Wait. How Am I Failing This Class? A Look at Grades…
An important reminder to education: Grades should represent students have mastered a CONTENT area… NOT how good they are at following directions, being kind, putting a name on paper, bringing …
The Bold Truth About Homework
So here is a big teacher truth: If we hate grading it, our students probably hated doing it. Now, I understand that “hate” is a strong word, but hear me …
How to Build Rooted Relationships in the Classroom
Building rooted relationships with students in our schools can be really hard. That is especially true right now! The good news is, you don’t have to do that alone. For …
What’s the Most Valuable Currency for Kids?
The currency for our country is the dollar. But the currency for kids is time. And when we invest time into kids, they start to realize how much they really …
Schools Don’t Need Another Stinkin’ Program!
Schools don’t need more programs. Programs have agendas. And when everything has an agenda we start forgetting about the purpose. Programs aren’t the solution. People are! Schools don’t need another: …
Build Rooted Relationships in Schools with These 20 Ideas
People often say education is broken, but I don’t think that’s true. I believe education is simply evolving into something beautiful. No longer are reading, writing, and arithmetic the foundations …
Why Are There 59 Shades of Failure in Schools?
We have all heard of the book 50 Shades of Gray. It was pretty controversial and likely WAY over-rated. But you know what is fascinating? There are 59 shade of …
Do Kids Need More Information or Do Kids Need More Love?
Do kids need more information or do kids need more love? Because, I don’t know about you, but I always enjoyed learning information from people I loved. There is a …
How to Be the BEST Teacher You Can Be All School Year Long…
Are you an energetic teacher who has a passion for continuous improvement and looking for a fun, fresh perspective? Are you a new teacher who is looking to start your …
3 Simple Goals that Will Change This School Year
Our job as teachers this year still feels so different than it has in the past, But the work we are about to do is also SO significant. And I …
Education Reminder: LOVE vs. HATE
You can LOVE teaching and HATE that summer is ending. You can LOVE teaching and HATE all the stress we are feeling for a new school year. You can LOVE …
What Do We Really Learn From Letter Grades?
Traditional letter grades in school continue to be an ineffective measure. Because what do an A, B, or C really mean? What if we focused more on encouraging kids to …
The Best SEL Curriculum for Your Students & School
Make Your SEL & Morning Meeting Planning SO much Easier! To be honest, sometime SEL feels like “one more thing” even though we know in our teacher hearts that it …
Educators Can STOP Doing This! (And START Doing This)
Teachers, We are going to look back on the year 2020 and 2021 and think… What a beautiful opportunity we had to revolutionize education. This is our moment to STOP …
Fonts Don’t Fuel Kids!
“Thank you so much for spending 17 minutes picking out the font for this google doc. Your choice really helped me engage in the lesson and retain the information.” ~Said …
Is School Really About Curriculum and Content?
School isn’t all about learning content. It’s about having students figure out what the content will mean for them in their lives. And in order for that learning to take …
Clapping vs. Critiquing In Classrooms
Let me get straight to the point… Our classrooms should have far more clapping than critiquing. How motivated are you when somebody tells you that you are doing something wrong? …
The Truth About School Data (It May Not Be What You Think)
Formal data tracked by schools for headlines in newspapers: Test Scores Attendance Honor Roll Informal data tracked by teachers for authentic proof of …
The 3 Pillars of SEL: Social-Emotional Learning
If this year has proven anything it’s that our kids are not connected to buildings, they are connected to people. But our kids need more than just connection. They …
Learning Loss: Is This Legit or Not?
Learning Loss… the new education buzz word for 2021 We don’t seem to hear the words “unprecedented times” anymore… nope we have now lived through that, survived them…so naturally we …
How to Have The BEST 4th Quarter of Your Teaching Career in Less than 21-Days… Even if You are Feeling SO Burnt Out!
Did you know…that just because spring fever has hit (you and your students), doesn’t mean we can’t end the year even better than we started. Is 4th Quarter So Stinkin …
Is This Educational Shift Good for Kids?
Back in November 2018 I had the amazing opportunity to stand on the TED circle and deliver a talk that was worth spreading. The title of the talk is How Starbucks …
Spirit Week During a Pandemic?
“Ms G is that a Malibu Barbie Sweatshirt…?” Spirit week has to be one of my favorite weeks of the entire school year! There is something ridiculously exiting about getting …
“You Are a Terrible Person!” How to Overcome Haters in Education
As teachers, we put ourselves out there all the time. We share our ideas. We share our stories. We share reality. And sometimes that means people will fight back in …
SEL- Not Just Another Educational Acronym
There have been lots of questions about what I’m teaching this year. In the midst of everything going on last spring a big announcement happened during a big pandemic. So …