After teaching ELA for over a decade, I'd come to loathe the novel study. But my opinion changed when I found the Percy Jackson series.

When our school received the news that our principal had passed from a private battle with brain cancer, it shook the staff, students, and entire community to the core.

I search, “Talking to children about racialized violence.” I know experts say children are never too young to talk about race, but none of them have a lesson plan for me.

I have lost count of the number of times I have been told that rules without relationships lead to rebellion. Yet today, relationships with students seem to be feared instead of embraced. Over the years, quite by accident, I have discovered that this precept from days gone by is critical to classroom rules and to learning itself. Relationships are an essential part of learning, especially relationships between teachers and students.

A wink to our school’s husky mascot, PAWS Time is a highly engaging, weekly enrichment program that allows our students to “pause”: Practice kindness, Always be safe, make Wise choices, and Show respect.

Let’s begin with the realization that what we all inherently understand is indeed true: kids are different today than they were when we were younger. You hear this stated by colleagues and, if you’re like me, from your own mouth quite frequently. The fact is, they are.

As the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide approached in April 2014, I took it as an opportunity to teach my students about this horrific and tragic event.

"What do you mean, we have rights as minors?” Thirty pairs of quizzical eyes met mine. Brows furrowed in confusion. “Aren’t rights made by adults, for adults?”

The benefits of play-based learning are huge, and we shouldn’t be depriving our children of it just because they are getting older.