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7 Tips for Managing Your First-Year Workload

By Phil Kitchel posted 15 hours ago
Poet Maya Angelou once said, “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style” (2014). As a middle or high school teacher, sticking to ...

A Personal Code of Ethics

By Phil Kitchel posted 7 days ago
My personal code of ethics began long before my professional life but has directly influenced how I govern myself in both areas. In life and in education, equality means that everyone gets the same thing, whereas equity means ...

Big Classroom Dreams, Small Teacher Budget: 8 Tips to Stretch Your Dollar

By Phil Kitchel posted 14 days ago
Creating an inviting classroom environment can be an exciting yet stressful challenge for new teachers. Based upon our experiences as classroom teachers and teacher mentors, we have discovered eight practical suggestions ...

Fostering Proficient Writers Through the Building Blocks of Organization

By Phil Kitchel posted 21 days ago
Education is an integral component of students’ lives, dedicated to instilling the respective skills needed to read proficiently, think critically, and write with clarity, all of which are essential with today’s complex and ...

8 Tips for Getting Along With Your Administrators

By Phil Kitchel posted 28 days ago
Having been in the field of education in a variety of capacities since 2004, I often get asked for the most important advice I can give to new teachers. Folks often expect me to answer something akin to having strong lesson ...

“Dynamic” Working Conditions and the Unseen Labor of Teachers

By Phil Kitchel posted 06-03-2022
At 7:15 on a windy Tuesday morning, our school secretary informs me that two of our school’s five paraprofessionals are absent without substitutes. My jaw slackens. I thank her and stride down the hall toward two other special ...

Teach Us! Honoring Student Voices and Cultures

By Phil Kitchel posted 06-01-2022
Today’s bloggers are Renee R. Moran, an Associate Professor of literacy education at East Tennessee State University; Natalia A. Ward, an Assistant Professor of literacy and second language education at East Tennessee ...

Designing With Dragons: Co-Teaching, Managing, and Engaging

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-31-2022
The classroom is a dynamic learning “cave” where teachers embrace their own styles to establish an engaging learning environment for all students. For many, this includes having a co-teacher to manage the classroom and deliver ...

When Trauma Enters the Classroom

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-27-2022

Jug ’n Funnel: The Role of a Mentor in Your First Year

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-24-2022
As a new teacher, you may enter the field fully certified and prepared for your job, but no amount of classroom or even clinical experience fully prepares you for your first real teaching assignment. The first year in the ...
 
Teaching Excellence FirstYearTeachers User Created   mentoring

4 Steps to Promote Care in the Classroom

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-17-2022
A few years ago, I transitioned from teaching elementary students to being in a middle school setting. I had to overcome many challenges with this move; however, the most difficult task proved to be with discipline. Going ...
 
Teaching Excellence MentalHealth Mindfulness wellness User Created   mindfulness

Lumio and Canva: A Dream Team

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-16-2022
Let’s explore two of my favorite edtech tools, Lumio and Canva EDU, and see how they can be combined to create educational magic. I’ll explain what each tool does first. Canva EDU Back in 2014, when I first started ...
 
Teaching Excellence ClassroomManagement

Teacher Liability Insurance Is Free for KDP Members

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-10-2022
Miss Montel was excited about her 4 th -grade class’s visit to the zoo—her first field trip!—and so were her students. She was a little nervous, but she had experienced support from her teaching assistant and two parents. ...

3 Types of Reflection to Enhance and Improve Your Teaching

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-10-2022
During your teacher preparation program, you were probably introduced to the term reflection . It’s not a new concept in education; it’s been researched and investigated since the advent of teacher preparation programs (Schön, ...

A Message of Hope

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-06-2022
On a Friday afternoon in October 2019, I received a text message from Ramos (pseudonym used in my study), one of my research participants, while waiting at a tire rotation service. The message says: “Dr. Pu, you should check ...

Mothers' and Fathers' Day May Be Different During the Pandemic

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-04-2022
For many students, Mothers' and Fathers' Day will be different this year. It’s been estimated that more than 167,000 U.S. children have lost a parent or caregiver to Covid since the beginning of the pandemic. Mothers' ...

Celebrate Your “Why” to Teaching!

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-03-2022
4 Strategies to Motivate and Encourage Beginning Teachers Do you ever think about why you decided to teach in the first place? Each day is a new day, and remembering your first motivation to become a teacher ...

Understanding and Empathy for Traumatized Children

By Phil Kitchel posted 05-02-2022
Today’s blogger is Erinn Kate Larsen, an Intervention Specialist at a middle school in Ohio. Her article with Shawn DiNarda Watters, “Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma-Informed Schools,” appears in the April 2022 issue ...

5 Tips for Maximizing Technology Use in Your Classroom

By Phil Kitchel posted 04-26-2022
Technology is a powerful tool for promoting teaching and learning at any grade level. However, like other educational tools, teachers can use technology inappropriately. What questions should teachers ask themselves as they ...

“He did what?!” 6 Tips to Heading Off an Aggressive Meltdown

By Phil Kitchel posted 04-20-2022
Bobby walked into my class, a student I will never forget. He had long hair and didn’t look me in the face. He didn’t say hello; he didn’t say good morning; he simply walked in, picked a chair in the shadows at the back ...