I’ve been rereading Uncommon Core in preparation for planning out my next book, and I have to tell you, it’s giving me the feels. I’ve cried through every chapter, remembering the connection I had with my students and the lessons we learned from each other. In some ways, it’s a hard book to market becauseContinue reading “A book for everyone”
Category Archives: To Be or Not To Be…A Teacher
Top 12 Global Teacher Blogger Discussion: June 2016
How do we inspire the best and the brightest to become educators? We have to make the profession a respectable position. Right now, American teachers are scapegoats for everything wrong with our society. This is not true in other countries. How do we bring respect to the profession? This multiple step process must happen simultaneouslyContinue reading “Top 12 Global Teacher Blogger Discussion: June 2016”
Melissa Bowers: 7 Reasons You Might Not Want to Teach Anymore
This is the post I wish I wrote. Melissa Bowers captures the plight of a teacher perfectly. There are many reasons to leave the profession, which many teachers, including me, have done. The only reason to stay is for our students. Remember that when you want to be overly critical of the public school teachersContinue reading “Melissa Bowers: 7 Reasons You Might Not Want to Teach Anymore”
Friday Writing Challenge: I Miss High School
Prompt: Something you miss I miss high school—not my teenage years but the years I spent teaching high school English. A few weeks ago, I went to the local high school with my son to see his friends play a 10-minute exhibition game as the half-time entertainment for the boys’ basketball game. As soon as IContinue reading “Friday Writing Challenge: I Miss High School”
Top 12 Global Teacher Blogger Discussion: February
What are the top ten ways that administrators can help new teachers avoid burning out? Mentors: New teachers need to pair up with master teachers so that they have mentors they can turn to for help. There are so many problems and issues new teachers face their first years of teaching that it is difficultContinue reading “Top 12 Global Teacher Blogger Discussion: February”
Top 12 Global Teacher Blogger Discussion: September
What was your most challenging classroom and how did you turn it around? Early in my teaching career, I had a class of freshman English with 27 students–22 boys and 5 girls. If having 22 freshman boys in one class wasn’t challenging enough, this class met after lunch in the last 90-minute block of the day.Continue reading “Top 12 Global Teacher Blogger Discussion: September”
Uncommon Core Book Reading: Chapter 19
On August 24, 2015, I read Chapter 19: Teach Them How to Be Happy from Uncommon Core: 25 Ways to Help Your Child Succeed in a Cookie Cutter Educational System at Great Bay Community College in Portsmouth, NH. To purchase Uncommon Core, go to WordCrafts Press or Amazon. To schedule a book reading, speaking engagement, or interview contactContinue reading “Uncommon Core Book Reading: Chapter 19”
Top 12 Global Teacher Blogger Discussion: August
What are the best ways parents can help teachers and that teachers can help parents? Communication and honesty are keys to building a positive, healthy relationship between parents and teachers. This relationship is the main reason I wrote Uncommon Core: 25 Ways to Help Your Child Succeed in a Cookie Cutter Educational System. I wantedContinue reading “Top 12 Global Teacher Blogger Discussion: August”
The New York Times Ponders An Emerging Teacher Shortage
Originally posted on Daniel Katz, Ph.D.:
Motoko Rich of The New York Times wrote a feature article for today’s print edition on the looming teacher shortage, and that nationwide scramble to fill available teaching positions. Predictions of a future teacher shortage are hardly new. Consider this Senate hearing where the then frequently made prediction…
To Be or Not To Be…A Teacher: The Architecture of the Classroom
In my last Education Reformation post about Teachers’ Roles, I defined teachers as guides or facilitators to students’ acquisition of knowledge. Truly, what else can we be? Teachers don’t have all the knowledge anymore. Back before the internet age, teachers were expected to be the experts of their content. In conjunction with the textbooks, teachers dispersedContinue reading “To Be or Not To Be…A Teacher: The Architecture of the Classroom”
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