1-833-933-4TFD Articles
7 Things That Will Get A Teacher Fired
Inappropriate behavior: This can include physical or verbal abuse, harassment, or discrimination towards students or colleagues. Teachers who engage in this type of behavior can create a hostile and unsafe environment for students and other teachers, and can negatively impact the overall functioning of the school. Physical abuse can range...
Educator Profile: Confucius
Confucius was a Chinese philosopher, teacher, and politician who lived from 551-479 BCE. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest teachers in human history, and his teachings have had a profound influence on Chinese culture and thought. Confucius was born in Qufu, a small town in present-day...
The 7 Best Classroom Management Tools
ClassDojo ClassDojo is a behavior management tool that helps teachers track student behavior and communicate with parents. Teachers can use the app to assign point values to positive and negative behaviors, and students can track their own progress. Parents can also access ClassDojo to see how their child is performing...
Educator Profile: Socrates
Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, was known for his unique teaching style that often left his students scratching their heads. Despite his unconventional approach, Socrates was considered one of the greatest teachers in history.One of Socrates’ most famous techniques was the "Socratic method," which involved asking a series of questions...
13 Realistic Ways For Teachers To Make Extra Money
1. Tutoring: Many teachers are highly qualified and experienced in their subject areas, making them well-suited to provide one-on-one or small-group tutoring. They have the knowledge and skills to help students understand difficult concepts and improve their grades. Tutoring can also be a flexible side job, as teachers can often...
How Teachers Have Changed
The demographics of teachers in the United States have changed significantly over the last 100 years. Here are a few key ways in which teacher demographics have evolved:Gender: In the early 20th century, the majority of teachers were women. However, as more men entered the teaching profession, the gender balance...
Male vs Female Teachers
There is a long-standing debate about whether male or female teachers perform better in the classroom. Research on this topic has produced mixed results, with some studies finding that female teachers are more effective, while others have found no significant difference in the performance of male and female teachers.Some studies...
9 Reasons To Become A Teacher
The opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of students: As a teacher, you will have the ability to shape the minds and hearts of the next generation, and to help them reach their full potential. You will be able to guide them through the ups and downs...
12 Ways Schools Have Changed Since The 1950s
Curriculum and teaching methods - Schools in the 1950s had a strict curriculum and teaching methods, with little room for creativity or deviation from the norm. The focus was on traditional subjects such as math, science, and literature, and most instruction was done through lectures and rote memorization. In contrast,...
Wikipedia. Helping Or Hurting?
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is written and edited by volunteers, has had a significant impact on schools and education. On the one hand, it has revolutionized the way students and teachers access and use information, making it easier than ever before to find and share knowledge. On the other...
7 Great Books For Teachers
"The Art of Possibility" by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander: This book offers a unique perspective on teaching and learning, using the metaphor of music to explore new ways of thinking about teaching and leading. It is a great resource for teachers looking to think outside the box and...
Education Changes In The USA
The education system in the United States has undergone significant changes in recent years, driven by a variety of factors including advances in technology, shifts in the economy, and changing demographics. One of the most notable changes has been the increasing use of technology in the classroom, with many schools...
You Are Doing Better Than You Think by Laura McDonell
Listen How Repeating a Phrase Changes Everything Have you ever felt far away from where you imagined you would be at a certain point? I have. It can be tough to see the gap between where you are and your future goal. I love setting really big goals, but there...
Don't Waste Your Summer By Laura McDonell
Listen Don't Waste Your Summer Practical Ways to Make the Most of the Next Months *What if you had an opportunity to have the best summer ever? *What if you had a chance to rest, relax, recharge and squeeze in enough time to plan for the future? *What if you...
Learn Fast Teach Slow By Laura McDonell
Listen Learn Fast Teach Slow A Focus on Intentions with Learning and Teaching Bring the Best Results There is a place for fast and there is a place for slow. When we have the opportunity to stay in motion as learners and consume as well as process information quickly, there...
Make More Lists By Laura McDonell
Listen Make More Lists Refresh Your Energy by Making Lists Lists serve several purposes. We make to-do lists. We make shopping lists. We make lists of what to pack before vacations. We make bucket lists, we make safety lists, we make lists to share tasks and directions. We use lists...
The Motivation Portfolio By Laura McDonell
Listen The Motivation Portfolio Borrow What you Need As Long as You Need It Sometimes it is tough to feel motivated. We all have moments of low energy and are not sure what to focus on next. The good news is motivation and inspiration can be borrowed as long as...
It’s All in How you Word It By Laura McDonell
Listen It’s All in How you Word It Buy-In Is Easier Than You Think I have been guilty of it. It’s not about doing more, and working harder, it’s about working smarter. Looking back on countless moments working with students, I now realize there are so many different ways I...
