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How to Teach Self-Discipline Instead of Just Discipline
I’ve been a progressive educator my entire life, despite the fact that I’ve spent many years working in schools that were far from progressive. At the first school I worked at in rural Louisiana, the principal kept a paddle on her wall and used it to beat the children.
Through it all, I’ve struggled to find an approach to discipline that is simultaneously progressive and specific. As someone who has always worked in schools with high numbers of children who are impacted by poverty, I need lots of tools and strategies.I’ve read Positive Discipline, Love and Logic, Assertive Discipline, and Responsive Classroom, but nothing was… Read More -
Henry’s Lemonade Stand: 4 1/2 Years-Old
What fun! Henry had the idea to plan a lemonade stand. He used his moveable alphabet to write a letter to his teacher to invite her on a Saturday. Then he juiced most of the lemons using our electric juicer. Unfortunately we only had a dark natural sugar, so it ended up looking like a dehydrated urine sample. Oh, well!We found a nice shady spot and got to work waving at all the cars that passed by. We met several new neighbors, and even sold lemonade to a family from our school who just happened to be driving by. Henry took the orders, filled the glasses with ice, and… Read More -
Black Lives Matter
When I get extremely overwhelmed, my exposure to current events is limited to Facebook. I don’t have time for much else. When I’m really, really overwhelmed, I don’t even have time for Facebook.
So when I got invited to a vigil for Sandra Bland, I didn’t even know what it was about. The next day during professional development, two of our staff members led a session on culturally responsive education, and they showed the footage of her arrest.
I can’t even begin to describe what I felt while watching it. Outrage. Disgust. Desperation. A lack of hope.
It was so hard to watch a smart, educated black … Read More
