Winter break is almost here. That means that it is time for my work inboxes to become inundated with invitations and requests to do tasks that are only loosely related to my job. Usually these are things like holiday parties or happy hours. Both of which fall into the category of things I don’t mind…
Most schools will go on winter break soon which means that teachers will be rounding out their actual standards and moving into fun holiday activities. There is nothing wrong with doing fun stuff right before a break. Your students have likely come to expect it which makes it kind of hard not to. The week…
Most people probably would have assumed that after we developed a reasonably effective preventative treatment for COVID-19 the stories would die down. That has not been the case. In fact, one could argue that the vaccine has actually caused more disagreement than the virus itself. There are the two distinct camps of pro-COVID vaccine and…
Since the peak of the “Red For ED” movement teachers nationwide have been demanding higher pay. In some places they got it. In others, pay still lags behind. Teacher pay is always a sensitive subject because most schools are not for-profit entities. They are paid for by taxpayers. If recent referendums are any metric to…
In 2018, voters in Marion County approved nearly $220 million for Indianapolis Public Schools. The intent of that money was to help with teacher pay, student services, and maintenance. IPS will begin sharing the money from that 2018 property-tax referendum with its charter school partners. This is a big deal. It is not just because…
2020 was a hard year for most people. Many people received extra praise for the work they were doing during the pandemic, especially first responders and medical professionals. However, at the beginning teachers were getting some of that love, too. That goodwill quickly dissipated as kids didn’t return to school as quickly as some would…
My first child was born one year ago today. She was a “pandemic baby” so there are a lot of experiences that she hasn’t had yet. We haven’t been able to take her too many places. She goes to daycare, but we haven’t gone to the zoo or museum yet. She just went to the…
Remember that time in math class where your teacher hammered home a concept by mocking Native Americans by doing an offensive interpretation of traditional dances in a fake headdress while chanting a mnemonic device? Me neither. But this is the experience that students at John W. North high school had last week. In a…
By now, everyone is aware of the problems that were spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic. From health, business, to even education, the coronavirus has created countless issues. However, on the flip side, as the response to these problems, a lot of innovations have popped up. The current problem that we are facing is low vaccination…
Is your school short on staff? It is not just y’all. Across the country schools are struggling to keep teachers in the classroom. Los Angeles Unified school district has more than 500 teacher openings. Here in Indiana, even suburbs like New Palestine, which has competitive pay, administrators are struggling to fill their classroom vacancies. As…