Has this ever happened to you?

You spend all night creating the perfect lesson and the day of your class, everything is running just as you planned.  Students are working, they are engaged, and you are hoping your principal walks into see the magic happening. 

Then out of no where there are two st...

It seems like as the years go on, the expectations of what we are suppose teach increases more and more each year.  I remember when I first started teaching there were things called State Standards.  I thought alright, as soon as I got the hang of that then I am in good shape.  

Then they introdu...

IIn my humble opinion, (did you ever notice that the people who say humble opinion are rarely humble) the hardest job in the teaching field is ........ Assistant Principal at a Middle School.  Oh my gosh.  All day you are dealing with the worst of the worst, putting out fires, dealing with drama, an...

As an old man I find myself sometimes saying, "Kids these days" or "When I was your age".  

I don't know if you can relate but it is hard not to get swept up in the frenzy of comparing kids these days to when we were young. 

I think it is human nature because I remember my parents and other adults...

Since I have been teaching for 2 decades I can sometimes find myself on auto pilot.  

Come in at 7:30 AM and get everything ready.

In Advisory Class we either do CNN 10, I-Ready, or watch a video on a college.

During each class period we might do Warm-Up, Notes, Ed Puzzles, Activity, Video, Blook...

My wife and I will often talk about the season of life we are in.  Each season of life brings it's own joys as well as struggles. Remember being 18?  

When I was 18 life was different.  There were many great things.  Just graduated High School and I had my car and I felt the world was my oyster.  I...

I was listening to a Podcast this pass weekend and one of the guest was talking about how regimented he is.  He was mentioned how on the weekend he plans his days.  He said he has a To Do List for his days off.  

I started laughing because that is me.  My wife harasses me that I have list for my li...

I remember when I was teaching 10th Grade World History and one of the topics was India.  If I am honest the topic itself was never one of my favorites but what I did enjoy was talking about Gandhi.  I even showed the entire Gandhi movie which is several hours long.  

I don't know how much my stu...

I was listening to a Teacher Podcast a few weeks ago and somebody reached out with a problems.  "I have 4 preps and I don't know what to do".  

First of all let's clarify what a prep is.  It takes time (a lot of time) to prepare lessons for our class.  A normal schedule for Secondary Education woul...

My first 3 weeks of school are in the bag and so far all is going well.  Every time I pass another teacher they always ask, "How are the kids this year".  My response is always the same, "They are always good the first 2 weeks.  It is the honeymoon period".  There is a lot of truth to that statement...

Can you believe it.  Another school year has begun.  This is my 20th year teaching and I am glad to say I am just excited about teaching this year as I was my first year.  To be honest I am more excited about this year than my first year because I almost got fired my first year.  We will save that...

Procedures, Procedures, Procedures.  That needs to be the mantra of every teacher.  I can promise you this.  If you have solid procedures in your classroom you class will run better.

I once heard another teacher say that running your class is kinda like a dance and procedures are the dance mov...