Reflecting & Storytelling About Teaching
Most of the novels I read are young adult, even though I haven’t taught middle school English for years. I sink into them for respite and for hope. These books – unlike the news, unlike most contemporary adult literature – offer redemptive endings. The story is not over, and in fact it’s usually just beginning. And their stock in trade is… Continue reading
In April I wrote about a new resilient history podcast project I was trying with my U.S. history students. I wanted it to relate to the current crisis and offer a meaningful group project during these challenging times. After grading the podcasts, reading student compliments on each other’s work, and conducting an anonymous survey… Continue reading
Before my eighth-grade history students moved into online learning this spring, I had no idea about one student’s affection for Cup Noodles or another’s sweet way of talking about her 5-year-old brother. Perhaps I should have known, but I didn’t, and I wish I had. Distance learning has enabled these intimate glimpses… Continue reading
This has been one of the most difficult moments I can remember to encourage students to follow the news. As two 8th graders said recently in a Zoom chat:
At first I picked up Robert Caro’s memoir because the historian, journalist and teacher in me were curious. Caro’s The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York is the only 1,300-page nonfiction book… Continue reading
In its sophisticated checklists, grounded research, and illustrative classroom stories, Lindsay Portnoy’s Designed to Learn: Using Design Thinking to Bring Purpose and Passion to the Classroom will inspire you to fine-tune or jump-start your design thinking approach. While reading, I found myself appreciating the book’s rich… Continue reading
Rarely has it been so clear that a unit needs to be scrapped and started over from scratch. In my eighth-grade U.S. history and civics class, which has a lot of curricular flexibility, we focus on… Continue reading
Teaching via Zoom at my kitchen counter, laptop perched on coffee table books, is not the top way I would choose to interact with my eighth-grade U.S. history students. However, by the time we reach the end of each period, I find myself reluctant to say goodbye… Continue reading
Writing a book about teaching is not as hard as it seems. You don’t need an agent, and cold submissions can be very successful. In 2007, I had been teaching for almost a decade, always fascinated by curriculum design… Continue reading
Now more than ever, Trader Joe’s comforts my soul. And recently, it has also shown me how to be a more empathetic leader, to remember the humanity around us. But first, some history. For the past dozen years — as I’ve taught middle school, steeped myself in faculty administration, and mothered two boys — Trader Joe’s has been there for me… Continue reading
