A raw, honest look at teacher burnout in April—and how to keep teaching when your life is unraveling. Survival tips, solidarity, and soft places to land. People who don’t work in the public school system believe that August is the darkest month of the educational year. New classes. New rosters. Relearning how to awaken before […]
Author Archives: sara
Hot Mess Teacher Express
I’m a teacher with anxiety. Not just the everyday stress and uncertainty that come with the job. I mean clinical, chemical anxiety—GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) and depression, to be exact. And yes, it’s about as miserable as it sounds. In hindsight, teaching high school may not have been the best career choice for someone like […]
Misinformation Isn’t Going to Fact-Check Itself
It’s almost the most wonderful time of the year in my classroom… CULTS AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES TIME!!! As I tell the kids, you’re not joining a cult on my watch. Your body is NOT ending up buried in a field by some nutjob religious leader as long as I’m around! Not on MY watch. Let’s […]
Celebrating the Beginning of Cold and Flu Season with a New Short Story Unit!
Because, let’s face it, these damn kids have already started bringing their cooties into the room anyway. May as well make it a party and lean in with a new thematic unit, right? Alright, ELA teachers, I see you. You’re tired of the same old routine, juggling the classics, trying to keep students engaged while […]
Conflict with the Canon: Necessary Reading That Doesn’t Tell My Students’ Stories
…here’s where it gets tricky: these books, as important as they are, often don’t speak to the realities of my students’ lives.
Why Do People Hate Teachers? Spoiler! It’s Misogyny!
Ah, teachers. Those lazy, overpaid, glorified babysitters who spend their summers lounging by the pool, sipping margaritas while the rest of us suffer in the “real world.” At least, that’s the narrative some folks would have you believe. But let’s be honest—this whole “teachers are the root of all evil” rhetoric has a lot less […]
Pushing Struggling Students Into Trades May Be a Recipe for Disaster
There’s this idea floating around that if a kid isn’t “college material,” we should just push them into the trades. After all, trades are supposed to be the easier, more practical option, right? It’s a convenient way to shuffle struggling students off the academic path and into something “hands-on,” but let’s be real: this mentality […]
When “Building Culture” Becomes Gaslighting
We’ve all heard it: “We need to build a positive school culture.” It’s the phrase that gets tossed around every time there’s an issue with student behavior or academic performance. But let’s get real for a second—how many times has “building culture” been used to gloss over the fact that there are serious problems in […]
Power of Vulnerability: Teachers Should Model Narrative Writing
Writing is hard. It’s even harder when you’re a teenager, trying to juggle the pressures of school, social life, and figuring out who you are. As English teachers, we ask our students to open up and put their thoughts and feelings on paper, but how often do we do the same? Here’s the thing: If […]
The Midnight Hustle: Why Are Teachers Still Awake?
The other night, she was IN THE BUILDING at 1:00am. Our contract day starts at 7:20AM. I was like, “WTF????” Because I can give her free access to my entire product catalog. I can meet with her for an hour every other Thursday during PLC. But she needs more help than that.
