Whole-Child Learning Recovery Must Include Arts and Music

For more than a year, the lights on Broadway went dark, symphonies were silenced, live concerts were canceled. And just as things looked like they…

Relationships Don’t Come Before Rigor, They Go Hand in Hand

I’m a sixth grade teacher grappling with the reality of teaching kids who may not have darkened a school door in over a year. Many…

Now Is Not the Time to Let Down the Students Who Need Us the Most

After the unprecedented global pandemic that disrupted — not one — but two separate school years, educators are finally preparing to welcome students back to…

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…

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…

It’s Time To Break the Discipline Cycle and Invest in Student Supports

While we continue to struggle to figure out how to educate students 12 months into the global pandemic, we cannot afford to lose sight of…

We Have No Idea What This Year Has Been Like for Our Kids

One year ago, my now-kindergartener left his bustling and diverse transitional kindergarten classroom with sensory learning areas designed for academic and social skills development to…

7 Steps to Help You Implement Trauma-Informed Practices at Your School

The only way to implement something well is through trial and error. In 2017, I proposed to my principal that teachers should adapt to trauma-informed…

We Learned a Lot About What Our Students Actually Need This Year. Now We Must Do Better.

We have all been steeped in the vivid, traumatic consequences of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with regard to a year of disrupted learning for…

Black Students Are Not ‘Marginalized,’ They Are the Center of Our Work

So many headlines these days are about how Black students are “falling behind” during the pandemic. They’re “missing” and “lost.” But the truth is, Black…