President Trump campaigned on the idea of dismantling the Department of Education (DOE). In February, he put out an executive order to shrink the department. The implementation of the initial executive order had been stalled in the courts. It was...
One of the biggest challenges teachers face—especially in the early weeks of the school year—is building real relationships with students. You know, the kind that turn a group of strangers into a classroom family. My first principal once told me,...
Few challenges in education are as pervasive (or misunderstood) as supporting students with trauma. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, by age 16, nearly two-thirds of children in the United States will have experienced at least one potentially...
Teaching Is Human Work. Systems Aren’t Built for That. Teaching Is Human Work. Systems Aren’t Built for That. Education is structured as a system—standardized, measured, and scaled. But learning doesn’t work that way. And teaching? Teaching is human work—improvised, emotional,...
Selected Timeline of Educational Technology (2000–2025) 2000–2003 Digital tools begin to enter classrooms, led by interactive whiteboards and early online platforms like Blackboard. The groundwork is laid for the shift from analog to digital teaching methods. SMART Boards begin replacing...
by Terry Heick This post has been updated from a version published in 2013 Good teaching is a major undertaking. Make no mistake–teaching has never been easy. But as we come upon 2014, as a profession teaching is increasingly characterized...
Dear We Are Teachers,I get that incentives can motivate students, but I’m so over the endless candy rewards system. It feels like every time I turn around, there’s another bag of sweets being handed out for the smallest thing. Not...
It’s the start of a new school year, which means many of us are stocking our classroom library shelves. Lucky for us, there are many great new books headed our way this month. We’ve pored over the reviews to find...
In addition to my work at TeachThought, I also write creative nonfiction, essays, and—more recently—poetry. I’ve presented my work at the University of Louisville Literacy Conference in 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2024. If you’re into creative writing, I’ve started a...
Summer break is here, bringing teachers the much-needed relaxation and downtime they deserve. If you’re like me, getting lost in a good book helps you unwind after the chaos of a school year. Ditch those professional-development books and educational journals—this...
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