get shoved into our faces by media to attempt to make the unicorns…
Happiness is just a thought away.
Sooner or later the daily driver comes across it. The stop light that you seem to always get stuck at. You may plan different routes to approach the dreaded light, but no matter which way you approach it you know you seem to always get stuck at it. Or at least it feels like it always happens.
I have a that kind of light that I cross to and from work. There are two ways I can approach the light from different directions but I can’t go around it. I still have to attempt…
