I worked for a principal who was noted for saying she wished she taught in an orphanage. Her reasoning, of course, was that she easily could achieve longer school days without the occasional meddlesome parent. I suspect she may have also preferred it if all the teaching staff lived in nearby barracks, where we could…
principal
Time to Solve the Education Budget Crisis
Imagine this: Your classroom is well-prepared. Displays are fresh. Desks and tables are exactly where you want them. Your lesson plans are laid out in detail for the next month. It is the first day you will have students in your room and you are ready, or as ready as you can be, because there’s…
My Idea for Rating Teacher Effectiveness
Gathered around the teachers’ dining table, you could feel the anxiety some of us had. To others, the impending event was like water off a duck’s back. It was time for classroom observations. The first time the principal told me she was coming to observe my classroom was almost enough to keep me awake nights….
Ballerina in a Minefield
Usually, we think of parent-teacher conferences as something that comes close to the beginning of the school year, or at least somewhere before the middle. Parent-teacher conferences often loom large on the calendar. I don’t know how your school or district works it out. When I was in the classroom, we had early dismissal, ate…