It’s Black History Month. The time of the year specifically designated to celebrate black achievements and pioneers in America. This month, thousands of teachers, black and white dug into their teacher resources looking for their handouts on slavery and the civil rights movement. Here is a challenge for celebrating black history moving forward: Don’t do…
Author: Andrew Pillow
Kobe May Be Gone but His Global Impact Remains
Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and several others were tragically killed in a helicopter accident last week. Normally, I would have started that sentence with a hook like, “unless you have been living in a cave or under a rock…” but I truly believe there is nowhere you could have been and not heard about his…
Top 5 Things to Consider When Evaluating College Fit
High school seniors all over the country are anxiously awaiting their college acceptance letters. Many students will find that they’ve been accepted to multiple colleges. Typically, students apply to a few different schools and when they get their letters conventional wisdom says to pick the “best” one… with best usually referring to academic reputation. This…
SHOCKER: Study Shows Preschool Expansion Linked to Higher Academic Outcomes
The fight for Pre-K is underway across the country. Parents, educators, and policymakers all over are clamoring for high quality early learning programs claiming that the benefits of preschool are too great to be ignored. A federal-funded program study has corroborated their claims. A recently released report has found that preschool expansion yields academic gains….
Teacher Confessions: I Do Care If the Students Like Me
“I’m not here to be liked.” This is a refrain that can be heard in classrooms across the nation. Usually right after a student says something along the lines of “I hate you” or “That’s why nobody likes you.” There are of course multiple variations of this refrain, too. The “I don’t need to be…
Your Classroom’s Physical Appearance Matters
When I first started teaching, around 2011, a new social media platform called Pinterest was all the rage. The basic idea is that each user would be able to create and save (pin) content to their boards. This site took off with many people, especially teachers. Almost overnight, teachers found an outlet and an audience…
How to Talk to Your Students About World Events
The news has been quite sensational lately. As teachers, oftentimes, our first instinct is to hide the news under the guise of “protecting them” from the real world. We may strategically avoid or even straight up ignore current events, but this isn’t the right approach. It doesn’t work. Students are more connected to the world…
Stop Saying, “You Don’t Teach for the Money”
Teacher pay has been at the forefront of the conversation lately. Teacher unions and lawmakers have been sparring back and forth all over the country about just how much compensation teachers deserve. Most people have seen this play out on the news and at their statehouses. What a lot of people do not know is…
The School Day Is Too Damn Long
If you are a parent of a school-age student, then you have likely heard them complain about all of the time they have to spend in school. Like most parents, you probably brushed this off as nothing more than adolescent bellyaching. But guess what? They’re right. In many places, the school day is too long….
Federal Child Care Program to Receive $550 Million Increase
It’s no secret the cost of childcare is expensive and still rising. The average annual cost of childcare in America ranges from $4,000 to $22,600 depending on location and age according to the Economic Policy Institute. This makes the cost too expensive for many families to afford. Relief for those families comes in the form…