Listen to Episode 13 of the Student-Centered World Podcast above, “What Do You Do With a Toxic School?” I once saw on Facebook the plight of a teacher who had a total, unannounced administrative observation the morning after returning from winter break. This is the stuff of school culture nightmares. That first day back from … Read more
We know that, as teachers, we often wear so many different hats in the classroom, many of which have nothing to do with the curriculum we are tasked with teaching. Sometimes it is difficult to juggle all of this, and many in education are struggling to find a way to balance it all. The key (and … Read more
Ask ten teachers what classroom management means, and you’ll get ten different answers. Some will tell you it’s about student behavior. Others will say it’s about building a classroom community. A few might even argue it’s really about academics in disguise. The truth? It’s all of those things woven together. Classroom management is what turns … Read more
For the record, before we get started, I have redirected every page on my site that discusses an AI-based program to this page. When AI seemingly blew up out of nowhere a few years ago, it seemed like such a great way to save so much time in everything from work to everyday tasks. I … Read more
We are in a weird time in education. Not only are the pressures on the profession at an all-time high, but teachers by nature put their heart and soul into their work 24/7 while the school year is in session (and much of it often carries over when the year is not in session). Teacher burnout rates … Read more
I talk frequently about self-grading assignments, but sometimes that moves too quickly. It is important to answer the question, “What is self-grading?” before moving on to how to use it in the classroom. With that answer, you can develop a self-grading system that works for both the teacher and the student. Most of us know … Read more
The Expanded ADEPT Support and Evaluation System was designed with a specific purpose: to help teachers grow, reflect, and improve their practice over time. ADEPT stands for Assisting, Developing, and Evaluating Professional Teaching, and that name matters. It’s not just about evaluating professional teaching; it’s supposed to be about supporting it. Principals, instructional coaches, or … Read more
All teachers are expected to have a classroom management philosophy, but what does this actually mean (and what should it look like in a 21st-century classroom)? The answer depends on three things: the teacher’s purpose, the learners’ needs, and a good understanding of how young people develop in a digital age. In other words, classroom … Read more
The Danielson Framework for teacher observations has become increasingly popular in school districts nationwide. What sets the Danielson Framework apart from other teacher evaluation systems is the level of specificity used to construct teacher observation rubrics. By breaking down teaching into parts and clearly describing each one, the Danielson Framework gives educators criteria they can … Read more
If you’ve followed our series on the importance of brain breaks in the classroom (especially brain break games), you know how passionate we are about the need for them. Not the fact that they’re nice, but that they’re a need. I’ll never forget the afternoon my students were slogging through a heavy document analysis, and … Read more
I once heard teaching described as “herding cats,” and I laughed because I’ve lived it. Not in my own high school history classroom (11th graders are a different kind of chaos), but in the elementary classrooms I’ve spent time in as a trainer and as a parent volunteer. I remember standing in a kindergarten classroom … Read more
The room was too quiet, and I knew that wasn’t a good thing. It was right after lunch, and I was standing in front of my high school juniors, watching their eyes glaze over as I walked through what I thought was a perfectly fine lesson on primary source analysis. Then one student raised his … Read more
Most of us are trying to tackle the wrong one…and we’re starting the school year at a deficit instead of our nervous systems being back to 100%.
Find out what type plagues you the hardest and develop a plan to change it ⬇️