Blog
How to Keep Kids Off Their Phones While Homeschooling
By: Scott Wilson | Sep 2, 2026
The most reliable way to keep kids off their phones while homeschooling is to agree on a spot where the phone goes during schoolwork, out of reach and out of sight. Set a clear return point, keep the work surface phone-free, and switch off notifications before the session starts.
Teachers have been working on this problem for a long time. Now it's your kitchen table.
Eyes down ...
Why Public Education is Worth Fighting For – 10 Strategies That Help Us Stay Solutions-Oriented Problem-Solvers
By: Jon Konen | Nov 18, 2021
Part 2 in a 3-Part Series - In this three-part series, we will explore the current fight to maintain public education, outline some strategies for ways we can improve the current situation, and look at some of the people that have made strides in the fight to save public education ...
Advocating for Public Education: A Superintendent’s Guide
By: Jon Konen | Nov 15, 2021
Advocating for public education means telling the story of what happens in your classroom, showing up where funding decisions get made, and connecting your school to the community that pays for it. Teachers hold the credibility policymakers lack. The work is small, repeated, and local. My first teaching contract was for ...
Dear Novice Teacher: An Open Letter About What You Really Need To Know For a Successful Teaching Career
By: Mary McLaughlin | Nov 9, 2021
Dear Novice Teacher, New Teacher, Seasoned Teacher, or Teacher Considering Leaving the Profession;
We need you. Don’t go. You are here for a reason.
We are in a profession where things go wrong, things seems too tough, we see things that break our hearts. We ache alongside those who are grievously wronged. ...
Online Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching: 50 Certification Programs for 2026
By: Amanda Castillo | Nov 8, 2021
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Best States for Teacher Pay vs. Cost of Living
By: Amanda Castillo | Oct 15, 2021
Among the best states for teacher pay vs. cost of living, West Virginia offers the smallest gap between home prices and salary: a typical home there costs $182,704, compared with a $56,610 median high school teacher salary. Hawaii has the widest gap, at $762,431. Nationally, that gap is about $299,734, ...
5 Ways To Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is In Building Supportive Relationships with Your Students
By: Jon Konen | Oct 13, 2021
Relationships, relationships, relationships!
We know that having positive, trusting relationships in their lives this is the number one indicator of student success...
Then why don’t we double down on relationships?
We push the curriculum. Many of us are getting students ready for the first assessment, then the next assessment, and then ...
I Never Forgot What It Felt Like to Struggle in School… So I Decided to Become the Teacher I Always Wished I Had
By: Mary McLaughlin | Oct 8, 2021
During my K-12 years I had one simple career goal. Anytime anyone would ask me that age-old question that adults always feel compelled to ask young ones, my answer came reflexively: a lawyer.
Probably not what you were expecting me to say, huh?
Even though learning was challenging for me, the dream ...
National Principals Month: 45 Ways to Celebrate Your Principal
By: Jon Konen | Oct 5, 2021
National Principals Month runs the entire month of October. It is organized by the National Principals Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and the American Federation of School Administrators. It is a separate observance from School Principals' Day, which falls on May 1. In my experience, the hardest job ...
How the Pandemic Has Taught Us to Get Back to Basics and Embrace the Concept of Total Wellness
By: Jon Konen | Sep 22, 2021
24 Future Forward Ideas: The Final Installment in Our 4-Part Series Exploring Practical Strategies for Better Teaching Based on What We Are Learning in the Pandemic.
Part 4 of 4: What We Know to Be True! At this point, we all recognize that the pandemic brought to the forefront a lot of ...
Powerful Educational Technology Solutions That Will Outlive the Pandemic
By: Jon Konen | Sep 8, 2021
24 Future Forward Ideas: Part 3 in a 4-Part Series Exploring Practical Strategies for Better Teaching Based on What We Are Learning in the Pandemic
Part 3: The Power of Being Flexibly-Virtual
When educational leaders transitioned to virtual offsite learning last year, some of the implications of what it meant to ...