Published in Teachers on Fire Magazine 🔥·Jul 20Member-onlyWhat If Every Friday Was Inventor’s Day?Have you celebrated Inventor’s Day in your classroom? The “holiday” is marked as February 11. This year, I used some of the lessons from PBS Newshour Education’s library to explore inventions in my classroom. Yet, learning about inventions for a single day seems limited at best. What if Inventor’s Day…Education4 min read
Published in ILLUMINATION·Jul 15Member-onlyWant to Design An Online Course?5 Tips for Planning Have you ever considered creating an online course? Have you ever taken one? So many people are realizing they have the potential earn money by teaching others what they know. The learning industry is exploding. I have taken several online courses on various topics. Some are…Course2 min read
Published in Teachers on Fire Magazine 🔥·Jul 8Member-onlyWhat Have Educators Learned?We have survived the pandemic era in education. Many of us are finally able to breathe again this summer. We pivoted, learned new technology, faced unimaginable challenges, and recreated teaching. Now is a time for reflection on what we have learned through all of the chaos. Last summer, I thought…Education5 min read
Published in Teachers on Fire Magazine 🔥·Jul 7Member-onlyHow I Teach Fake NewsNow, more than ever, we are faced with the challenge of misinformation. On social media and various websites, the spread of untrue stories is growing. TikTok, the preferred social media platform for most of our students, overflows with misinformation. Even some of our official news sites promote “fake news”. How…Education5 min read
Jul 3Member-onlyWhat Are We Waiting For?I never imagined my teenage daughter would possess fewer rights than I did decades ago. I was raised in America, after all. We are the land of the free. Was this a failure of imagination on my part? Perhaps. Certainly, Roe v. Wade was a political issue in the early…Freedom4 min read
Published in ILLUMINATION·Jun 23Member-onlyHow Can Your Budget Survive a Recession?Coupons. Yes, coupons are extraordinarily effective in helping you to manage a budget during economic downturns. I grew up in a middle class household in the 1970s. Times were tough for everyone with an oil crisis and extreme inflation. My parents were very thrifty with their money, and one of…Finance4 min read
Published in Teachers on Fire Magazine 🔥·Jun 19Member-onlyHow Will You Spend Your Glorious Summer?For many of us, this past school year was surprisingly more challenging than the previous year. Thrown back to “normal”, we quickly realized the challenges we faced were anything but normal. Students came to school with a variety of needs, traumas, and skills. As teachers, we tried to meet the…Education3 min read
Published in Teachers on Fire Magazine 🔥·May 14Member-onlySo, What About Those Planners?I have been transitioning students to middle school for a long time. I started long before students had email. In those days, we had an established system for training students to keep track of assignments and plan ahead. …Education4 min read
Published in Teachers on Fire Magazine 🔥·Apr 29Member-onlyUniversities Are Headed into the Metaverse. What About K-12 Schools?I recently watched Steve Grubbs’ explanation of metaversity on LinkedIn. The video clearly articulates the classroom experience and the possibilities of teaching in the metaverse. Apparently, Morehouse College in Atlanta used the metaverse for part of the pandemic. Yes, the metaverse is already in play. Not only are colleges using…Metaverse3 min read
Apr 29Member-onlyWhy Are We Limiting Ourselves with STEM and Humanities?Decades ago, the idea of combining disciplines became part of the educational dialogue. Innovative educators began using connections in history and English to teach Interdisciplinary units. In more recent years, the combination of math and science, or STEM, has become a popular connector. …Education3 min read
