self care Search Results

Deeper Class Discussions with the TQE Method

…unevenly, sometimes not answering them all, other times copying work from their peers. And when students didn’t do the work, they got calls home and office referrals. As this pattern repeated itself year after year, Thompson became more frustrated: The texts themselves were wonderful, but students weren’t experiencing them the way they were meant to be experienced. Instead, they had shallow interactions with them, doing whatever surface work had to be done to get a grade. Marisa Thompson Finally, she started experimenting with a different approach, and the way she teaches texts now is completely different from the way she…

Some Thoughts on Teachers Crying in the Classroom

…books offer tons of insights and guidance on how teachers can work with their mindset to make teaching a lot more enjoyable. Move into Third Person In order to tell yourself a different story, you have to be aware that there is a story to begin with. When you’re feeling emotionally triggered, it can be incredibly helpful to take one step away from yourself mentally and think of yourself as an observer of your own mind, rather than letting your emotions dictate how you interpret a situation. I first heard of this technique from world-renowned spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle in…

Episode 89: Restorative Justice in School: An Overview

…really a very big proponent of RJ is if you’re doing it right, you’re going to prevent a whole lot of issues from occurring. GONZALEZ: Right. SMALL: And because you’ve set the groundwork, you’ve given yourself easy ways to fix them once they start. I mean, point blank, if you’ve got everybody in the school liking and getting along with one another, well when they do something wrong, it’s a lot easier for that kid to apologize. GONZALEZ: Yeah. If they know each other well, they’re going to probably, they’ll be less likely to assume a negative intent when there…

The Time I Made a Fart Sound During a Test

…did a no grades classroom for 1 quarter. (I had announced my sabbatical so admin had given up on me ;)) It was glorious to only care about improvement and stories and people. I realized trying to care about the job (grading, meetings, accountability, professional development—although I enjoy that, schedules, paper pushing) while also caring about the students I served burned me out. If and when I go back, I would cut myself more slack on the fun stuff I do in the classroom. I always felt less of a teacher because the human connection piece mattered so much to…

Episode 64: How Teachers Can Support Students of Color

…discriminate against their students of color. What’s happening is that teachers are doing things that harm these students’ self-perception without even realizing it. Or let’s put it another way: Teachers could be doing a much better job of nurturing these students than they’re currently doing. But this is a fixable problem. By making a few changes, they could be doing an incredible job. My guest today, Dena Simmons, understands this issue from both sides. In her 2015 TED talk, “How Students of Color Confront Impostor Syndrome,” she tells the story of how, as a young black girl, she left the…

Race in the Classroom: There’s a Manual for That

…better meet the needs of your students. To better facilitate this work, Harvard Education Press offers free downloadable discussion questions for Elementary Teachers and Middle and High School Teachers. In order to start where you are, you have to know where you are, and that requires a lot of honest self-reflection, a belief that there is room for improvement, and an understanding that the skills of effectively teaching students from diverse backgrounds can be learned. “I rarely meet teachers who do not care about their students or who are not committed to them in a general sense,” Milner says. “However, they may…

The Hate U Give

…a place to care about it? Does leaving your roots mean turning your back on the people and places you care about? So many of my students could relate to these ideas. I look forward to others’ comments to see how else it could be used in the classroom! Caroline Lund Powerful book! Great choice and I agree that it’s hard not to filter this book through your own perspective. My family is multiracial. I completely understood Starr’s role as a reluctant ambassador between 2 worlds. I thought Angie did a fantastic job of identifying the issues Starr faced in…

To Learn, Students Need to DO Something

…I had started putting myself out there earlier. Want to help your colleagues pick themselves up a little, apparently you need to start a website and then they will listen! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Susan Newton Actually, this is an exact science or really a research-based methodology call Andragogy!! Great to see others are starting to realize that Andragogy (the art & science of adult learning) simply is a competency-based self-directed learning (which is parallel to IEPs & special education) is extremely beneficial for all ages and all ability levels! Arjan Harjani Hi Jennifer, Thank you. In fact, your rant is inspirational and…

5 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Unmotivated Students

…that my clay projects will shrink in different kiln firings, of course budgeting, assessing student scores, etc. I care about math because of how it is relevant to my core interests. I once had an AP art student who didn’t care at all about our assignments because she felt they were irrelevant to her, but then I found out that she wanted to be a cake decorator, and set her to 3-D projects centered around that. All of the students still had to cover the same material, but whereas one might make a painting about it, another might make a…