As the majority of Americans are gearing up for baseball season, teachers are girding their loins for a less fun pastime; testing season. Testing season means walls must be covered so students can no longer use reminders around to room
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60 Days In
No, this is not the reality show 60 Days In, a tv series that follows seven individuals as they volunteer to go undercover spending 60 days as inmates in the Clark County Jail. Their goal is to obtain evidence of questionable or
Read More“I don’t want you to be mad at me.”
Exactly four years ago today, I published Spontaneous Professional Development, a brief post describing four cases demonstrating that, “Much of my most valuable professional development came out of nowhere, was free, and lasted minutes – or even seconds. All I
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True Teacher Confession #2: Sometimes I Judge Too Quickly
I am not in the habit of asking that students not be placed in my classroom. In fact, I usually troll the 4th grade teachers at the end of the year and ask for students with siblings that were in
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SB 1038 – Lets Save High School Physics and Chem
In Arizona, no one can argue that the shortage of teachers is at crisis proportions. There are less and less reasons each year to return to the classroom for teachers statewide. In the sciences, we are even harder pressed
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When Executive Orders Get Personal
Yesterday as I drove home from work. NPR reported on the new executive orders expanding the groups prioritized for immigration enforcement– in effect, increasing the number of deportations of undocumented immigrants. But I didn’t hear much of the story. After
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Reality Check for This Here Teacher
Are we in a post-truth society? Are we hopelessly floating in our bubbles of alternative facts and biased narratives? Or can reasoning and evidence prevail? The truth is that sometimes, one doesn’t even need the facts to be “alternative” to
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Test Talks or Stress Talks?
Yes, it’s that time again. It’s time for the wonderful world of standardized testing. All is a buzz in the teacher’s lounge. Nope. Not really. This year, I feel more stress coming from my little scholars than I do my colleagues.
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Where I Live
Like Oscar Wilde, I learned in elementary school that it was only in the theater that I lived. I was one of the kids who found a home in the sharp contrast of the blinding stage lights and the inky
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