Blog
Harnessing the Power of AI Tools for Teachers
By: Teacher.org Staff | Apr 11, 2024
For most teachers, the initial reaction to artificial intelligence was horror. After all, if AI was able to write assignments in an instant, or pass standardized exams, the possibilities for students cheating skyrocketed.
But on reflection, AI has more to offer to teachers and students through legitimate educational uses than illicit ones.
The key challenge for teachers today is to identify those uses and ...
If You’re a Teacher Thinking About Moving, There are 8 Questions You Need to Ask Yourself (and Your Heart) Before Making the Decision
By: Jon Konen | Mar 23, 2021
Here I sit in the hospital thinking about how many times I have been here. Staff at the hospital know me from frequent trips here over the past twenty years. My dad turned 90 this past week and I can’t thank the Benefis Hospital in Great Falls, Montana enough as ...
11 Strategies Teachers Can Use to Deal With Difficult Adults
By: Jon Konen | Mar 9, 2021
Wouldn’t you like to never talk to or be around certain people ever again? Your brain wants to tell your mouth so many things, but as an educator, you need to show unbelievable restraint.
In the job you get to experience the joy of being able to work with some amazing ...
Teacher Self Care: 5 Strategies for Giving Yourself Time to Recoup… So You’re Able to Give More of Yourself
By: Jon Konen | Mar 2, 2021
Have you heard of the saying, “Covid Fatigue?”
Imagine a classroom full of students with bright eyes and happy faces. All the students are dancing in the classroom and singing a song about obtuse, acute, right, and straight angles. Their arms stretched out matching the type of triangle in which they ...
As We Begin Year Two of the Pandemic, It’s Time to Talk About the Mental Health of Our Students and Teachers
By: Mary McLaughlin | Feb 8, 2021
Last week my school’s second semester began. My paraprofessional and I were talking about how time flies when I said, “I feel like we’re all doing okay. Everyone’s working their guts out, but we’re halfway to summer vacation. Dang, we’re good.”
She just stared at me. The pregnant pause was just ...
“If not us, then who?” – 7 Reasons Why Remote Learning Options NEED to Be a Permanent Part of Public Education
By: Jon Konen | Feb 2, 2021
“Never let a good crisis go to waste…” – Winston Churchill
We can fight the idea of remote learning becoming a mainstay in public education. In fact, it’s pretty easy to pick on. We know it isn’t as strong a method of instruction as compared to learning onsite and face to ...
Teaching is Not a Job. It’s a Calling…
By: Brian Miller | Jan 6, 2021
“What keeps you going? What encourages you? Why haven’t you quit?”
I read those lines a few days ago in a book entitled, Leading with a Limp by Dan Allender and instantly underlined them. Not because I’m ready to turn in my keys, but because I know a lot of educators ...
Rising Above the Pandemic to Make the Rest of the School Year Great for the Students We Teach
By: Mary McLaughlin | Dec 29, 2020
Winter break is finally here and I’m exhausted. My colleagues are worn out. My administrators are ready for a rest. We’re pooped. But we feel a sense of satisfaction that in a year that will go on record as the ultimate crapfest, we’ve done our best to make it as ...
Giving Teachers the Tools and Training They Need to Better Support Behavior Management Efforts In the Classroom
By: Mary McLaughlin | Oct 9, 2020
A friend and I were enjoying one of our occasional FaceTime chats. We are both special education teachers and we are both from Michigan. She had called me to tell me she’d recently read about a decision made by the Sixth District Court of Appeals regarding a school district ...
Returning to School in the Midst of a Pandemic: One Teacher’s Perspective
By: Mary McLaughlin | Sep 9, 2020
The inevitable is upon us. After months and months of rising and falling data about the ill, the potentially ill, and the dead… being quarantined and wearing masks is still, advisably, the best option for prevention. So it would make sense, then, that we’re heading back to school.
Oh, wait...
I have ...
10 Podcasts To Prepare for Anything That Might Come Our Way in the 2020-21 School Year
By: Brian Miller | Aug 19, 2020
Years ago, when I wanted to be a writer, I read Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and was struck by one of his foundational truths: if you want to be able to write good stories, you need to be reading good stories - all the time.
I ...