Donna Gerard
Bio
Every day the world starts anew. Reframe your troubles, take a look around you, and get busy being you.
Author of Who's Tougher Than Us? The Realities of Teaching. Check it out on Amazon or go to my website, donnagerard.com.
Stories (33/0)
Confessions of a Teacher on Vacation
Every job under the sun has its plusses and minuses. One of the perks of teaching is the school calendar. As teachers, we get holidays, a winter break, and a spring break, not to mention a two-month summer vacation. Teachers need these breaks because our workdays are pretty intense and busy, and as all teachers know, the workday often starts before the homeroom bell and extends after dismissal and often spills over to the weekend. So I say YES, absolutely YES, to multiple vacations. But I do not want anyone to think I spent all that free time basking on beaches or touring the world. Here are the vacation confessions of one teacher.
By Donna Gerardabout a year ago in Education
Teaching: Making Your Juggling Act Work
Teaching is not for people who need their hands held. As teachers, we are responsible for designing our lessons, setting up our classrooms, grading assignments, looking after the well-being of our students, communicating with parents, submitting a crazy amount of paperwork, attending meetings, preparing for and administering mandated testing, and maintaining an environment conducive to learning. Oh, and we teach.
By Donna Gerardabout a year ago in Education
A Teacher's Environment
If you are one of those teachers who have your own classroom, and if you have a flair for decorating, you are going to spend some time in decorative heaven. Whether you want your classroom to be movie themed, laid back country farmhouse, or look like a literal jungle, knock yourself out. In my own classroom, I always went for the “Maria Montessori” look with open shelves and materials easily available to students. In all honesty, I always missed the mark because my rooms were always very full of students so there was rarely any of the open workspace Montessori would have called for.
By Donna Gerardabout a year ago in Education
Teaching Increases Your Own Learning
The best way to learn is to teach someone else. When I was a kid, I was not a math star. More likely, I was the kid who took the test three times until I finally caught on. Long division was my nemesis. I spent endless evenings at the kitchen table trying to figure out what to multiply 23 by to get it close to 156. This, I might add, was long before calculators made their appearance in the classroom. I despised division and did just enough work to get by. Maybe. I had no real understanding of what I was doing and was extremely thankful when we moved on to fractions, until I realized I didn't know what they were about either. Once I had access to a calculator in middle school and high school, I was able to hold my own.
By Donna Gerardabout a year ago in Education
7 Ways To Sneak In More Steps
10,000 steps isn’t that difficult, yet there are days when my step goal is elusive. I have been proud of myself for getting my steps in halfway through the day, and I have taken “the walk of shame”, striding around the block at 11:00 at night because I’m still 1000+ steps short. Worst of all are the days that I really could have gotten my steps in but didn’t, and for no good reason. We’ve all been there. Whether your goal is 10,000 steps, or 5000, or you walk like you’re training for a marathon (kudos to you!), here are some ways to sneak in extra steps so you’re not walking in place next to the bed for those last 200 steps before turning out the light.
By Donna Gerardabout a year ago in Longevity