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 ...
Best Podcast Episodes for Educators: 12 Picks from 2020-21
By: Brian Miller | Aug 19, 2020
The best podcast episodes for educators aren't always from education podcasts. Written ahead of the 2020-21 school year, this collection gathers ten episodes plus two bonus picks from shows like Invisibilia, The Moth, and 99% Invisible, chosen by a school leader for what they teach about respect, grief, and honest ...
Augmentative and Alternative Communication is Giving Non-Verbal Students a Voice in Mainstream Classrooms
By: Mary McLaughlin | Aug 17, 2020
How Integrating a Means of Communication Can Benefit Social and Academic Development for Special Needs Students
Within the next few weeks, students are expected to return to classrooms across America. With the Covid-19 pandemic leaving everybody scrambling for remote learning and teaching solutions just as the school year was coming to ...
Happy 30th Birthday to the Americans With Disabilities Act!
By: Mary McLaughlin | Jul 27, 2020
How in One Generation, Accessibility and Opportunity Became a Human Right for Everyone
Thirty years ago on July 26, President George H.W. Bush signed The Americans With Disabilities Act into law. The legislation literally removed physical barriers –and along with them certain social and employment barriers too – so people with ...
Why Education Is Slow to Change: Lessons from Atari’s Collapse
By: Brian Miller | Jun 11, 2020
Ask why education is slow to change and much of the answer is structural. Bureaucratic rules reward compliance, accountability pressure raises the cost of a failed experiment, and leaders often move on before reforms mature. Structural barriers can play a major role, alongside individual attitudes and habits. "If I was going ...
How to End the School Year Strong: Bedside Manners and Battle Cries
By: Amanda Castillo | May 13, 2020
Ending the school year strong comes down to how you treat people in the final weeks, not how much you accomplish. Stay patient and connect on a human level even when you're exhausted, and give your staff and students a shared rallying point to aim for. Research on the peak-end ...
3 + 3 = COVID19: Solutions for Remote Learning Under Stay-at-Home Orders
By: Jon Konen | Apr 30, 2020
We need to look ahead to August….NOW!
Though many of us are optimistic that students and staff will be back in the building in the fall, I worry we are not being proactive enough with our students and staff. We know what the virus can do and how it can devastate ...
What the CARES Act Actually Did for K-12 Schools
By: Teacher.org Staff | Apr 20, 2020
The CARES Act, signed in March 2020, sent about $13.2 billion directly to K-12 schools through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, plus $3 billion in governor-directed relief. It also waived several ESSA testing and Title I requirements. Congress followed with two more rounds of school funding before ...
COVID-19 REALITY: 5 Reasons Why Teachers are Working Harder Now than They Ever Have
By: Jon Konen | Apr 13, 2020
I was absolutely appalled that there are meme’s and conversations posted about teachers not working right now. Yes, governors across the nation have issued school closures, but we are far from closed educationally!
Where does this stigma come from against educators? I feel like no matter what we do, we are ...
5 Steps to Making Sure School Remains a Priority During COVID-19 Closures… Even If Your Kids Seem to Think It’s Just More Spring Break
By: Brian Miller | Apr 8, 2020
Like many of you, I’m an educator. Like some others of you, I’m also a parent. Like all of you, I’m adjusting to this sudden change in how education gets done. Our school days look and feel very different than they did just a few weeks ago, and while some ...
Be Visionary: 6 Ways the Corona Virus Outbreak Offers the Perfect Opportunity to Bring Real Change to Education
By: Jon Konen | Apr 2, 2020
This year a triple murder occurred in my community and adjacent to my school which caused a closure… we then had a district wide closure for a bomb threat… and now a closure for the Corona Virus.
To say my school has been hit hard by school closures this year is ...