April 13 , 2023 /

IMPACT

I received a message recently from someone with whom I have connected and communicated infrequently over several decades and I did not remember ever meeting him.  He did and he sent me a note which is in the next paragraph.  It shows that you never know what impact you might have on someone by what

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February 20 , 2023 /

CONTAGIOUS ENTHUSIASM FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

I wrote much of this post about 5 years ago and was reminded of it recently by one of my subscribers who remembered it.  I forgot to ask what was it that caught the attention of the reader.  Regardless, here it is with some editing, revising and updating. I have long been passionate about teaching

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August 16 , 2022 /

AFFIRMING TEACHERS

It is that time of year again where millions of K-12 students and over 3 million teachers head to school.  Not back, forward.   Remember that you were once sitting where your students are and it may be at least partly because of that experience that you are where you are today as educators. What

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June 6 , 2022 /

CELEBRATING TEACHERS

Last week, Dan Rather, in his weekly post to his Substack community said this: “…despite all of this dysfunction, education remains one of our greatest hopes. Teachers heroically forge onward despite the challenges — inspiring young minds, percolating new ideas, and fostering energy for a better and more just nation.” At the end of another

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December 9 , 2021 /

TOO MUCH AND NOT ENOUGH

What tipped me over the edge this week were the two pictures of elected officials’ families with children holding lethal weapons and the sick joke from one of the parents’ note to Santa, “Please bring ammo.”  Enough already, more than enough, over the top.  I can opt out of the news and social media and

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April 24 , 2021 /

EXEMPLARY SCHOOLS

Some recent news reports indicate “culture wars” going on in schools with parents divided over curriculum issues having mainly to do with race.  There are other related social issues that schools must deal with and they are not going to please everyone and as professional educators they have to make choices about what to include

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