School Principal Appreciation Day is on May 1 and I must say that I truly feel appreciated each day that I have been a principal in the great state of New Jersey. It is truly a dream job! Seven-time SuperBowl winning quarterback, Tom Brady shared his advice with an elementary student during the pregame SuperBowl LV show and that was find something that you enjoy, work really hard at, and it will never feel like a job.

I’ve never dreaded going to work as a principal, even on the days that I knew were going to be a challenge. In…

I remember when I was going through my internship before I graduated with my master’s in education, and my mentor said something that I think about frequently. She said, “As a teacher, it is vital to take your craft and work it every day. It is necessary to try something different because you never know what will work.” Many years later, and several hundred hours of teaching later, I still think that this is a crucial thing to do. As educators, if we do not try new things and have a method of experimentation with what works and what does…

A School Forest Story

A few weeks ago, our school community experienced several challenging events in a row. It was just one of those weeks where each day felt worse than the last, and stress levels and tensions were high for both students and staff. Then came Thursday. Thursdays are always days for outdoor, place-based learning at High Marq. The field experience that week was one of our annual “Survival Days,” where students work in established teams to practice survival skills at one of our school forests. The sun was shining, the skies were clear, and the students had purposeful work to do together…

Today’s teens know that the Internet can be incredibly useful. More and more teens and young adults have personal web pages and use the Internet for a variety of purposes. Unfortunately, the Internet can also be a dangerous place. The hazards you can encounter range from upsetting situations — like being insulted in an instant message, blog, or text message — to physical threats, such as Internet predators.

This doesn’t mean that being online isn’t worth the risks. It just means that you need to know how to protect yourself. Here are a few precautions to take when you’re online:

Understand Cyberbullying

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I’ve spent the last couple of months developing my series on remote learning. I’m sure I will in the future return to remote learning with more key insights, but for now, a new series: Social Justice in the Classroom.

This is in no way an exhaustive list, but it’s a start to share some of the things we did in my classroom to facilitate social justice. Have I missed a stellar idea? Let me know!

Diverse Books by Diverse Authors

I did a Donor’s Choose for my class one year, in order to collect diverse books by diverse authors for diverse readers. …

For children with dyslexia, learning to read will likely become a deeply personal and ongoing journey — they will experience the process, successes, and difficulties of literacy differently than their non-dyslexic peers. But that doesn’t mean that these students are destined to suffer in school — it simply means that the instruction, tools, resources, and learning experience provided to them must be all the more deliberate and powerful. With the right instructional materials and pedagogical approach, we can empower dyslexic children to successfully tackle challenging texts throughout their academic careers.

The unique learning experience of dyslexic children requires a unique…

With the help of her colleagues, Dr. Fiona Vernal created Part 3 of our series, “Voices in Social Studies”, as a resource guide for teachers interested in the intersection of SEL, culture, and community. Special thanks to Isalena Gilzene and Hope Brown. Read part 1 and part 2.

Old Wine, New Bottles? Thirty Years of Social and Emotional Learning

Every few decades, education experts reconsider what pedagogies, principles, materials, and methods will contribute to success in the classroom. Social and emotional learning (SEL), a framework developed almost thirty years ago in 1994, is beginning to coalesce and gain momentum throughout the country. By August 2020, 29 states had developed SEL standards…

Every April we celebrate Financial Literacy Month, an observance founded by The Jump$tart Coalition to improve financial literacy, especially among our nation’s youth, and to promote financial well-being for all consumers.

Studies have found that providing students, as early in their education as possible, with foundational financial education skills and educational programs can build overall financial wellness. Unfortunately, the OECD’s 2018 PISA Survey results reveal that one in five US students fail to demonstrate more than a basic level of financial knowledge and skills, and students are performing below the baseline level of proficiency. [2]

This means that the vast…