Having dedicated nearly 15 years to education, I’ve observed a persistent misconception that teachers should shoulder both instructional and parental responsibilities. However, the primary role of a teacher is to facilitate learning and create optimal conditions for student growth. Assigning blame to educators for a student’s academic challenges is both disrespectful and indicative of a flawed … More Misconception
I’ve often heard that education is a right that should be free and accessible to all, and I agree with this. Knowledge and learning should be available to everyone. However, not everyone has the right to be in the learning environment. A classroom must be respected by all, and students who choose to be disrespectful, … More School Is A Right, The Classroom Is A Privilege
How many times have you sat through a lesson or speech and noticed someone setting expectations for you, only to realize they don’t meet those expectations themselves? Did you lose respect for that person? Did it make you want to keep listening? I’ve noticed that many of us in education do this with our students. … More Be The Example
I have been in education for over 15 years, with 14 of those years spent teaching in the classroom. When I first began teaching, I saw a sense of pride and determination in my students. Most were focused on doing well, pushing themselves to improve, and caring deeply about their progress. Now, in my 14th … More Let’s Build A Thriving Society
The classroom is meant to be a safe place for students to learn, fail, make mistakes, and be loved and encouraged throughout this process. However, we have made the classroom so padded and soft-shelled that students cannot take honest, brutal criticism and feedback. They don’t know what to do when someone who wants results gets … More The Realities of the Real World
We tend to overcomplicate learning and education. We also think that learning is some linear process that needs to fit within a certain time frame. The truth is that learning is nothing more than habit-forming actions. We learn by doing, but if we only do something once or twice, we will never really know or … More The More You Do It…
Four years into teaching, I noticed an apathy among my students that was difficult to break. They were bored, cared very little about their work, and gave minimal effort. I wanted more for my students. I wanted them to be excited to be at school and to learn. I started researching how to get students … More Find Your Niche
The other day, our school had a field day consisting of morning activities and a movie in the afternoon. Students were sent home with permission slips so they could watch the movie. For students to participate in watching the movie, they needed to bring back their permission slips signed by their parents. A handful of … More Consistency and Consequences!
We tell our students that failure is a step in learning, but how often do we explain to them the value of failure, or more importantly, the importance of making mistakes? We train our students to get problems right, rather than to learn from their mistakes. We give students assignments and mark off what is … More Mistakes Are A Necessity
There seems to be this attitude in America that education starts in the classroom at school with the start of preschool or kindergarten. I cannot express how inaccurate and devastating this belief is to children’s academic and emotional growth. Education starts the moment children enter into the world. That means that education starts at home … More Dear Parents, Education Starts With You!
Welcome To The Classroom 