For Teachers

• Five Powerful Attitudes (2003)

  What is it experienced teachers know that seem to save their sanity and allow them to go home less weary and war torn than do new teachers? . . . I would like to suggest five powerful attitudes that will contribute to your emotional health, to your peace of mind, and to your enjoyment as a teacher. These are some of the sanity secrets experienced teachers know and practice.

• Setting The Stage (2006)

  Most of us have experienced moments of “student engagement” when every learner seems utterly focused on the task and time seems to stand still. It is what teachers live for—such occasions of connectedness are a teacher’s compensation for enduring playground duties, fire drills, and nasty September colds acquired from loving six year olds who shared their germs with hugs and sneezes. . . .State Standards emphasize the importance of student engagement as do countless articles and research studies, but such an admonition is worth little unless it can be translated into your day-to-day life in the classroom. The goal of this article is to do that!

• It's Been a Bad Day! (2002)

  It is one of those days when it seems no student is with you. Their eyes seem to glaze or drift to unseen objects, to the fly buzzing on the window or little smudges on their desks. They are unresponsive—just not “there.” Worse yet, they are pestering others and talking out of turn. Complaints and disagreements fill the air. It seems a pencil needs sharpening every two minutes. Your students appear bored and irritable, and you think in dismay, “It is going to be a long day!” What do you do to regain your sense of balance and perspective?

• Keep Up the Good Work! (2007)

  Learning to teach—like learning to be a juggler—is a talent that is strengthened with practice. Jugglers, however, are allowed to perfect their timing and coordination skills in solitude and only appear on stage when ready to amaze the audience. Teachers, on the other hand, are expected to learn their craft while they are “performing” and are continually under the watchful gaze of children, parents, and administrators! Teaching is not a job for the faint hearted! There is so much to learn, so much to know.

• Enchanting Teachers Among Us (2004)

  The word enchanting brings forth childlike images of flying joyfully among the stars to Never Never Land with Peter Pan, powered by the magic of Tinker Belle’s sparkling fairy dust. Through imagination, we are swept into an exciting world of elves, witches, and enchanted forests. We are mesmerized. We are charmed. But enchantment is not a descriptive limited to the world of Disney or Harry Potter. The amazing power to enchant students is a defining hallmark of great teachers.