Posts Tagged ‘Disciplining Students’
I Teach For America Too
Photography by Jeremy SchulzTeach for America: Nothing but a Resume Builder?I recently read an article about Teach for America, a program that recruits the best and brightest our nation has to offer from schools like Harvard, and put them in [...]
Latino Boys in the Red White and Blue
Here’s a fun fact many people don’t realize: In California, if you are a Latino male anywhere from age 12 – 35, you can’t wear a shirt that is red. Actually, you can’t really wear a blue shirt either. To tell you the exact truth, wearing a [...]
A Student Pulls Out a Knife: What Do You Do?
Photography by Jeremy SchulzSomething happened to a good friend of mine during the last week of school. He is an amazing teacher working in the ghetto, and this story is sadly one that isn’t too uncommon. We’ll call my friend Mr. [...]
What To Do With Former Students’ Friend Requests
With my first batch of seniors safely across the stage, I am now faced with the toughest call of my teaching career thus far:Do I friend former students?????In the last couple weeks, friend requests have been flooding into my facebook [...]
Accepting the Fact That Nothing Will Ever Change
On the last day of school I was talking to a colleague of mine. I was telling her how even now, at the end of the year, I’m really looking forward to next year. She was delighted. She thought we should all be looking at every year in that light. [...]
Michael Shaughnessy interviews Matt Amaral of Teach4Real.com
Matthew, you have a web site called Teach4Real.com. What led you to set up this site?Well, first and foremost I wanted it to be a place for new teachers in our toughest schools. I have noticed an alarming trend in first year teachers at my [...]
Blame the Parents — I Do
Last year at Back-To-School-Night, I was pleasantly surprised to see both parents of a struggling student show up. The student was in my accelerated 9th grade class. She had an F, she didn’t do any homework, and always came into my classroom [...]
Let’s Make a Deal: How to Help Fading (and Failing) Students at the End of the Year
Everyone loves the end of the school year, especially the teachers and students. The parents, maybe not so much.The reason I like the end of the year so much is because it is such a clean break. At no point during the regular school year do I [...]
An Open Letter to Teachers Seeking Balance
Guest Author Dr. Jeff Duncan-AndradeWhen I talk with educators about the intense effort that will be required from them to be successful in our communities, it is nearly always the case that some of them will ask me: How can I do all of this and [...]
Giving Homework in Good Conscience
Two years ago I taught a “Strategic” 10th grade English class. “Strategic” is the No Child Left Behind term for students far below basic. Before that it was called “Sheltered.” A hundred different schools have a hundred different names [...]