Students

"In your own words" 
"Cite your sources" 
"No, you can't just copy and paste that entire website as your essay." 

Things teachers say quite frequently when giving writing assignments. Well, hopefully not the last one, but we all know there are students who will try. 

PIVOT – the word for the 2020-2021 school year. There are also words and phrases like learning loss, zoombombing, unstable connection, and asynchronous. 

By: Kay Walling, guest writer High school ELA, Texas

We’ve learned how teachers have grown even more flexible with virtual school and that parents have pulled out most of their hair trying to keep their kids on task in Zoom lessons. Our general appreciation for teachers has deepened significantly. But what have students been doing over the last year? Struggling. Making it. Missing teachers and friends. Growing.  

There isn’t a group of people who have not been affected in one way or another by the global pandemic of 2020. Last month, we introduced a few teacher friends who have been trudging through the challenges of virtual school and gave you an idea of how some teachers are faring. This month, we are looking into what it’s like to be a parent of children who have at least started the 2020-21 school year online. 

By: Kevin Humphrey, guest writer

If there’s anything that teachers can easily get their students to do, it’s writing, right?

::crickets::

::teachers looking around with bewildered looks on their faces and shaking their heads vehemently::

Open House. Back-to-School Night. Meet the Teacher Night. Whatever you call it, it’s not just about meeting your students and their parents. This is your opportunity to make the best first impression. Even if you already know these students from other classes, in the hallway, clubs and other activities, or seeing them in the cafeteria, this is your chance to meet them as their future teacher. This is a new interaction for them, and it’s important that they see you in this new role.

As a recent graduate from high school, I was able to reflect on the past four years as a whole and consider what I found helpful, or detrimental, to my performance in school. One of the most important skills students establish in high school is how to write effectively. In my experience, there are four main elements of a writing assignment that will make or break it.