I started my teaching career at a public middle school in Toronto about two decades ago. At that time, I was not comfortable being personally out to my students.

As soon as I utter the words “writing assignment,” looks of panic appear on my students’ faces. Their hands shoot up like rockets and the questions immediately start.

After teaching at an alternative middle school for the past 4 years, the one thing I constantly hear from new students is: “We can move around in your room and not get in trouble?

We ask students questions all day long, but how do we know they are actually helping students learn and, more importantly, getting them to think?

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.

Educators play a pivotal role in shaping the next generation of changemakers, especially when it comes to addressing racism.

Over the years, our ELL students have eagerly shared stories about an important festival that falls over spring break: Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

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.

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.