Focus on what Works- Do More of That By Laura McDonell
Listen Focus on what Works- Do More of That Permission For Goals to be Incomplete What if all of our goals are not all meant to be achieved? And, what if we gave students that same permission? I Used to Think Stress and anxiety can begin when we believe we...
Hexagonal Thinking By Laura McDonell
Listen Hexagonal Thinking Uncovering Connections Constantly One of my favorite things about putting a puzzle together is the moment when you hold a small piece in your hand, rotate it, glance back at the partially put together masterpiece and realize that you know exactly what to do. Individually, pieces look...
It’s All Connected By Laura McDonell
Listen It’s All Connected Choosing Serendipitous Mindset Recently, I watched Manifest on Netflix. After three seasons of fast past scenes, interesting drama and never-ending plot twists, one three-word phrase stuck in my head: It’s all connected. A Serendipitous Mindset One of my favorite things about teaching is that it connects...
Itś Not Too Late To Change The Story By Laura McDonell
Listen Itś Not Too Late To Change The Story If there is a Better Way… Do That Home Is Where Your Story Begins Our stories begin when we are very young. Regardless of what happens to us and how difficult moments leave us wondering how things could go in a...
You Are Not A Machine By Laura McDonell
Listen You Are Not A Machine Itś Okay To Move at Human Pace This Year Feels Tougher Recently, I saw a quote online that said, ¨No, Itś not just you. Yes, this year is harder than last.¨ I could not agree more with this quote. While last year was tougher...
Freedom Over Fear by Laura McDonell
Listen The Freedom That Comes From Having the Courage to Take Risks I never lose. I either win, or I learn. (Nelson Mandela) Take Risks The previous two words come up a lot in conversation about growth and education. Often educators, when asked about different topics, will add ¨take risks¨...
Find A Way to Make it Familiar By Laura McDonell
Listen Find A Way to Make it Familiar Eliminate the Knowledge Curse At first, I was overwhelmed. The terms confused me. I was caught off guard as I listened to the report from our veterinarian regarding my dogs. I was listening to a report that had my mind searching for...
What If Itś Not About You? By Laura McDonell
Listen What If Itś Not About You? Empowering Students To Be Their Best Over the weekend, I attended my husbandś 50-mile run. The Mohican ultramarathon featured distances that ranged from the marathon to 100 miles. In particular, ultramarathon running requires athletes to lean into a support system to achieve their...
Sit in a Student Desk By Laura McDonell
Listen Sit in a Student Desk The Advantage to Considering A New Perspective You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. (Atticus Finch, from To Kill A Mockingbird) I...
Teach the Students You Have By Laura McDonell
Listen Teach the Students You Have Be Present, and Be Where Your Feet Are We make it all about us and overlook the students we have sitting in front of us. If we aren’t careful and thoughtful, our classrooms can become more about teaching the students we want, rather than...
Sharing Our Stories By Laura McDonell
Listen If It Hasn’t Worked Out...It’s Not the End We are the author of our stories. We get the opportunity to share bold and amazing stories with the world. Some stories are nearly impossible to miss, while other stories are buried a little deeper and require us to uncover the...
Could I Have Done More? By Laura McDonell
Listen Could I Have Done More? No Matter How Exhausted We Are,We Still Ask the Question Wondering What You Could Have Done What if you missed an opportunity to accomplish a dream by one second? This week, The Boston Marathon Association announced the cutoff qualifying time for runners to be...
What’s Missing With The Growth Mindset By Laura McDonnel
Listen What does it mean to say you have a growth mindset? What does it mean to say that you facilitate a classroom that focuses on empowering students to have a Growth Mindset? Where are the gaps regarding the Growth Mindset in the classroom? New Light on Growth Mindset...
I AM Poetry? by: Laura McDonell
Listen The Possibility of Being a Natural Poet You Are A Poet I have had several identities throughout my life. There are several things I belong to. However, when I heard that I was a poet, I was surprised. I have never thought of myself as someone who writes poetry....
The Circles Between and Beyond Fostering Deep Connection and Community by Laura McDonell
Listen The Circles Between and Beyond Fostering Deep Connection and Community September of 2012, I sat through a meeting that changed my life. My oldest child was six at the time, and it was curriculum night for parents. I was excited to hear about what his teacher had in store...
Take the LEAP Creating A Classroom Of Courageous and Empowered Learners By: Laura McDonell
Listen Having courage means doing something when the answer of how it will turn out is unknown. It is Not Always Easy to Be Courageous Courage is not something that comes naturally to everyone. And even when it is a familiar value, it is not always easy to practice courage...
