I was blessed to grow up in the rich African American (Black) culture that resides in the Washington, D.C. area. I saw our good and bad, our strengths and weaknesses, our beauty and shame wherever I looked. I was secure…I
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The Smart Phone Battle
Leave the Book at Home – BYOD If you’re like me and teach in today’s high school system, you have no choice but to deal with the cell phone epidemic every single day. Today’s electronic devices are incredibly powerful. They
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Student Led…School Events?
Back in December, I had an amazing, unexpected experience that really shifted my thinking about school events, teacher responsibilities, and student leadership. It all started on a chilly morning before school. I had signed up to help with a school
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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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The Emotional Quotient of Education
As we start part two of the school year, I am reminded that what we do isn’t always about the rote memorization or the regurgitation of facts. It’s about teaching kids to be good human beings. It’s about instilling values
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A Jonah Day aka Academic Struggle in High Achieviers
There I stood in my lovely class of 1st – 3rd graders with 29 eagerly engaged students and 3 crying in agony. The cries were not from physical pain, but the emotional turmoil that sets in when we sit in places of discomfort.
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Lose Your Prep – Skip Some Steps
This past school year my good friend in southern Arizona at a high school I will not name was asked to help out his department. You see they couldn’t find a physics teacher anywhere, but when the new laws
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From Chanel to Shakespeare
Coco Chanel ruled my life for seven years. The bold French designer who revolutionized women’s fashion dictated nearly every decision I made after I graduated from NAU with a degree in merchandising. You are probably wondering, “What the heck does
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From the Mouths of Babes
Pick a blog on this site and you’ll see just how important it is that we train and retain a new generation of quality educators; we simply don’t have enough on a national level – and low pay and per pupil
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A Different Kind of School Choice
I was having a discussion with a student of mine the other day when Milo, another student, needed my attention. I said to the first student, “Milo needs me. Let me just go see what she needs. I’ll be right
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