I started my Mother’s Day doing the unthinkable…arguing with my mother. She had sent me a text stating she felt bad for a high-performance charter school that took a full page ad to defend itself against all the bad press
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Breathe Fire
An educator’s year is a whirlwind. From the moments of returning back to school, to trainings, new colleagues, and new ideas to the first days of school with new names, new procedures, and new opportunities. Here we are, with a
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Teacher Economics 101
When I went to college to become a social studies teacher, I was given some very specific advice. It went something like this: Social studies teachers are a dime a dozen; no, a nickel. What are you going to coach?
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Why our Kids Benefit From the Cop at our School
School safety has been on the forefront of all of our minds. Without our schools being safe places, students simply cannot learn. There have been a bevy of ideas, some more grounded in reality than others, about how to make
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Mindfulness and the Type A Student
I am the mother to a Type A student, a very Type A student. You all know the kind; she cried at every 89%, attended every school function then studied all night, and took every Honors, AP, Dual Enrollment class
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Why the Initials after my Name Are Important to my Students
As a young history teacher, I saw myself as expert historian; someone who, like my father did for me, would ignite the passion inside young people to learn about a different time, a different place, and what binds us in
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Helping Students Leave a Legacy
When Kelsey was a high school sophomore, she was a leader. Some would call her bossy or pushy, but I knew the minute I met her she was special. She was in Student Council. She was my Civics Club president.
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Not Resolving Problems Through Social Media
It has been a rough couple weeks. My town, like so many others, has a community forum on Facebook. Residents share the good, bad, and everything in between. In this online community, I have noticed a growing number of complaints
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On Being a New Administrator
October is National Principals Month. To celebrate, I decided to interview the newest assistant principal at my high school. What a surprise for him! I have known Brady Krueger for a decade; I taught with him in the social studies
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Do Politics Matter?
I taught civics for over a decade. I took a personal vow to never disclose my political views to any student, to any staff member, or over any social medium. It was important to me that students were able to
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