The Teacher-Student Phenomenon

Earlier this week, I had a conversation with a few teachers that reminded me that our students are still struggling, three years after the COVID 2020 lockdown. It came as no surprise, but sometimes I get so tunnel visioned with the content that I am teaching that I forget about the social and emotional well-being

Pro-Love: Part One

Over the last few days, I have been struggling to understand how to move forward in a post-Roe vs. Wade society. Don’t worry, I’m not one to raise the banner for Pro-Choice or Pro-Life. I don’t feel like either perspective takes into consideration the complexity of abortion. Instead, I would argue that our stance, especially

A Teacher in Grief: A Reflection on Uvalde

As I eat my breakfast every morning, I usually do some Facebook scrolling. Sometimes this helps my day to be that much brighter; other times, it just brings me down. Today my Facebook scroll darkened my mood. In no way do I blame any of my teacher friends for their posts today because we need

TBH: Teaching in a Hostile Environment

Recently, I have had a few conversations with fellow teachers that have caused me to, once again, consider why it is that I have dedicated my life to public education. To be honest, I don’t know if I would stick with teaching if I was just starting out today. The pay on average is not

A Balanced Christian in a Public School Setting

For a Christian woman, I have an odd job. I have been teaching in public schools as an English teacher for twenty years. Now, on the surface, that might not seem like such a strange job. Plenty of Christians are public school teachers. However, I am not your usual Christian public school teacher because I

The Heroes of the 20/21 School Year

This school year has been incredibly difficult for so many reasons. Teachers needed to learn new ways to reach their students, including learning management systems and virtual conferencing. For those of us with technology flowing through our veins, that wasn’t the difficult part. The difficult part was figuring out how to maintain relationships with our

The Need for Connection: Supporting Public Education

Over the last school year, I have come to see more and more flaws in our public school system. The problem is not necessarily within the schools themselves but within the communities where these schools are located. Teachers, administrators, counselors, and support staff work hard daily to provide the best possible education for each of

Cancel Culture: A Third Perspective

I have tried to stay out of this conversation for quite a while, but the conversation came to me this week in my classroom. One of my students stumbled into an argument about the recent statement by Dr. Seuss Enterprises to cease publication of six of his lesser known children’s books. My student was serving

The Wall Between School and Home

Over the last few weeks, I have had several conversations with fellow teachers about a phenomenon that none of us can seem to explain. As hybrid teachers this school, we have come to rely more on virtual forms of communication to connect with our students throughout the week. We use announcements, email, chat, video conferencing,

Selfish Choices Lead to Lost Lives

Part of living in community is experiencing the consequences of other people’s actions. This happens in the community of our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our churches. On a much larger scale, this can happen in our individual cities, our states, our nations, and ultimately, other people’s actions can affect the entire world. To