Words Matter: I Don’t “Give” Grades
My daughter loves cooking shows so we watch a lot of Food Network TV at our house. Most of these shows are competitions, and when the shows get to the elimination point I often feel myself becoming agitated. I couldn’t figure out why until one of our recent daylong staff meetings to assess student progress.…
Teachers Must Be Ready to Engage
It was late winter in my ninth grade Humanities class. We were learning about the history of South Africa—how the white-ruled government oppressed people of color and called it “apartheid,” and how those oppressed people resisted. My student Mark was having a hard day. He had repeatedly disrupted class with disrespectful comments towards his peers.…
Teaming Up to Support Teachers, from Beginning to Experienced
When I first started teaching, nearly 20 years ago, I remember the excitement of setting up my classroom, preparing to teach three different high school English classes, supervise the student newspaper and act as the advisor of the junior class. By the end of September, reality had set in. My students had serious challenges outside…
Humbling and Transformative: The Path to Becoming an NBCT
I fell in love with teaching the summer I worked as a camp counselor for kids with disabilities. I was on my break between my sophomore and junior year of college. That summer, I was assigned to work with an eight-year-old boy who had an emotional disability and he stole my heart. I promptly told…
How to Help Teens Deal with the Challenges of Male and Female Gender Expectations
Through our teaching, socially conscious teachers aim to create learning environments that help students see themselves as change agents, if not in their society, at least in their own lives. Twenty-one years ago when I started teaching, I could simply say, “I teach.” But in the last few years, I’ve found that describing what I…
Teachers are Members of Learning Communities
Recently re-released, What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do articulates that National Board’s Five Core Propositions for teaching. Similar to medicine’s Hippocratic Oath, the Five Core Propositions are held in common by teachers of all grade levels and disciplines and underscore the accomplished teacher’s commitment to advancing student learning and achievement. This blog…
Developing Your PLN, Early and Always
From the first day I stepped foot into my class in a small urban public high school, I realized one reality about teaching. Traditionally, the classroom can be one of the most isolating places to be for an educator. Although this is not my experience today, it took me a long time, many tears, and…
Meaningful Parent Engagement
Recently re-released, What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do articulates the National Board’s Five Core Propositions for teaching. Similar to medicine’s Hippocratic Oath, the Five Core Propositions are held in common by teachers of all grade levels and disciplines and underscore the accomplished teacher’s commitment to advancing student learning and achievement. This blog…
Stuffed Neurons and Growth Mindset
When I was growing up in Central Maine, my parents owned several businesses—some did well, some did not. The beauty salon thrived, as did the sandwich business. The tanning salon brought our family to the brink of bankruptcy, but the ceiling cleaning business, the last of my parents’ entrepreneurial adventures, was extremely successful. Over the…
