Blog

A special needs prom doesn't have to be a separate event. In this account from the 2020-21 school year, a special education teacher describes a student with profound disabilities leading his school's Grand March, and the planning her team did to make that night work for him. During the 2020-21 school ...

Moving to a new state as a teacher comes down to eight honest questions: distance from family, your real reason for going, lifestyle fit, what you're trading for the paycheck, what you know about the school, retirement and license reciprocity, real cost of living, and what your gut says. Answer ...

Dealing with difficult people as a teacher, whether it's a colleague, a parent, or an administrator, comes down to a few repeatable moves: stay out of the argument, limit your exposure, redirect the conversation, and name the behavior honestly. None of these require the other person to change. They only ...

Teacher self-care means protecting your own time, energy, and relationships with the same seriousness you protect a student's IEP meeting. It isn't a spa day. RAND's 2026 survey found 55% of K-12 teachers report frequent job-related stress against 34% of comparable working adults, so the depletion is real and it ...

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 ...

Is remote learning here to stay in public education? Yes, though as an option rather than the default. Virtual public school enrollment has held steady or grown in states like Georgia, Texas, and Michigan through the mid-2020s. Many districts continue to offer some form of remote learning years after the ...

Teaching is a calling for many educators, but the phrase describes a personal relationship to the work, not a job description. A calling is why you stay through a hard year. A profession is what you’re owed for the work: pay, training, and respect. Both can be true at once. “What ...

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 ...

Behavior management training for teachers varies by teacher-preparation program, by state requirements, and by the professional development an employer provides. It tends to arrive in a few recognizable forms: PBIS framework training, crisis prevention and de-escalation training, classroom management programs, and functional behavioral assessment work. What you get depends on ...

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 ...