student support
Let's Tap Afterschool to Create Pandemic Pods for All Kids
These are scary times. I’m navigating an elderly mom afraid to leave her house, two socially isolated kids struggling to learn on their own, and a job with a workload that has increased, not...
COVID-19
Why It's Time to Raise Hell About Reopening Schools
This week, teachers all over the country are holding demonstrations protesting plans to re-open schools for in-person learning. Obviously, there’s heated debate everywhere about how to handle the new...
California
Some Kids Need a Brick and Mortar School. I Know Because I Was One of Them.
The most terrifying and dangerous experiences I had as a child were at home. I am not alone. My mother battled demons and heard voices, including those telling her to kill her child. An innocent game...
COVID-19
Districts Should Partner With Experienced Online Learning Providers and Save Us From a Train Wreck of a School Year
Last March, when so much of our lives moved from in-person work and learning to digital spaces, one group of students and teachers experienced continuity: Full-time online public school students. In...
COVID-19
Today Should Have Been Our First Day of School
For 14 years I have taught math at the same high school. The entirety of my career—three thousand students, eighty classes, 13 preps, five rooms, four grade levels, two different buildings even—all...
COVID-19
What If We Radically Reimagined the New School Year?
Monday night I sat on my back patio staring up into a rare, starry Chicago night. I squinted and made out each point of The Big Dipper and then turned to see what I decided was Mars, twinkling in the...