5 Perks of Being a Public School Teacher

I’m sure there are plenty of blogs out there that have many negative things to say about being a public school teacher: from the horrible pay to the mistreatment by legislators out of touch with the classroom to the violence that could be visited upon any school.  I, however, would like to list 5 things

The Truth About Being a Public School Teacher

Sometimes former students will pop by my classroom and inform me that they are pursuing a teaching degree, and when I ask them why they usually tell me that “so-and-so” inspired them or they just want to be a positive influence on students or something along that line.  I congratulate them, and then I sit

The 90-10 Split

Yesterday I posted a blog post about my thoughts on why I assign homework.  I had some very interesting responses and some of you even suggested some rather rash (and humorous) ways to deal with the problem of students who simply choose not to do homework assignments. Today I thought I would like to offer

Why I Assign Homework

Today was rough. I give my students a packet that not only contains every due date for the unit but also some supplemental reading that is included so that students can mark up a text, circle and define unfamiliar words (vocabulary component) and generally read some things not included in their textbook to give them

3-2-1 Assessment: A Common Core Method for Assessment

One of the things that we try to steer away from when teaching using the common core method is to get away from wrote memorization, teachers answering questions for students and basic surface learning. Assessment, or testing, usually takes the form (in my class) of an essay or a multiple choice exam.  I decided to

Common Core vs. NCLB: Damage Done

Across the U.S., the Common Core guidelines are being rolled out for use in classrooms, requiring students to read and write on a level higher than ever expected of them.  Students in the lower grades will benefit from this if the Common Core guidelines are followed throughout her formative and high school years. However, I

Writing in the Classroom: A Common Core Must

For too long students in public schools in the U.S. have been shackled by the mandates of NCLB, which has recently been proven to be an absolute failure.  Students have been taught to do well on a test because teacher evaluations are based on test scores, which is absolutely absurd.  What job on earth other

My Struggling Special Needs Son

My son Conner has had and will probably always have struggles in school.  He was born at 24 weeks, weighed 1 lb. 8 oz., and is severely nearsighted.  At first we thought that this miracle child had only those things that would keep him from leading a somewhat normal life, but then came asthma, a

Analytical Thinking and the Modern High School Student

I am one month into springing my common core lesson plans on my 11th grade English students.  They seemed to be doing quite well with it, but today I said something to them that caused them to completely flatline. This all began with an essay I assigned last week.  They were given a poem (a

Common Core Writing: First Day of School Assignment

Yesterday was the first day of school for our students.  Often it is difficult to have something for students to do right out of the box on the first day, since our syllabi may not have arrived from the copy center, our room may not be 100% ready or we may not have written a