Let's start with this.  

There is no silver bullet and I still have kids in my class that choose not to work.  No matter how much I talk to them, try to inspire them, or even threaten them.  They just choose not to do the work. 

But there are those students in which I am able to break through thei...

Ready set go......

List 10 things as quickly as you can that we do as teachers in our classroom:

We are nurses

Counselors

Grades

Lesson Planning

Calling Home

Stopping kids from arguing

Cleaning up messes

Erasing things from books

Meetings

Lecturing

Let me count real fast.  Yup that was...

Do not try this in your classroom.  The "your momma jokes" are performed by a professional and telling of these jokes could cause harm to reputation.  

I repeat.  Do not try this in your classroom.  

I just had to get that public service announcement out of the way because your momma jokes in th...

Time....

Of course it takes more than time, but just like everything worth while in life it will take time to become the teacher that you want to be.  

How much time?

That is a hard question to answer.  For me it took 7 years.  7 years to finally fell comfortable in the classroom.  That may see...

My wife and I are reading a book on boundaries.  Well..... to be honest her and my daughter are reading a book on boundaries but they talk to me about what they are reading.  But I have lived long enough, read enough, and experienced enough to know boundaries are extremely important.  

If you find ...

Has this ever happened to you?

You spend all night creating the perfect lesson and the day of your class, everything is running just as you planned.  Students are working, they are engaged, and you are hoping your principal walks into see the magic happening. 

Then out of no where there are two st...

It seems like as the years go on, the expectations of what we are suppose teach increases more and more each year.  I remember when I first started teaching there were things called State Standards.  I thought alright, as soon as I got the hang of that then I am in good shape.  

Then they introdu...

IIn my humble opinion, (did you ever notice that the people who say humble opinion are rarely humble) the hardest job in the teaching field is ........ Assistant Principal at a Middle School.  Oh my gosh.  All day you are dealing with the worst of the worst, putting out fires, dealing with drama, an...

As an old man I find myself sometimes saying, "Kids these days" or "When I was your age".  

I don't know if you can relate but it is hard not to get swept up in the frenzy of comparing kids these days to when we were young. 

I think it is human nature because I remember my parents and other adults...

Since I have been teaching for 2 decades I can sometimes find myself on auto pilot.  

Come in at 7:30 AM and get everything ready.

In Advisory Class we either do CNN 10, I-Ready, or watch a video on a college.

During each class period we might do Warm-Up, Notes, Ed Puzzles, Activity, Video, Blook...

My wife and I will often talk about the season of life we are in.  Each season of life brings it's own joys as well as struggles. Remember being 18?  

When I was 18 life was different.  There were many great things.  Just graduated High School and I had my car and I felt the world was my oyster.  I...

I was listening to a Podcast this pass weekend and one of the guest was talking about how regimented he is.  He was mentioned how on the weekend he plans his days.  He said he has a To Do List for his days off.  

I started laughing because that is me.  My wife harasses me that I have list for my li...