Hey, Teachers!

If you're an online teacher you know that building teacher-student relationships can include different challenges than in in-person settings...because almost all of our communication is written. If you teach synchronously and asynchronously in the online setting, you have...

Hey, Teachers!

How do you gain respect from students, parents, colleagues, and administrators? 

Professionalism.

Professionalism is a strategy for success as a classroom teacher. It includes you think of yourself as a practitioner, the tone you set in your teaching space, and how you...

Hey, Teachers!

How do you reach a tough group of learners? The ones causing you to feel angry and possibly, defeated?  You want a thriving classroom. But you're unable to teach because of behaviors that are off-task, dismissive, apathetic, or even violent and threatening.

Parents...

Hey, Teachers!

How do you make your classroom IRRESISTIBLE?  You want your classroom to be a place where students are thriving, where anyone visiting can clearly see engagement, enthusiasm, positivity, growth, and your top priority: learning.

How do you define learning?

Learning in...

Hey, Teachers!

We do our best with students, families, and colleagues, to bring about positive learning and performance outcomes while battling numerous limitations and interpersonal challenges in school settings. And right alongside our efforts, talents, credibility, experiences,...

Hey, Teachers!

The K-12 system has never been a breeze. Storms surround the most valiant and effective of teachers and threaten to wipe out teachers new to the field, especially when storms get too rough.  It's always been this way. I remember a teacher friend at the start of my career...

Hey, Teachers!

Of course, the baseline answers to "why teachers don't make much" center on history, societal values, and state funding.  When we hear "teacher" we think role model, steward of children, keeper of knowledge, friendly face, memorable and caring, uncompromising...for the...

Hey, Teachers!

The close of 2023-24 may not have been so easy if you lost a friend in teaching--or several. Some of us have lost friends in teaching because they have passed away, retired, quit, or moved location, and many of us have been left to stand alone at the edge of a school building...

Hey, Teachers!

One of the reasons we're so tired by June is the energy spent ensuring we are team players who are playing the game right according to administration. One thing to remember about professional roles in teaching is most of our administrators are not leaders. They are managers....

Hey, Teachers!

We've heard the Information Processing Theory buzz phrase "growth mindset" encircling our school environments for years now. Some of us take this to mean open-mindedness, a willingness to grow, and continued learning to become better and do better. Others of us stay fixed in our...

Hey, Teachers!

Do you really know how to interpret your teaching evaluation? It's a "must-have" on the job, but it doesn't always reflect our good and honest work. And often, it can feel like another hoop we're jumping through to get to our contract offer for the next school year.

...

Hey, Teachers!

What's at the VERY HEART of your personal teaching philosophy? What governs your decisions as a practitioner? How do you employ best practices without wavering from the core beliefs and values that truly motivate you in the classroom?

In today's teaching climate we can easily lose...