The first year of teaching is easy! **SAID NO TEACHER EVER** I started out as an Early Childhood Education major. After the first year, I had a hard time with some relationships in my personal life. I did some soul searching and like many, questioned my degree choice. After graduating with a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies, with a minor in Psychology, I thought I'd take to the business world.

I never imagined that I would be trying to teach English and Writing through the computer to 5 classes of kids, every day.

Have you ever wished? You could spy the mind of teachers! And figure out what drives them to join the profession. A survey conducted by James Anthony in June 2019, reports. That out of 12,127 teachers, 65% of them responding identified signs they were burning out in their jobs. 85% of them were diagnosed as working with significantly increased risks to their health as a result.

I used to be a lazy kid. I hated the morning showers and morning assembly! How I used to wish that school could come to me and not the other way around!

Every good story begins “Once upon a time…” This is the greatest story ever told. This is the story of us – of humanity. There will be no discussion of creation or evolution. That is a different discussion for a different day. This is one of the lies my teacher told me.

What is it like teaching during Coronavirus? I've heard this question from many people who find out I'm still a public school teacher in spite of the gag-worthy term of "new normal."

“To teach is to touch a life forever.” I still remember my teacher from 5th grade. She used to handle science for us. All the students used to eagerly wait for her classes because she taught from her heart. Of course, we didn’t know this back then because we were just kids. She made science fun. She would always have either a plant, flower, or some sort of models with her and she enacted things. It did not feel like we were forced to learn. Learning was more like a result of the stories that she told us and the activities that she made us do. I am thorough with the “states of matter” lesson because of the way it was taught. I am sure you would also have a teacher that touched you and went beyond textbooks to teach you.

As a Social Studies teacher, and enthusiast, "Why do I have to learn about some dead person," and, "History is so boring... memorizing all those dates and stuff..." are common complaints- And hey! I get it. But there is much more to learning about the past than that. You don't need to be a historian or a fan of history to find value in what it can add to your life. Here are some (possibly) unexpected reasons how history can help you.

This is a thought based essay from a pondered moment about how to teach art students virtually. Often as a teacher, I reflect back on how I was taught in the classroom and the ways I was allowed to experiment and create new ideas. I find now that looking at the way students are taught today in the light of new restrictions with education many are struggling within their classes. This truly presents a problem for both parents, administrators, and teachers to make sure students are allowed to grow and develop as learners. One mixed concept that I have hybridized between 2 styles seems to be able to work, e.g. the concept of Scaffolding Assignments and the concept of TAB. Scaffolding assignments is something that many educators utilize within the face to face environment, but surprisingly after many hours writing lesson plans I found that scaffolding assignments online expands the students learning beyond what we are able to be giving them via zoom sessions. By allowing them to understand small chunks of information over a period of time they can grow and grasp larger assignments in turn. For instance I recently taught my students the power that black and white photography has in storytelling and capturing events. To help them first understand Value, I had them go online and pick out a black and white image online. They needed then to analyze and pick out certain black, whites, and greys and translate that into 5 different rectangles of similar color. I believe this allowed or taught students to look at the world around them in a new light. This thusly was reinstated in their next project in which students were required to go capture a black and white image and write a story about it. This scaffolding activity did more for students I found than what would need to occur over zooms sessions. This I think relates to being able to allow students to learn as independent learners. TAB is another concept that can be utilized in light of trying to educate our students in art. Teaching Artistic Behavior is a concept that deals with giving choice to students ,but at the same time fostering the kind of thinking that requires students to think like artists, and not only learn the artistic techniques. These truly help students grow as learners, but allows them to draw new conclusions about the art they are making. This has also allowed us as teachers to see how students grow and learn within the virtual art classroom. Overall, as art educators we have many tools at our disposal, but really learning how to use them is the key to teaching and letting students grow. Students need to grow at their own pace during this day and age, and more specifically thinking about how students learn is a key concept that all educators have on hand will hopefully allow education to remain as impactful for them as it was for us.

Classrooms are ever-evolving. As time and innovation gradually changes the manner in which the present students learn and adjust to new ideas, the best instructors are the ones who think outside the normal case.

One of the greatest things about education is that the learning process is never over, because there is always something to learn and new ways to do it. It isn't limited to only school or college-aged students. No matter what your age, your place in life or how many years of education you have there is something for everyone. For educators, this rings especially true. In the world of education, change is constant and it's absolutely necessary to keep up. This not only ensures that you stay relevant as an educator, but that you're able to deliver a quality education to your students as well. With so much of today's educational programming taking place online, learning and growing is more convenient and flexible than ever. Here are three ways to work with all that's available, while also strengthening both your skills as an educator and the bond you have with your students.

This is new to me and with everything going on in this world it just made it harder to do the simple things. I couldn't even do my job the way that I am used to. I teach children with autism and it's not easy doing this job with my students because I can't be there to actually help them. Doing this through a computer is not the way to teach them. They need one on one/ face to face interactions. Yes, I can see them and talk to them through the computer....but it's not the same thing. They are in their own environment and they have so man distractions in their own home. They also do not always have the most involved parents while they are doing online learning. So, this makes helping them with their work....just a little ore challenging.