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“I Don’t Have that Number”: Understanding and Working with Undocumented Students

By Phil Kitchel posted 18 hours ago
By Blanca E. Vega The article “ ‘When I Would Hurt’: Undocumented Students’ Responses to Obstacles Faced During the College-Choice Process,” by Vega, B.E., Kenny Nienhusser, H., & Carquin-Hamichand, M.S., is in the ...

First-Year Vibes: Your Classroom, Your Arena

By Phil Kitchel posted 2 days ago
By Christopher J. Jackson Congratulations! You’ve made it to your first year as a teacher and your first classroom, your new “home away from home.” A teacher’s perception of their classroom says a lot about ...

The Intersection of Student Equity and Teacher Leadership

By Phil Kitchel posted 6 days ago
By Jeremy D. Visone The author’s article (coauthored with Courtney K. Mason and Keri MacLean), “ Teacher Leadership for Equity: Leveraging a Taxonomy for Improved School Experiences,” appears in the July 2022 issue of ...

Reflecting, Reframing, and Ever-Changing: A Kaleidoscopic Metaphor

By Phil Kitchel posted 9 days ago
By Micki M. Caskey and Karen Weller Swanson Being completely present means much more in the last 2 years due to COVID-19. After the difficulty of our first full year since the pandemic, it is time to take a breath and ...

Gardening at School: Tips for Teachers

By Phil Kitchel posted 16 days ago
Garden-based learning is an exciting movement in the U.S. education system that has many benefits for students. School gardens have been shown to boost physical activity, increase fruit and vegetable consumption, improve ...

How to Make Human Rights Education a Reality in Your Classroom

By Phil Kitchel posted 22 days ago
By Isabel Quiñones I distinctly remember learning about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in a high school history class. I also learned about it as a Girls’ Leadership Worldwide participant through the Eleanor ...

Build Your Career: 4 STEM Professional Development Tips

By Phil Kitchel posted 23 days ago
Let’s be clear. Learning to teach is a career-long process, and building a successful teaching career in a rapidly changing society means devoting deliberate attention to your own professional development (PD) while keeping ...

Managing Young Humans: Essential Principles for Effective Classroom Management

By Phil Kitchel posted 30 days ago
I remember my first days in the classroom with my little humans, thinking, “I LOVE teaching!” They were sweet and captivated by my voice and the cool things I created for their learning. Within days, however, it was clear ...

7 Tips for Managing Your First-Year Workload

By Phil Kitchel posted 07-05-2022
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 06-28-2022
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 06-21-2022
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 06-14-2022
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 06-07-2022
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