I Never Thought About That What If My Assumptions were Wrong By: Laura McDonell
Listen The Student Perspective Seeing things from the student’s perspective is challenging. After watching one of Dr. Kevin Leichtman’s videos, I realized that there might be a few things regarding education that I have never thought about. Understanding motivations behind student actions is a priority. The Perfect Ten offered me...
Add More Music How the Pepper Effect Taps into the Magic of Creativity, Collaboration and Innovation by: Laura McDonell
Listen Where words fail, music speaks. (Hans Christian Anderson) A Must Read A few weeks ago, I read The Pepper Effect by Sean Gaillard. After reading Gaillard’s book, I gained a new perspective on how I can do things differently to achieve the impossible. The book helped me to think...
The Guts to be Not Good by: Laura McDonell
Listen How Starting Before your Ready is the Key to Success Three years ago, my middle son Luke decided that he wanted to play hockey. He taught himself how to skate on our pond and was determined to try a new sport. Luke decided he was willing to start at...
Seeing My Students by: Laura McDonell
Listen Looking and seeing are two different things. (John Paul Caponigro) Allowing someone the opportunity to be seen and noticed is a gift. When I think about how many times I have quickly glanced around the classroom to “see” that my students are present and what they are working on,...
Minnesota Fun Facts For Teachers
Minnesotan baseball commentator Halsey Hal was the first to say ‘Holy Cow’ during a baseball broadcast. The Mall of America in Bloomington is the size of 78 football fields — 9.5 million square feet. Minnesota Inventions: Masking and Scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products,...
Find the Ones Who Haven’t Given Up by: Laura McDonell
Listen One of my favorite movie scenes is the final scene in the movie Tomorrowland. The movie stars scientist Frank Walker, played by George Clooney, who at the end instructs Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), as well as several other kids in Tomorrowland, to go out and find the people who...
Create More Space by Laura McDonnell
Discovering Ways to Empower and Connect in the Classroom What is the best way to set up your classroom? What is the best use of space in the classroom? And, how can we continue creating spaces for students to thrive? Because each teacher is different, each makeup of students is...
Space for Not Yet - by Laura McDonnell
Listen A delay is not a denial. (Vernon Wright) Embrace the Not Yet Space One of the most challenging things is not being where we want to be. It is difficult to realize that there is space between where we are and where we want to go. I choose to...
The Comparison Trap by Laura McDonell
Listen It doesn’t happen all at once. But you notice it all at once. Little by little, changes take place. One minute you are ecstatic about your students’ work, and cannot believe the creativity and risks you have taken over the past year. And then, after only a few weeks...
It’s Not Just About Books by Laura McDonell
Listen Understanding What’s Involved in Learning What if someone who had a lot of professional knowledge in an area said something you disagreed with? What if the path you were on was ready to take a turn, and you had not seen it coming? A Life-Changing Podcast Last week I...
Missouri Fun Facts For Teachers
Missouri is known as the “Show Me State”. The ‘Show Me State’ expression may have began in 1899 when Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver stated, “I’m from Missouri and you’ve got to show me.” The first successful parachute jump to be made from a moving airplane was made by Captain Berry...
Thousands of Mentors at Your Fingertips By Laura McDonell
Listen A Mentor Isn’t Limited to the Beginning of a Teaching Career Imagine finding the perfect mentor at the perfect time. Imagine what it would be like to have access to multiple mentors at any time. My First Three MentorsI remember my first three years of teaching. I was assigned...
“Fine” is A Terrible Word by Laura McDonell
Being Honest Does Not Necessarily Mean You are Negative It is okay, to be honest. It is okay, to be honest, but it is not okay, to be honest and unwilling to look for a way to move forward. While it is true that the more positive we are, the...
Remembering What it is Like to be a Student by Laura Mcdonell
Listen How learning how to play chess made me a better teacher. There is No Limit to What We Can Learn. I choose to believe in a growth mindset and have confidence that I can learn almost anything. Learning does not come without challenges, and there are times when...
What does it Mean to Seek The Next Level? by Laura McDonell
Listen How Observation and Choosing the Struggle Allow us to Become Fearless Identifying the Next Level What does the next level look like? Our family loves to play Pacman. My sons and my husband are very good at playing the game, so their next levels look quite different from mine....
We Might Want It To Be Over… by Laura McDonell
Listen But...2020 Is still Worth Processing What did you love? And what do you want to be different next year? No Doubt A Challenging Year The past year has been a challenging one for many reasons. One of the tough things is that it was unpredictable. This year was unlike...