About the Author: Jenn Breisacher
When teachers are trying to ace their T-TESS observation in the classroom, they often struggle with student engagement. Luckily, teachers can use simple strategies to boost engagement and get the most out of their Texas teacher evaluation. The T-TESS teacher observation system is a comprehensive evaluation tool that measures teacher effectiveness in Texas. T-TESS training … Read more
I remember, vividly, standing mid-lecture in 2009, and everything looked perfect. My 28 students sat quietly; notebooks were open; nobody was on their phone or whispering to a neighbor. Any administrator walking through would have nodded approvingly. About fifteen minutes in, I asked a question requiring them to connect that day’s material to the previous … Read more
Click above to listen to Podcast Episode 26: “The Importance of Student Relationships with Bridget Hocutt“ I still remember sitting across from a student during my prep period, watching her eyes well up as she finally admitted she had no idea what was going on in class. This was a junior who had been in … Read more
Click above to listen to Podcast Episode 31: “Handling What You Can’t Control“ I vividly remember spending a Sunday evening in my second year of teaching, crafting what I genuinely believed was a flawless lesson on the Progressive Era. I had primary sources lined up with discussion questions tiered by complexity and a closing activity … Read more
In month 3 of my first job, I was teaching World History, and I still had a student who hadn’t muttered a word. Not once. She turned in maybe a third of the assignments. I remember standing there, thinking, “I have no idea what to do with this kid.” That moment stuck with me because it … Read more
I vividly remember standing in the back of my classroom watching a student meticulously fold a paper football. He wasn’t disruptive. He wasn’t sleeping. He had simply checked out so completely that origami felt like a better use of his time than the debate we were having about the Treaty of Versailles. That moment stuck … Read more
I still remember the moment in the spring of 2016 when a student raised his hand not to answer a question, but to ask one that stopped me cold. “Mrs. B,” he said, “why are we learning about the Treaty of Versailles the exact same way every single class learns everything else? Read the chapter, … Read more
I remember the exact moment a teacher I was coaching realized she had completely lost one of her students. She had been struggling to reach this particular kid for weeks. No eye contact. No participation. Assignments were turned in blank or not at all. She told me about it during one of our coaching calls, … Read more
I remember the exact moment I realized that “just try harder” wasn’t going to cut it anymore. It was the second semester with a group of high school juniors in a World History class. I had spent the previous evening meticulously crafting what I thought was a genuinely interesting lesson on the Silk Road, complete … Read more
I remember the first time I tried to teach the Age of Absolutism to a room full of 11th graders who were far more interested in whether we’d have a snow day than in the power structures of 17th-century France. I had spent hours crafting what I thought was a brilliant lecture, complete with detailed … Read more
I remember the first time I handed a blank map of Europe to a class of high school sophomores and asked them to sketch the borders from memory. Most couldn’t place Poland relative to Germany. A few labeled France where Spain should be. One student, completely earnest, drew a single large blob and wrote “USSR???” … Read more
I still remember the first time I projected an image of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam onto my classroom screen during my second year of teaching World History. A student in the back row, the kind who had perfected the art of looking attentive while mentally checking out, suddenly leaned forward. “Wait,” he said, squinting at the nearly … Read more