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Teachers are people too and have feelings just like everybody else. They are also role models and need to show their students that they handle personal problems in mature ways. A post I read on The Education Wonks is a reminder that it is important to
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Students today don't face the same consequences for misbehaving or not doing their work that their parents and grandparents faced. One thing that really stands out to me is that a lot of parents are more likely to support their kids than the school. It
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DISD has been rating teachers with something called a CEI (Classroom Effectiveness Index) for a decade and are thinking about using this index to determine how to distribute $22 million worth of employee bonus money. How original. There are a lot of people
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I once had my hand slapped during a computer inservice. The instructor was clearly irritated that I wasn't catching on fast enough and stopped me from pushing any more keys. I was so embarrassed. It always seemed strange to me that teachers are expected
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For some strange reason, I am always cynical about surveys. It seems like people spout off information, and use it to support their own causes. What really happens with the accumulated data anyway? For a few years we were able to evaluate our schools
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Or is it? Does anyone know why apples are associated with teachers? At least we're not connected to the donut. Can you imagine what our teacher vests and sweaters would look like? What if the banana had been the chosen fruit? What if kids brought cauliflower
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Teachers who leave the profession might be more frustrated with their principals than their students or working conditions. This does not surprise me. One year our school was blessed to have a supportive principal who just brightened everyone's day. She
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Seniors in McKinney ISD are having to attend school for one day after graduation because of an icy day in January. The make up day is May 29th, and the graduations are scheduled before Memorial Day, which is on May 28th. (This reminds me of school calendar
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Teachers are known for putting things off until the summer. Occasionally, opportunities come up during the school year, and teachers find themselves asking for time away from their students. A principal in Sugarland has been demoted for allowing one of
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If a student is determined to cheat, it's pretty hard to nip it in the bud. Sure, teachers are able to prevent some cheating. Walking around and closely observing students helps. I've always wondered if the students that go all out to cheat learn something
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I once had a student turn in a beautifully written composition that I knew was not his work. When I talked to his mother, she told me, "Of course, I did it. You know he can't write." Parents sometimes feel that they have to help out with projects because
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Some teachers (and probably parents) have had enough of the " whatev-ah" response. Even preschoolers are saying it. The word sort of stops you in your tracks and makes you think that whatever you are saying must not be important. It's a catch-all response
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When I was a kid, we got excited about going to the symphony. Most of us didn't care for the music itself. It was all about the bus trip. Our music teacher even made a large poster of a bus and recorded each student's name on the bus after receiving that
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When I was a kid, St. Patrick's Day was a really big deal. Kids who forgot to wear green to school were at the mercy of others all day long. Teachers today usually help out the kids by giving them some small green ribbon or something, but back then, you
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Not everything happens during a convenient time. Family vacations or bonding time might just occur during the school year, and we're not talking about spring break. Sometimes parents can't even get vacation time during the summer. Leave it to a district
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