Blog

March 23, 2020 Mirrors of the Community – Schools Expand Function During Crisis

During this COVID-19 pandemic, leaders and government officials are realizing that schools function both “as a window and as a mirror” of their community. Schools and districts readily serve as a window to view the immediate needs of our students and their families. Schools also...

March 23, 2020 Learning at Home in the Time of COVID-19

Part 1 of a two-part series. An insider’s look from two educators in Lexington, KY. Let me just say right now that no one is an expert on what we’re experiencing with COVID-19, but teachers are experts in what is best for students when it comes...

March 17, 2020 Teacher-Approved Resources for Students During School Closures

When I picked up my third and fifth-grader from school last week, they eagerly explained the packets of work their teachers had sent home with them in case of school closures. When the Governor of Illinois later announced that all schools in the state would...

March 12, 2020 Digging Deeper into Rigorous, Standards-Aligned Instruction

Last month, I received a phone call inviting me to a fourth-grade classroom. The teacher asked me to come hear the culmination of a project that entailed immense research, reading, and writing by her students regarding a school garden. When I arrived, each student stood up with a microphone...

March 10, 2020 The Link Between Teacher Preparation and the Teacher Shortage

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) projects the current U.S. teacher shortage could reach an astounding 200,000 vacancies by the year 2025. This is up from 100,000 in 2018. While this number does seem alarming, those in the field of education are not surprised by the projection. There are...

March 2, 2020 The Importance of Social and Emotional Learning for Today’s Students

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature of schooling and whether students today are adequately prepared to successfully enter the adult workforce. My youngest child is a senior this year and I’ve been observing her to discern whether she is truly ready to...

February 25, 2020 Using Project-Based Learning to Bring All Content Areas to Life

“Why do we have to learn this?” It’s a question I hear when students do not understand content or how it connects to their lives. It is a question that was regularly repeated by my classmates in our high school math class. It’s a question that exasperated the...