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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,...
“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....
Change the Behavior, Change the Class (Part Three) by Hollie Hamaker
Listen When I think of the word "mentorship," I think of some ideal mentors. Professor Dumbledore and Gandalf are some of the first mentors that come to my mind. However, I should start putting my fellow teachers on that list. In the final installment of "Change the Behavior, Change the...
Student Reflections on Virtual and Hybrid Learning
Listen There is no question that this has been a very challenging year for teachers and administrators (OK, understatement doesn’t even begin to describe that statement). But, our students are facing these challenges without the benefit of maturity, life experience, or a college degree! Let’s not forget that...
Reformation: Embracing the Outdoors
Listen In this article, we’ll take a step away from our eleven leaders and reach a bit further out, because there are many schools around the world who have used the opportunity the pandemic has provided to be outdoors more. Pre-pandemic, many schools and districts in the U.S. added more...
Part 1: Reformation: Indoor Learning Environments
Listen We thought we were breaking boundaries with flexible seating. The reality is, though, we’re probably still doing everything the same. The only difference is just that we’ve offered our students “fun” chairs. Reforming education is no more about offering the same old, tired content to kids sitting on bouncy...
Checking in on Mental Health
Listen We have written a lot about mental health in the last 6 months since the world seems to have gotten turned upside down, but that’s just how important of a topic it is! While most of this seems to have started with the COVID-19 pandemic back in March, the...
The Class Is Half Full
Listen There is a lot for us to complain about when it comes to where we find ourselves as teachers these days. This is arguably the most difficult time to be a teacher in several decades. We are all relearning how to teach. Anxiety and stress are at all-time highs...
Teaching Culturally Responsive Literature: Part 1, LGBTQ+
Listen It is not appropriate as educators to tell students what to believe, but it is our duty to foster an environment that welcomes every individual and provides a safe space where they can learn. Schools are to be a microcosm of society at large in which students can practice...
Preventing PTSD Among Educators
Listen As the stories of teachers pour in from around the country of their return to their classrooms to clean them out, end the year, and get ready for summer, one thing is resoundingly clear: teachers have suffered some deep emotional trauma this year. Although trauma is widely accepted as...
Battling Anxiety
Listen Anxiety in and of itself is common, but when that anxiety starts to interfere with your daily life, cause you to avoid certain activities, and keep you from doing the things that are important to you, it’s time to seek help. Among the symptoms or signs of anxiety are...
Depression and Teaching
Listen Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses people face. It can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience or a lifelong struggle. For teachers, this time in our history is particularly ripe for depression because of the instability of our jobs, the necessity of social distancing (which makes connecting to...
Panic Attacks 101
Listen We, teachers, have always been a fairly over-stressed, anxiety-ridden bunch. We’ve got a lot at stake, after all. Our jobs are more than jobs. We’re caring for and educating our own future leaders and fellow adults. With the pandemic, social isolation, insecurities about when and how we will return...
The Next Pandemic - Mental Illness
Listen The pandemic of COVID-19 leaves behind more than physical health changes for the general population in its wake. Many doctors, psychiatrists, and health advisers (including the CDC and WHO) are telling the medical community and the public to brace themselves for the next big pandemic - mental illness. Many...
What Do Schools Need to Do to Prepare for the Fall? Part 2
Listen In our previous article in this series, we addressed the fact that schools need to prepare plans A, B, & C as well as a hybrid of the three and the fact that teachers will need continued support. Consider Accessibility for Both Students and Teachers The last three months...
What Do Schools Need to Do to Prepare for the Fall? Part 1
Listen We only have three months to get ready for whatever school is going to look like in the fall. With so many unknowns, we are all having to plan for several different scenarios. One of the big lessons learned from the experiences this spring is that we have to...
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students - In the General Education Classroom
Listen Most students who are born with serious hearing impairments are identified as infants or when they are very young. By the time they enter the general education classroom, they’ve got an I.E.P with accommodations., assistance as needed, and a support system in place. However, if you’re teaching a student...
Being OK with Being Cautious
Listen It goes without saying that everyone is ready for things to go back to normal, but many scientists are predicting that normal may be as much as a few years away. Some cultural norms are likely to be changing or disappearing for good. The economic repercussions will stretch out...
Preparing Students to Re-Enter Society
Listen Recently, one of our writers was sharing a personal experience they’d had right after college. The writer spent the summer in a third-world country teaching reading, and upon returning to the United States, had a severely overwhelming few weeks getting used to being back. For example, grocery shopping was...
Teachers’ Concerns About Returning to School
Listen In a previous post we explored how other countries are coping with reopening schools, but teachers around the globe have so many practical questions and concerns regarding the implications of reopening when there are still so many unknowns about this virus. Many teachers feel left out as the decisions...
The Emotional Toll of Social Distancing
Listen Let us start by saying that we acknowledge that the price we are paying for social distancing is, in our opinion, worth it. Lives are the most important and irreplaceable commodity. That’s not the issue we are dealing with in this article. With that being said, we must acknowledge...
Remote Learning Idea #3: Do-able Poetry Intro or Review
Listen How can 6 little letters elicit such fear, dread, anxiety, and memories of failure and defeat? And, that’s just for the teachers! Many of us literature nerds love poetry. You probably remember how excited you were building your poetry packet your first year teaching ELAR. The other teachers on...
8 Tips for Teaching Classes Online
Listen UPDATE 2: 3/14/2020, 5:30 P.M. The free version of Zoom is back up and in order. UPDATE: (3/13/2020, 12:31 P.M.) We recommended Zoom below as a free service, but in the past 12 hours, we’ve become aware that their free services are temporarily suspended because they are overwhelmed...
