What I’ve Learned in 10 Years of Teaching

I am currently in my 12th year of teaching. I spent my first two years in The Bronx at P.S. 211 and have spent these…

I Love Teaching But Here’s Why I Had to Leave the Classroom

#LoveTeaching Week is a grassroots campaign started by teachers in 2015 as an opportunity to celebrate teaching, leading, and learning in a way that unites…

How Our Rural School Is Closing the Opportunity Gap and Preparing the Next Generation of Teachers

Teacher shortages in Wisconsin, and across the country, have a stranglehold on the profession. Enrollment in educator prep programs in Wisconsin is down 30 percent.…

We Cannot Go Another Month Without Teachers Knowing Black History

In just the past several weeks, school systems across the United States have, at last, taken the steps to elevate critical lessons from African-American history…

Holding Teachers Accountable Without Adequate Teacher Prep Programs Is a Set-Up

One of my resolutions for this new year is to think outside of silos and to start connecting the dots between the wide, disparate, and…

I Thought Watching Another Teacher Get Right What I Got Wrong Would Hurt. Instead, It Inspired.

A couple weeks ago, I had one of those days. After writing a whole post about how nice my room is, a post that included…

How We Build a Pipeline of Teachers That Know How to Talk About Race and Social Justice

Nearly 60 years ago, our nation’s students watched as leaders of the civil rights movement pushed back against entrenched Jim Crow laws and re-defined American…

Kassie Benjamin’s the Kind of Math Teacher Who Sticks With You Long After You Leave Her Classroom

Here in Minneapolis, the word around town is that South High was designed by a guy who had spent his whole career designing prisons. There…

I Traveled Across 14 States and Every Student Told Me the Same Story About Why They’re Not Motivated in the Classroom

Recently I was in Dodge City, Kansas, at Red Beard Coffee on Gunsmoke Street. I walk up to a guy with a red beard—the owner—and…

The Best Way to Fight Fake News Is With Real Teaching

A couple months ago, I heard a student at my school shout “fake news!” at friends down the hallway. It’s actually a pretty common occurrence…