4 Digital Safeguards For Modern Teachers

I started my teaching career in 2002. Our world and the digital landscape have changed dramatically since then. Navigating this new landscape can be challenging for teachers who want to engage students with the latest technology, but also protect themselves from some of the pitfalls that this always-connected world brings with it. Here are four … Read more

10 Mistakes New Teachers Make (And How To Avoid Them)

If you’re anything like me, you gained a great deal of academic knowledge about your content area in college and very little actual knowledge about getting students to stay quiet long enough to learn from your abundant knowledge base. Over the years, I have observed young teachers enter the profession and make many of the same mistakes. I have … Read more

5 Steps That Took Me From “I Hate Teaching” To “I Love Teaching”

See if you can relate “I regret choosing this profession! I wish I was still back in college! I just want to go live at home and never have to work again! Oh wait, teaching provides insurance benefits, so I guess I’ll just stick it out.” Ever been there? It doesn’t have to be that way. This can all … Read more

Work from Anywhere, And Touch Other Lives by Teaching English Online

People get into teaching for a variety of reasons, but two of the biggest are the ability it gives you to personally connect with students and continue learning and growing yourself. At first glance, becoming an online ESL teacher might seem like an odd way to do this. How can you connect with people when … Read more

What To Do When You Hate Teaching

Disillusionment is common to most of us involved in the teaching profession. We all deal with it at one point or another. But what do you do when you hate teaching? From dream to reality Here’s the general path many of us take: You major in education because you want to change the world You … Read more

10 Years of Teaching: How Do I Keep My Students Engaged?

Five years ago, I wrote a series of seven articles called “Questions That Will Save Your Career” that still remain among the most visited articles on this site. When I wrote those, I had successfully completed my 5th year in education. This summer, after 10 years, I am revisiting some of these older concepts. Today, … Read more

10 Design Changes I Did To My WordPress Blog This Month

If you haven’t stopped by the actual website for So You Want To Teach? in a few months, er weeks, er days, er hours, you may not recognize it. I have used my summertime to really put in some solid effort into adjusting the layout of the blog. I haven’t done a full-on redesign since March … Read more

Three Years of So You Want To Teach?

I am leaving tomorrow after school to go to the annual Texas Music Educators Association clinic/convention in San Antonio. I’m not taking my laptop with me and won’t be accessing a computer besides my iPhone, so I will be away from blogging for the rest of the week. I don’t want to spend a long … Read more

Thank You For A Great Year!

Over 10,000 of the visits to SYWTT this year came from nine sources. The top three alone actually sent me over 6,200 visitors. This is incredible, and I need to thank all of you for the help you’ve provided me. Top referring blogsThese are the blogs that have sent the most visitors my way in … Read more

The Best of SYWTT 2009

Over the past (almost) three years of blogging, I have learned a lot more about myself, teaching, blogging, WordPress, CSS, HTML, and social media than I ever really thought I would. Most of it has been good, or at least fun. Some of it hasn’t been all that great, but I keep on keeping on. … Read more