Action: OK, speducators, no words of encouragement this week. Instead, to address the needs of our visual and auditory learners, take two minutes right now, and watch this video: http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=626bb37094ff3562a20ce1&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url Our Teach For America-DC Region executive director sent this to us earlier this summer and I’ve been saving it for once school started and the good and bad things really came out… This is her friend’s student. Even if this isn’t your student, no doubt this child is ...

Hang tight, my first-year friends, because October is almost over. For those who haven't taught and for those who have forgotten, October is when new teachers feel the strain, the stress and the struggle of teaching... multiplied by 10. It results from a combination of factors: The honeymoon with your kids has worn off, the five new strategies you tried have failed and failed again, first-quarter grades are due, and you've finally succumbed to the fact that all the changes your vice principal promised you back in August won't be materializing, at least not until April. It's a rough time, ...

I admit, when my students used to misbehave, I occasionally strayed from my consequence plans and would pull a version of the age-old parental guilt-trip: Don't you know there are children in [insert impoverished country] who don't even have the privilege of school? Don't you know they walk miles and miles each day to practice math under a tree using a stick to write numbers in the dirt? And you're sitting here telling me you don't feel like solving for x? I'll tell you: You are lucky to be solving for x. You even have air conditioning. Much like the ...