Former Teacher & Journalist Shares Her Lessons Learned In The Classroom, In New Memoir

BRANDON WESTLAKE “Nelson’s story is opposite of mine; I started in public school and moved to a Catholic school. Her stories resonated with me, as I have had the same struggles, challenges, and successes as she has. Nelson is a voice of honest encouragement. Teaching is a tough job, and there are many people who…

Last week, I had a problem in my French 2 class. The T’es Branche textbook, which was at least 10 years old, didn’t mention streaming services like Netflix and Apple TV in our unit on television programs. It only included the major networks like TV5 and Canal+, which young people no longer watch. What should…

Oh, the joys of working with students with IEPs! These Individualized Education Program (IEP) allow students to receive special education services once they’ve gone through a battery of tests indicating they face learning challenges and difficulties. Normally, the modifications and accommodations are easy for me to handle: Encouraging a student to sit near the point…

https://www.edweek.org/technology/parents-are-open-to-ai-use-in-schools-but-they-have-a-lot-of-questions/2023/10 For the most part, parents approve of AI in schools, though they don’t know enough about how it will be used in their children’s classrooms. More than two thirds of parents believe that the benefits of AI to education either outweigh or are equal to potential drawbacks, according to a poll by the National…

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-teachers-say-it-takes-to-build-a-positive-school-culture/2023/10 Education Week recently asked teachers what makes a positive school environment, one in which they want to return to year after year. Here are some of the top five ways: 1: Relationships. No surprise that staff like coming to a place where they find strong and respectful relationships among administrators, teachers, students and their…

A special surprise awaited me in my French 3 class this morning. As a student entered the room, she announced that my book was coming out today and wasn’t I excited and couldn’t we read a section of it in class right then and there, instead of doing work and taking a quiz on farm…

https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/41-states-sue-meta-over-the-social-media-giants-impact-on-kids/2023/10 Last week, 33 states joined together to sue Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, saying that the social media giant’s products damage children’s mental health. Another eight states, plus the District of Columbia, filed suits in their own states over similar issues. The main lawsuit alleges that Meta exploits teenagers by developing algorithms…

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teachers-stress-trickles-down-to-students-heres-what-schools-are-doing-about-it/2023/10 Teachers are still burned out this school year, but there are ways to help them out, according to an article in Education Week. Methods include recognizing teachers’ good work, providing access to counseling, and lightening their workload where possible. Other support includes increasing salaries to reduce financial stress, additional support for handling discipline issues,…

Did you know that there are more female principals than male ones? Or that the average U.S. principal is a white woman in her late 40s who has a master’s degree and four to nine years of experience as a principal and 10 to 19 years as a teacher? These facts are highlighted in an…