02 Jun 2020
3 Things That Have Helped Me Understand & Process the Protests, Racial Injustices, and Our Role as Educators in It All

3 Things That Have Helped Me Understand & Process the Protests, Racial Injustices, and Our Role as Educators in It All

My hope with all my content is to help educators create meaningful and memorable experiences for their students. In creating those experiences for our black and brown students, working to understand what their experience is as a black or brown person is in the US will be critical in informing our work as educators. This applies even if all our students are white; what experience are we giving them to learn about the current racial injustices in the US. We as educators, particularly non-black educators, have to put the work and effort and time in to understand what's going on…
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05 Sep 2019
Giving All Students Voice in the First Week of Class

Giving All Students Voice in the First Week of Class

Every year I do a project called Dear World, inspired by a photography project by Robert Fogarty of the same name. Students write their message or story to the world on their body and I take a video of it. I wanted to share a little bit of how I set it up, how to help students who don't know what to write, tips when taking and editing the video, and considerations to think through when sharing the videos publicly. https://youtu.be/ssrrGDw_6nE Video I show students to introduce them the the concept3 general guidelines for students struggling to write their messagePlace…
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21 Apr 2018
My Search For Meaning

My Search For Meaning

I started a book club in March!  This was one of the first reads, 'Mans Search For Meaning.' I share the things that made me thing, that I connected to, and the mindsets I hope to also maintain. https://youtu.be/HZWIMRbMrzs For the April book club: Ready Player One - https://amzn.to/2GYy9LL  When - https://amzn.to/2Ikpzq9
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08 Jun 2017
Entry 33 – School Has Come To An End

Entry 33 – School Has Come To An End

Today is the first official day of summer for me!  Started out with breakfast for some friends, the first swim in a long while at the lap pool (taking a break for a week from the weight lifting as I've had some shoulder pain), and some good time to get a lot of little tasks done that have been on the back burner for a few weeks. My summer plans include doing some possible videography work (sent out a ton of inquiries this morning) and a trip at the end of summer to China!  Sara and I found a Groupon…
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04 Feb 2017
Entry 22 – Six of the Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make

Entry 22 – Six of the Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make

This week's prompt: What do you think is the biggest mistake(s) teachers make? I think the best way to go about answering this would be to reflect on many of the mistakes that I've made in my own practice. 1.  Feeling the need to be in control. I know in my first year of teaching, I made such a concentrated effort to make sure everyone was following the rules all the time and that they would definitely know if they fell out of line.  If things got too loud, I felt I was losing control.  If students starting goofing around,…
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31 Jan 2017
Entry 21 – Developing Those Characters

Entry 21 – Developing Those Characters

Howdy all :) Here's this week's prompt: How do you work on character development through your content & class? I remember in 5th grade, I actually spent a couple of days going through Kohlberg's levels of moral development.  Below is a general outline: I think it sunk in with some students.  It was kind of ironic though, I'd try to move them towards a higher level by appealing to their stage 3 thinking.  I think just having the understanding that there are different reasons they may or may not do something and having the vocabulary to describe it was really meaningful,…
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22 Jan 2017
Entry 20 – The Biggest Impact on My Teaching

Entry 20 – The Biggest Impact on My Teaching

This week's prompt: What/who has had the biggest impact in your teaching approach and why? I've got a few people, quotes, and books that have shaped the way I approach teaching. Rafe Esquith Esquith is best known for his book 'Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire.'  He's a retired 30-year, 5th grade teacher and really embodies everything I hope to be as a teacher.  It's incredible the things he was able to do in the low-income school he worked in all his years.  He held an after school program where students read and performed Shakespeare (once joined by Ian McKellen).…
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13 Nov 2016
Entry 13 – A Teacher’s Reflection on Election Week

Entry 13 – A Teacher’s Reflection on Election Week

On a list of things I'm passionate about, politics doesn't make the list.  I understand the need to be informed and this election cycle, I watched the debates, read up on sites like ISideWith.com, read a few articles from both sides of the aisle, and listened to a few podcasts.  Most of the time, I felt I understood why the author/writer was for their candidate or against the other.  I get why many people voted for Trump.  I get why many people voted for Hillary.  I also get why many people voted against Trump or against Hillary.  I didn't vote…
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17 Sep 2016
Entry 04 – How to Talk About Race in Class

Entry 04 – How to Talk About Race in Class

Our writing prompt for the week: Do you incorporate the perspective of cultures, ethnicities, genders, etc. into your class that are not your own and how so? How do the kids respond? Do you have any experiences from your classes where diversity or lack of diversity has impacted students? In all my time here at Headwaters, I've only taught math and robotics.  Not the typical place where conversations of race, culture, or ethnicity come up.  I've also had an advisory all those years but those conversations haven't come up there much either.  Our school population is fairly homogenous though, so…
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