How to Empower Your Students Inspiration by Kelly Curtis - July 28, 2008July 1, 20105 (Guest post by author/educator Kelly Curtis) Sometimes when I speak to fellow educators about youth empowerment, the idea of following student leadership on a project is seen as a complication in an already burdened schedule. In certain situations, this may be true -- and it's a valid concern. But it doesn’t have to be the case. Obviously it depends on the project, and it may not work with much of the standard curriculum. But in my experience – as well as that of educators I interviewed in the course of writing my book -- sometimes the process of empowering young people can make special projects more efficient, more meaningful, and less work for the educator. As a school counselor,
Do I Really Want To Teach? Reader Appreciation by Joel Wagner - March 31, 2008July 2, 20106 I found this article that I wrote back in November but never got around to posting on the blog. Do I really want to teach? In my first two years of teaching, not a week went by when I didn't ask myself that very question. Many people face it every day. Without question, the most popular search terms that brings visitors to my blog are "quit teaching" and "do I want to teach?" I wonder how many Google searches are done each day on the subject. I wonder how many young teachers decide each day that this will be their last semester to teach. It's tragic, really. At the same time, the greater tragedy is the number of people who