I avidly recall a second grade class that would excitedly huddle around my rocking chair for story time. Students scrambled around sliding chairs to the carpet where I read heartwarming and sometimes zany tales, they reminded me that story time was counted among the most meaningful and cherished moments of a child’s day. Story time is a child’s portal into endless worlds, kingdoms, and dimensions.

Every year, almost every student says, “I suck at writing. I hate it.” I hear this phrase far more than “Hello,” “Thank you,” or even “Can I use the restroom?”

Books used in the classroom remind us that education is most powerful when it affirms the dignity of every child. Paired with history, inquiry, and compassion, they create a foundation for inclusion that reaches far beyond the school walls.

Teaching art history in an entirely online environment has brought a new set of challenges and opportunities that I’ve come to embrace with enthusiasm.

I believe it is vital for some form of investment education, along with the other elements of financial literacy, to exist in every school. In every classroom.

"Why read when you can watch the movie?" In my eight years as an educator, no other sentiment has been quite so crushing to hear from children.

Throughout the decade I have spent working in education, I’ve seen the most positive impact when I’ve incorporated hope-based strategies into my teaching.

The topic of awe couldn’t be more timely. I’ve never seen such an urgent need to address social-emotional issues in and out of the classroom as I do now.

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.