It’s state testing season. It is nobody’s favorite time of the year. We have talked at length about how the state tests, however tedious and inconvenient they may be, are a necessary evil. Because of this, schools, students, and parents should take them seriously. With that being said, schools should not be using them as…
If you work in special education, then you have likely worked on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). IEPs are plans developed to ensure that students with identified disabilities receive the instruction and accommodations they need to become successful. These are essentially legally binding documents, and they contain confidential information. IEPs are not top-secret but they…
It is around this time every year that I can expect to receive a host of goodies and knick-knacks from people. My school brings lunch or breakfast. Students sometimes give me nice cards. One year, some wealthy benefactor actually donated tickets to an NBA game. That is certainly a nice gesture, and I did enjoy…
There is a meme going around, well not a meme, a genre of a meme. They typically feature kids from visibly different ethnic backgrounds getting along swell. Usually, the kids are in some type of physical embrace: hugging, holding hands, or something of that nature. This picture is usually labeled with a caption like “Kids…
Most school districts are moving into their standardized testing period. After that, the school year will begin to wind down. Most schools are planning to return to a semi-normal state of existence next year. Much of our discourse around coronavirus has centered on how we could get back to normal and options we are ready…
It’s that time of the year again. All around the country schools are gearing up for their state standardized test. Some may have already started. Test season is one of the most polarizing times of the year. If you are in education then you know a lot of people, teachers, students, and parents alike, who…
As a teacher, the period between spring break and summer vacation is the season of awkward conversations. This is the time of the year in which teachers start looking at data and grades and make suggestions for retention. These conversations are never pleasant for a variety of reasons. For one, parents and students rarely want…
As we get further away from the height of the pandemic, there is a desire to get back to “normal” in the school system. And though we have quickly started to romanticize the public education mess that we had before, it would be hard to argue that coronavirus has not made life more difficult. This…
Transportation is not typically something discussed at length when it comes to education. It is understandable why. How you get to and from school does not have much to do with test scores or instruction. So, conversations about busing often fall by the wayside. With that being said, transportation is arguably the most important aspect…
A spotlight has been shined on the treatment of Asian Americans for the worst possible reason. Hate crimes against Asians have risen since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Some people have attributed this to the coronavirus rhetoric. But a couple of weeks ago, it unfortunately was more than rhetoric. A man, Robert Aaron Long, walked into…