I began the school year in a classroom with eighteen standard desks. Today, I have none. This isn’t a lament about budgetary constraints or overcrowded classrooms; it’s a deliberate choice.

In English classes, which require students to sit and read or write for extended periods of time, it can be challenging to get them to want to do their work.

When I reflect on my years working in classrooms with students, I think about how much time it took to access and use essential technology B.G. (before Google). I compare it with what it must have been like for people before electricity and after electricity. B.G.

The trick to not using all your personal days during the first month of school is to focus on stopping bad behavior before it starts, instead of punishing students after the fact.

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.

When I told my fifth-grade class that they were old enough to take charge of their own learning, something unexpected happened.

I have gleaned three wise teachings from King Lear's fool and each one informs my practice in the classroom more and more each day.

For teachers, time is a precious commodity. That’s why I believe we need to incorporate Google Drive into our everyday teaching standards.

The first six weeks of a new school year are essential. In middle school classrooms, those weeks are not just a warm-up. Rather, they are the foundation on which the entire school year is built.