An Uncertain Return Summer readings for professional development always appear exciting at first — there is so much hope and promise for change and innovation in that nascent stage of planning. And throughout our extended year of distance...
“When the math is getting more difficult, what happens internally?” I asked one of my 8th grade focal students. “Yeah… I get annoyed and stressed, and kind of angry, because I don’t understand it. I hate...
The first day of school last year and the screen was a mess! Parents were writing to the principal, students were complaining, and there was no order to the class. And worst of all, my internet was glitching...
I opened my email one afternoon to find another message from an Instructional Assistant (IA) that read: “Jake* did a lousy work on Q3 book review. (l got a headache!!!!) He left...
On February 8, Lead by Learning Teacher Leaders from across our partner sites met over Zoom for our Spring Teacher Leader Network. Asked why being a teacher leadership matters to them, our educators shared: “Allows...
After over a year of distance learning my students and I were feeling burned out. We were in the last stretch of the year, spring 2021. There was just enough time to start another literacy unit, but it...
With the start of a virtual school year looming, I spent the summer of 2020 grappling with the idea of teaching my incoming freshmen history students in a Zoom setting. I always strive to create a comfortable, welcoming...
Building rapport with students was an experience I was looking forward to as a first year teacher. It was also completely unprecedented and not what I had expected. As we eased into the virtual school year, I had...
There were still three months to go in the school year. My students had amazed me with how well they took to this strange new normal, but in recent weeks it seemed that everyone’s focus had started to...