Tips for Coping with Personal Mental Illness
Listen According to NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness), on average, 1 in 5 Americans in the general population experience mental illness at some point in their adult life. 1 in 25 experience severe or chronic mental illnesses. It comes as no surprise that teachers are not an exception...
How Building Community Can Create Safer Schools
Listen Everytown Research reports that information contributed by “the New York Police Department’s review of active shooter incidents found that in 75% of these incidents, the shooter or shooters were school-aged and were current or former students of the school.” This means that active shooters in schools are very often...
How Do We Keep Good Teachers?
Listen Teaching is a hard job, and we all know that it doesn’t pay in proportion to the amount of work that it requires. Sometimes the reality of what teaching really is compared to the image put forth in teacher education programs and movies is too much for teachers,...
Self-Care for Worn Out Educators
Listen Have you ever noticed that the only movies that are made about us are either movies where the teacher is a terrible human who takes complete advantage of the “easy paycheck” (which we all know is not realistic) or those who have no personal boundaries and are terrible humans...
Resilience for Teachers
Listen Read Resilience became a buzzword in classrooms across the land in regards to students, but it really needs to be common among adults in conversations about our own personal emotional health. Don’t believe that? Well, here’s a little detail that may change your mind: the first ingredient for building...
7 Tips For Helping Families in Crisis
Listen Read Everyone experiences a crisis at some point. No one is immune. Whether the person involved in crisis is a student, a staff member, or an administrator, the community is affected and may need to respond swiftly to provide meaningful intervention. Here are a few crises that may affect...
The Introvert's Survival Guide for Working in Education
Listen Read Education is a tough field for introverts, and not necessarily for the reasons people might assume. The “public speaking” aspect, for example, is not that big of a deal for many people in a classroom setting. In fact, public speaking in general may be easier for introverts because...
10 Ways to Boost Morale for Teachers and School Staff
Listen As the school year begins, so does the stress and expectations put upon teachers. We go from pretty much not having a care in the world during the summer to deadlines, paperwork, planning, assessments…you name it, we have to do it. All these duties can become overwhelming quickly and...
Mindfulness in the Classroom
Listen The demands put upon students these days, from kindergarten through high school, have become overwhelming. Kindergartners, 5 and 6 year olds, are expected to read and write by the end of the school year. Upper elementary age students need to be able to use a computer and take multiple,...
PBIS - How Effective Is It?
Listen PBIS stands for "Positive Behavioral Interactions and Supports." The overarching goal of PBIS as a classroom strategy is to create safer, more positive learning environments for students of all ages and levels. Most importantly, perhaps, PBIS adds "behavior" as a classroom topic like any other. Here, everyone is first...
Should We Have Corporal Punishment in the Classroom?
Listen Corporal punishment is defined online by Merriam Webster as being “punishment inflicted on a person’s body”. They further add to the definition by pointing out that the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution “limits the use of corporal punishment on convicted offenders and prisoners”. However, they also point out...
The Lasting Impact of Good Teachers
Listen The hours spent in school everyday expose children to significant and life-changing events. School experiences affect the identity formation of students as well as social and academic abilities, which ultimately influence relationships and career paths. A school climate that is non-academic and non-challenging contributes to a lack of success...
The Lasting Impact of a Bad Teacher
Listen The path of most educators' careers begin with a familiar story. This story is often one involving a particularly kindhearted or helpful teacher who gave their students the tools and lessons needed to flourish. The best teachers inspire students, fill them with hope and confidence, and get them excited...
LGBTQ+ Inclusivity in Education
While there have always been students belonging to the LGBTQ+ community in schools, there has been a movement for inclusivity in education in recent times. This is likely due to the laws that have taken effect recently that has allowed members of this community to have the same equal rights...
Can Teachers Handle Year Round Schooling?
School schedules are changing in many parts of the country. Several districts are finding that their students need a different schedule. Districts are changing from a traditional school calendar to a year-round school calendar. A traditional school schedule operates by having school in session for forty weeks on and twelve...
TFD Talks Education #1 - Empathy and Understanding with Curtis Slater
Listen Watch We talk with Principal Curtis Slater about his upbringing and how it has helped him with empathy and motivating kids by positivity instead of pure punishments. And, positivity in a social media world while grappling with mental health issues in 1/3 of our population.
Are We Raising Entitled Kids?
Almost every up and coming younger generation recalls parents and grandparents bemoaning the ease with which youth live their lives. "In my day..." so begins the lament. The implication is that the budding age group--benefitting from advances in technology and convenience--fails to appreciate how good it has it. Instead, the...
Dealing With a Challenging Child
As educators, it is inevitable that we will encounter challenging students throughout the course of our careers. While there are no sure-fire strategies to handle these students, there are some classroom management techniques that can help minimize disruptive behavior in the classroom and address it effectively when it does happen.Remain...
In an On Demand World is Patience Still Important?
It is human nature to be impatient. After all, we are self-centered creatures that are naturally impatient, unless we are taught differently. In today’s fast-paced, instant gratification society, patience might seem like a thing of the past. The truth, however, is that it is more valuable now than ever before, The...
Challenges Students Today Face
Anyone who says that kids don't have any worries needs to have a long, hard look at reality. Just because young people don't have the same worries as adults doesn't mean that they don't have worries. All kinds of pressure are placed on them, and they're often difficult to juggle....
Effective Anti Bullying Strategies
The most effective bullying prevention strategies As children and youth grow up, there are many things to learn. Relationships and social situations can be some of the most complicated things that people learn when they are young. It is essential that children and young adults learn how to interact with...