I love newcomers.  If you ever have the opportunity to work with them, you will too. But they will probably stress you out first. These are the students that teachers who are not newcomer teachers lose the most sleep over when these kids first arrive in their classroom.  These are the sweet kids who often… Read more

Who are our students? In jumping back into culturally responsive teaching, I want to continue our conversation on who our targeted students are.  Before the holidays, we touched on our students of poverty, and how their brains are wired a little different for learning. I want to move into our English Learners. The topic of… Read more

4 Steps to Building Autonomy in your Students. What is autonomy?  I found a few definitions that I really like. Merriam Webster gives one definition as a “self-governing state.” Another definition described autonomy as “the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision”. When I think of being autonomous, and the importance that autonomy has on… Read more

Today I was driving to a school.  The school is in a high poverty rural school located on a country highway – a fairly busy road.  It was 35 degrees.  On the other side of the road, I passed two kids, probably 10 and 12, or around there.  Neither had coats.  Walking to school. Late.… Read more

I spent last week laughing with friends with family, stuffing my face until I couldn’t eat anymore, buying Christmas presents and sending over lists, and relaxing by the fire at the end of the day. But how many of our students did not have that kind of a week? Over the next few weeks, we… Read more

Ah – the week of Thanksgiving.  I definitely try to live with a grateful heart all of the time, but Thanksgiving definitely makes me a little more intentional about thinking about the blessings that may not be in the spotlight all of the time. After Tate’s kindergarten year, I became very intentional about praying for… Read more