Listen as Educator Barnes shares how a doctoral assignment made her reflect about teachers traumatizing students at school.
30 Seconds of Impact: Officer Punches Student
I am coming at this as though I was that young man. There was a time in my life where I was that young man. God willing there will be a time where that young man will be me. I had a range of emotions after watching the video, including sadness, confusion, and anger. I…
Teachers Need to Keep High Expectations Even When There’s a Full Moon
“Tomorrow is Friday the 13th and a full moon. Check on your teacher friends. They are not okay.” This was one of many messages I saw as I scrolled on social media yesterday. If you can’t already tell, I don’t put much stock into these comments, but the belief in these superstitions by colleagues have…
9/11: Tackling Tough Topics in the Classroom
Each generation has a shared event that almost everyone remembers. They remember what they were doing when it happened, how they felt, and the impact the event had. For me, that event was 9/11. Tuesday, September 11, 2001 was the date when terrorists hijacked four passenger planes. Two were flown into the World Trade Center….
Grandparent Support is Needed in Education
National Grandparents Day takes place each year on the first Sunday following Labor Day weekend. If you are like me, you wonder where your parents went once you became a parent. The rules I had to follow apparently no longer apply to my children. My children can have dessert before dinner according to my parents….
No Matter the Assessment, Indiana Schools Struggle to Close the Achievement Gap
Tuesday, September 4, 2019, the embargo was lifted and ILEARN results were made available to the public. Schools and parents had already received results. As expected, scores plummeted as Indiana students shifted from taking I-STEP to ILEARN. Regardless of the assessment, one fact rings true: students of color continue to underperform when compared to their…
Should We Really Use Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers?
One of the biggest arguments in education right now is the role of testing. More specifically the scores yielded from the standardized tests and how those scores should be viewed and used. Within this argument, there are two clearly defined sides. The side that thinks scores should be used to evaluate teachers and schools and…
Give Students the Freedom to Choose What They Read
Once again there is a story about censorship in schools. A Catholic school in Tennessee has decided their students should not read Harry Potter because they may conjure up evil spirits. When the first Harry Potter book was published in the late 90s, I was in high school. I remember religious groups all over the…
We Should Tell Students to Avoid Taking out Excessive Student Loans
Student loans have been a problem for a while, but we are now in the midst of a full-blown student loan crisis. College students are graduating with massive debts. 69% of the class of 2018 took out student loans, and they graduated with an average of $29,800 in student loans. This doesn’t include the loans…
Superintendent and Governor Don’t Want Schools Punished for Low ILEARN Scores
The first year of ILEARN is in the books. The results were not good. Scores were much lower across the state in comparison to the ISTEP scores families received previously. While scores for specific schools have not been made available to the public yet, students and families know their scores, and individual schools know their…