I Am a Black Teacher and I Wear Ralph Lauren. Does That Make Me a Gang Member?

As a teacher, I am always professional with my students. When it comes to how I dress, however, my professional self and my casual self…

Building Trusting Relationships at School Will Help Us Move Forward

Trust is the centerpiece of any relationship and has played a critical role in our lives in the grueling year we just experienced as educators.…

Here’s How Parents and Teachers Can Help in the Battle Against Bullying

Mean girls.  These two words perfectly described my fourth period speech class. The class culture I had worked so hard to create was crushed overnight…

Online Learning Has Its Place, but Kids Need Their Teachers

Boy am I glad to have my kids back this year. Last year, I had to share them with a digital teaching tool. I had…

3 Strategies To Make Your Classroom a Community

We are halfway through summer and the 2021-22 school year is only a few weeks away in some communities. After countless disruptions caused by the…

I Almost Left Teaching But Then I Remembered Why I Started

This past year, I came the closest I ever have to ending my teaching career — midyear. Between August and December, my second graders and…

A ‘Whole Child’ Approach Will Be More Important Than Ever This Fall

With summer here and life as we remember emerges, the open doors and public gatherings herald a return to normal. When it comes to schools…

The System Is Not Built for Teachers to Have an Opinion

At the close of the 2020-2021 school year, I experienced the most significant “break-up” of my life. The following is my unexpected farewell to teaching…

A Teacher’s Power to Stop Violence Is Rooted in Relationships

During my 15 years of teaching, I have broken up many fights. I have been hit in the ear so hard that it rang me…

We’re Not Just Doing Distance Learning, We’re Teaching Through a Crisis

When I last wrote about mentoring in January 2020, I discussed how it built stronger connections between myself and my students. That remains true, but…