My third-period sophomores were presenting their history projects, and I couldn’t stop glancing at the classroom across the hall, where students were completing a similar project. Through the window in my door, I could see my co-worker’s students. They were standing at the front of her room, speaking with real authority, answering questions from their … Read more
I’ll never forget the look on my juniors’ faces. They filed in, grabbed their daily schedule sheet from me at the door, and sat down. But instead of the usual quiet rustle of backpacks and notebooks, I heard whispers. “What are we doing today?” “I don’t know, but it’s never boring.” One kid actually said … Read more
My good friend, Dr. Joe Lizza, runs campus activities at Rowan University, and we chatted on my podcast about student life a while back. He told a fascinating story during the interview. It turns out, during the first months of COVID, when everything shut down, his team discovered that a surprising number of college students … Read more
I was one of the teachers who signed up to do after-school detention. It was easy money, but patterns began to emerge the more frequently I sat in. It seemed to be the same community members from our student body appearing over and over. They weren’t bad kids, but they were definitely frustrated, overwhelmed, and … Read more
I remember standing in the hallway during passing period, coffee in hand, when a student I’d never taught came up to me and just started talking. About her morning. About a fight with her mom. About how she didn’t know if she could make it through the day. I didn’t know this kid, but she … Read more
In month 3 of my first job, teaching World History for three months by then, 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 … 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 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 still remember the exact moment I realized how badly I had misread a student’s disengagement. It was my third year in the classroom, and a 10th grader sat in the back row of my World History class, hoodie up, head down, contributing absolutely nothing. I assumed he didn’t care about the material, that he … Read more
I was standing in front of my period-four U.S. History class, midway through the second semester, when I realized not a single student was looking at me. I had a meticulously crafted lesson on muckrakers and trust-busting, complete with primary source photographs and what I thought was a compelling discussion prompt about corporate power. A … Read more
Click above to listen to Podcast Episode 24: “Determining Teacher Timing“ Educators today face a monumental task: managing effective lesson planning amidst constantly shifting schedules. The move to hybrid and unpredictable models has made teacher time management more critical than ever. Mastering new teacher time management tips is essential to not only survive but thrive … Read more