I attended Spartanburg Writing Project’s Fall Renewal Conference yesterday. All of the attendees had name tages with their school or district name on them. I didn’t. I didn’t have a school. I didn’t have a district. But I am a teacher. It’s seems like a contradiction. How can you be a teacher without a school? …
Teachers have long resisted outsiders who compare public schools to a business model, citing results and products as the most important determining factor for funding and teacher pay scales. This idea discounts and forgets that humans are unpredictable, especially third graders! Current state mandates are pressurizing the classroom and teachers. We are worried about losing …
In the middle of this new pathway, I am discovering that there are many more similarities than I thought there would be. I am entrenched in tons of reading and critical thinking both of which I love. In one of my commentaries, in talking about the creation, the authors say that creation isn’t over, but …
My first marketing campaign started on the first day of school. “And Ms. Neely loves loves loves coffee and books.” I found that saying loves three times and quite dramatically increased the likelihood of receiving these lovely items for Christmas, teacher appreciation day or birthday. I have to include a disclaimer here. I don’t know …
Many teachers would argue that marketing has no place in the classroom. That we shouldn’t “stoop” to trying to “sell” students on learning. I was one of those teachers. Until I listened to this. Then I realized it was decision time. I could either decide to embrace the world that I was living in or …
I felt like I left you hanging after my last post. It’s a struggle to change vocations after 4 years of self- identification. I am sure that some of you would say, “Try changing after 15 or 20 years.” I know that it is self-indulgent for me to write about what is going on in …
When you open yourself up to a call to ministry, you expose yourself. Part of the process is realizing and recognizing your weakness, your ill motivations and the way that you’ve hidden those so well from others. You invite others to peer into the very heart of who you are. I’ve heard the argument against …
Learning to write in html code is really like learning another language. The tagging is predictable, but there is a grammar.It makes me think about teaching and how we gloss over grammar rules thinking that students will catch up. Try to blog in html code. HTML Basic I bet you teach grammar with a little …
I find myself in the uncomfortable position of having to be true to myself in a way that I never have before. Students of all ages are extremely good at deciphering inauthenticity a mile away and I have to admit that I have always looked to them to see if I was being true to my philosophy …
