Jennifer

I suck at calling on students during a classroom discussion. I believe that this is a holdover from my own days as a student when I didn’t raise my hand and I was called on to answer a question.  At those times I could feel a burning rise from my …

In 2006 the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Garcetti v. Ceballos that public employee’s “job duty speech” is not protected under the First Amendment. That means that while on the clock teachers of public institutions are not afforded freedom of speech.  This includes primary and secondary …

Over this past year I have had a number of conversations with fellow teachers where the topic of apologizing comes up and it surprises me how many people are anti-apology especially in regards to their students.  From what I gather some people believe that if they apologize for something that …

Growing up there were two things I was pretty sure would survive a nuclear war, cockroaches and my school uniform.  When thinking back about them in terms of fashion the only word that comes to mind is durable.  Made from plaid polyester fabric that when new was stiff enough to …

This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSFnETYcOcw has been making its rounds among the teachers in my school.  It is a very short video (1 minute so watch it) in which Mike Rowe talks about how important the skilled trades are, and that there is currently a skills gap. I admit that I agree with …

What my dogs have taught me about students, teaching and being human – Part 1: The Night is Long and Full of Terriers There is a reason why many fields of science use animal models.  How animals behave and react to a given situation often gives us insights into how …

When I was getting my master’s degree I was in an incredible program at the University of Pennsylvania called the Penn Science teachers institute, Master’s of Chemistry Education.  In this program I was taught by many phenomenal people, but the person I want to focus today’s post on was a …

Bullying is a part of human existence.  Don’t get me wrong it’s a crappy part, but it is still a part.  As a teacher in a school I have seen a small spectrum of bullying behavior from friends teasing each other to the “popping” books so that the holder drops …

How important is a name? We spend an awful lot of time teaching and learning the names for things before a concept it taught, is this time spent wisely? On Monday I saw this XKCD comic and I knew that it should be the theme for my pop quiz. So …

Teaching is all about perspective. January 23rd, 2014 changed mine. Thursday January 23rd was truly a perfect storm day for me. It started when I arrived at school and I realized that, as I was about to get out of my car, the thing that I needed to bring for …