Students need to be allowed outside more often, and beyond just the playground—especially in areas where schools are the only green space.

Do you remember the first time you entered the school library as a child? I do. There were books everywhere.

Not only do visual arts classes make space in a student’s day for creativity, they can also offer a chance to focus on something bigger.

Are graphic novels a lesser form of writing? Parents and children often have opposing views when it comes to this unique and beautifully crafted type of literature.

After working as both a teacher and an administrator, I know how much of a difference it can make when school leaders truly appreciate the power of computer science.

Teaching is a great responsibility. I teach English and believe that the ability to communicate, at a personal and societal level, is what builds strong communities and ensures ownership over one’s future. Thus, it’s important that we teachers spend a lot of time on our craft—deliberating the best ways to teach and make lessons fun, interactive, and relatable to students. Professional development thrives on discipline pedagogy and school departments meet to align goals and assignments and to discuss data assessment.

School is a part of every child’s life. During their academic years, students deal with so many different facets of growth and development—physical, cognitive, emotional, and social. Having a chronic illness on top of the regular day-to-day stressors of being a student can be an enormous burden and challenge.

This past year, in a small Midwest community, we lost a student to a drug overdose. We have lost many more to drug addiction, and although we haven’t attended their funerals, they are no longer the students we once knew, while some are unrecognizable.

After my first week of being in a long-term occasional role, it became very clear to me that learning about being in the classroom is not the same as actually being in the classroom.