Read and Coach

Most airport restrooms are nothing to write a blog about. However, I recently traveled through the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and had a magical moment. With the push of a button, a sanitized toilet cover rolls around and covers the seats in their restrooms. That one moment of reprieve from the horror of an airport restroom was relatively inspirational. In our classrooms, we sometimes need a sanitized cover to scoot out and save us. A quick refresh on a day when we're a bit in the dumps...so to speak. Perhaps we need a lesson for a substitute and don't have the energy to create it. Or maybe we did not get a lesson ready because our plan period was taken by a meeting or event. There are a million different reasons why our plans might be in the toilet, and we all have moments when we need something magical to save the day.  Here are three things we can do to sanitize and refresh a crappy lesson day: Premade Choice Boards If we want an easy button lesson, try...

It's practically a right of passage in education to declare that a meeting should have been an email. Like most educators, I have been in meetings where that felt true. However, in 2024, the number of sent and received emails is projected to grow to 361.6 billion. We are inundated with information all the time. What we don't need...is another email.  Walk the halls of any school building and various other negative comments about meetings permeate the educational space. We apologize when we have to have meetings, we promise to keep meetings short because people are busy, and we cancel meetings because the weather is too warm, or too cold, or any other sundry non weather related reasons. All of this sounds logical and respectful to busy professionals who are tasked with too much, but it is a short-term fix. The solution is not to cancel or shorten meetings.  The solution is definitely not to send more emails.  The solution is to insist on better meetings.  There are a...