Sometimes, I worry that today’s kids are overly connected– staring at their phones, requiring constant entertainment, especially in the city. When I ask my students what they did during the…
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A wise mentor once told me, “Camp counselors need to learn from teachers, and teachers need to learn from camp counselors.” I got what he was saying, but I’m not…
Last Fall, this video, in which Lily Eskelsen Garcia explains ALL that teachers do each day, went viral. … And it’s true! Many teachers are caregivers, primary emotional support providers,…
We’ve all had that student. The one who pushes our extra help away because he doesn’t want his friends to know he struggles. The one who puts down teachers in…
We all have that one student that needs a little bit more love… The one that really pushes our buttons. The one who we think about on evenings and weekends…
“Ms. Hopkins, you know Doctor Who?” Samuel asks me at the end of class about once per week. He always follows this question up with a conversation about a highly specific topic…
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Unified Theater, the program that provided me with my first inclusive experience. In February, Unified Theater hosted #LOVEinclusion month to build excitement around inclusion…
I’m going to be really honest about my feelings about inclusion in reading class this school year… I was really nervous. I wasn’t really sure how to give kids the supports…
I’ve written before about my love for inclusion, and how it all began with a little program in Connecticut called Unified Theater. Since I began my inclusion journey in 2004,…
Last year, my first year teaching, I had a student in my co-taught math class (whom I will call Jack) who was so painfully shy that I felt guilty for…