I’m sure you are seeing what we are seeing. Faith in institutions is crumbling everywhere. According to Gallup research, 11 of the 16 institutions it tracks annually saw a decline in confidence in 2023. “Most of the institutions rated were within three points of their all-time-low confidence score, including four that were at or tied … Continue Reading
After being a frequent star on the naughty list for not taking attendance a few years ago, I had no choice but to build attendance into the daily lesson. Enter the attendance question. The first thing I do in class every day is go through the roll (for me that means having Infinite Campus attendance … Continue Reading
Believing that fellow teachers are our most underutilized resource, we love using this space to feature what teachers are doing in their classrooms. Elizabeth Chapman is an English teacher and Department Chair at Bellaire High School in Houston, TX and has generously shared her Dracula unit. Her unit can be used in a couple of … Continue Reading
Poetry March Madness is the most electrifying poetry unit I have ever created. How do I know? Each year that I have taught this unit, students have become visibly frustrated or disappointed when the poem they loved does not win. Some have left class at the end arguing with a friend over votes. Some have … Continue Reading
Teacher burnout can peak in the darkest, coldest days of winter. It rears its ugly head as we recover from the holidays and feel the physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by the prolonged stress. The overwhelming workloads, lack of support, and the emotional toll of working with students day in and day can break … Continue Reading
1 – THE COMFORT CRISIS: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self by Michael Easter (recommended by Brian) TWO SENTENCE SUMMARY FROM AMAZON: In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort. … Continue Reading
by Brian Sztabnik In preparation for a mini lesson on body paragraphs that I taught this week, I purchased an essay-writing unit on Teachers Pay Teachers and was woefully disappointed. It packaged the same-old basic formula with fancy fonts and pretty borders: I find that this type of formulaic approach to writing does more harm than … Continue Reading
1 – Overload – The work of teaching will never end, so you must choose when and where to end it. There’s simply not time to do everything required of the job; make peace with the fact that some things can go undone. 2 – Assume the Best – Enter each conversation, class, and day … Continue Reading
Frustration Here’s a frustration I grappled with earlier in the year and a quick-fix solution. Sometimes, I would work to make a lesson engaging and dynamic and with it came all this excitement to teach it. But that faded fast because when I was in the moment, I recieved nothing in return. There were a … Continue Reading
“The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books: To read a book, it helps to have read a book in high school.” by Rose Horowitch in The Atlantic published October 1, 2024. Once again, high school English teachers are pinned as the problem of America’s “reading crisis.” This clickbait headline will affirm public opinion that … Continue Reading
