Teacher Wellness
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Recovering My Fire for Education
When I’m doing well as a person, I’m doing well as a professional, but I’m also taking time each week to create. Profession and passion are both burning bright. Continue reading
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Two Scary Phone Habits That Will Bring Back Your Fire for Teaching
As Tristan Harris points out in The Social Dilemma, things that are actually tools don’t control us. They don’t call to us. They don’t insist on breaking our focus. Tools do exactly what we want them to, when we want them to. They are humble servants. It’s for that reason that I don’t want to hear from… Continue reading
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Should Teachers Attend Student Performances Outside of School?
Last year I sat (in my role as part-time vice-principal) with a teacher while her parents asked her point blank: “Can we just ask why you didn’t attend our daughter’s performance?” The implication was clear. You should have been there. I didn’t like the question at all, but I was silent and allowed my colleague to… Continue reading
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It’s Time to Rethink Formal Teacher Evaluations
Would teachers experience vastly better professional growth if all the time and energy spent on formal evaluation processes was spent on coaching in classrooms instead? Yes. Would staff wellness, culture, and climate in most learning communities improve? Yes. (For principals, too — formal evaluation reports eat up huge amounts of time and energy.) Can formal… Continue reading
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9 Survival Tips for New Teachers
How to survive and thrive in the toughest years of teaching. Dear New Teacher, Thank you for joining the teaching community. Thank you for your commitment to the learning and growth of our little people. Thank you for bringing your optimism, your ideas, your passions into our world. We love you. We need you. We’re Continue reading
Teachers on Fire 