What a day.  Teacher Appreciation Week and the day of a local levy for my hometown school district in Ohio.  As I see people coming out on social media to thank their teachers or argue in favor or against this levy, I reflected on my day.  Below will be an outline of my school day.…

It was so nice to go on a field trip today. During the school week, its a rarity to see the sun.  I arrive at school before the sun comes up, and don’t make it out until the sun goes down.  So, taking two campus tours today was just lovely.  Seeing the sun this afternoon…

At the beginning, middle, and end of each year, Teach For America sends a survey to its corps members and asks us to rate a number of areas with regard to our performance as teachers and the staff’s performance as guides to our professional development. While some of the questions change from survey to survey,…

I do forget sometimes that people read this.   This Wednesday, my students will be embarking on a proofing adventure.  I’m going to set the scene with some East Asian music and we’re going to work through a proof.  A real one.  It’s going to be hard.  But so, SO great. I’ve realized (or I…

So. The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program.  The reason my lovely school exists.  What a tough idea to grapple with.   The good: –without it, would my students be at  less effective MPS school? –Christian and character grounded education for students who wouldn’t otherwise get it (while this isn’t a goal of the choice program, I…

I was forced to bond with Lee Cantor this summer, as all 2012 Corps Members were.  We learned to give explicit directions, narrate the positive, and then redirect.  We all felt SO silly to recognize students who were on task… “____ is writing his name on the paper, ____ is working on the first problem”,…

Well, I’m about to turn off my television because I can’t deal with any more political ads.  The political scientist student in me thinks that the election cycle is extremely interesting, but the teacher in me is a little exhausted by both sides (or any side) using nice phrases and emotional ploys to think that they alone…

I received my first quarter evaluation from my administration today.  I’m so thankful to have honest and supportive administration backing me at my school–they’re pushing me to make me better and provide extremely valuable resources.  All the same, though, as I walked into my evaluation I knew I could do better. Of COURSE I can…

Every now and then I’ll be talking about the teachers strike with someone and they’ll say something along the lines of “I understand why they’re doing this, but why do they need a contract?” or “Why do they need a union?” It is something I haven’t asked myself since taking U.S. History in high school,…

Two weeks ago, on the eve of my second first day as a teacher, I was a different kind of nervous. Last year I was worried about my classroom not being ready for my students and I was worried about whether or not I would be able to handle the responsibility of my role. This…