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 ...
Five Ways for You and Your School to Thrive This Year
By: Brian Miller | Aug 30, 2021
How to thrive as a teacher isn't a formula, and workload, staffing, resources, and administrative support shape the job as much as mindset does. Within what an individual can influence, this essay offers five strategies one teacher recommends: give more than you take, face hard facts, invest for the long ...
How The Challenges Created By COVID Will Be Good For The Future Of Education
By: Jon Konen | Aug 25, 2021
24 Future Forward Ideas: Part 2 in a 4-Part Series Exploring Practical Strategies for Better Teaching Based on What We Learned in 2020-21
Part 2: Reasons to Be Positive About the Future...
In part one of this series, we started looking at what it might mean to return to “normal” after a pretty strange ...
The Issue of Bullying Students with Disabilities Hits Particularly Close to Home for Me
By: Mary McLaughlin | Aug 16, 2021
There comes a time in the life of every person when we have to make a decision: accept what is wrong or change what is wrong. If we choose the latter, we may choose to stand alone in our efforts. If we choose the former, we might just be contributing ...
Before We Rush to Get Back to Normal, Let’s Think About Which Part of Normal is Actually Worth Getting Back To
By: Jon Konen | Aug 11, 2021
24 Future Forward Ideas: A 4-Part Series Exploring Practical Strategies for Better Teaching Based on What We Learned in 2020-21
Part 1: Before We Rush to Get Back to Normal...
“In a rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth getting back to.”
-Author and ...
The Pros and Cons of Being a Principal: An Honest Look
By: Mary McLaughlin | Jul 29, 2021
The pros and cons of being a principal come down to reach versus distance: you shape a whole building's culture and earn a median $105,870, but you trade classroom relationships for evaluations, budgets, and every conflict that walks through your door. Most principals start as teachers and miss the room. If ...
How to Streamline Curriculum: 5 Questions to Guide What to Cut or Keep
By: Catherine Dorian | Jul 27, 2021
Streamlining curriculum means deciding what to keep, cut, or combine so instruction matches the time you actually have, not the content available to cover. The clearest way to do it is to run each unit through a short set of questions about student choice, skill overlap, and what students walk ...
Is a Teaching Degree Worth It? Cost vs. Salary 2026
By: Brian Miller | Jul 14, 2021
Is a teaching degree worth it? For most people the math works, though the margin is thinner than in higher-paying fields. BLS put the national mean wage for elementary teachers at $72,650 in May 2025. What decides it for you is the price of the program you pick and how ...
Ever Wonder What Your Teacher Benefits Are Really Worth?
By: Jon Konen | Jun 30, 2021
Teacher benefits add real value beyond salary. BLS reports that, for primary, secondary, and special education school teachers, benefits accounted for 35.0 percent of total compensation as of December 2025. For a High School Teacher earning the median $72,040, health insurance, a pension, and paid time off add real value ...
What Teaching Was Like During the Pandemic: Three Teachers on 2020-21
By: Jon Konen | Jun 22, 2021
Teaching during the pandemic meant improvising with almost no notice. Three teachers describe last-minute policy changes, classes taught to muted black squares, and public goodwill that evaporated by fall. They also found gains worth keeping: flexible scheduling helped some students, and masking cut the sick days teachers had long accepted. Teaching ...
Top 10 Pieces of Advice for Graduating Seniors: A Speech
By: Jon Konen | Jun 7, 2021
The 10 pieces of advice for graduating seniors in this commencement speech are: own your actions, show compassion, take risks, make connections, be alone sometimes, be reflective, make strong friendships, love your family, make your own decisions, and be thankful. The full speech and the countdown template behind it follow. Giving ...