We hope that you missed us, because we are back for a new school year and some big adventures. But this year isn’t about doing things like we always have. It is time to change it up. Read on to find out how we plan to do that.
Read MoreCheck back here for twice-monthly updates from AEC! We will provide you with content about current events, tips and resources, and new strategies to try in your districts, schools, and classrooms. To view ongoing and past blog series, click on the links below.
After concluding a school year that seemed like it might never end, we are taking a hiatus from the blog for a few weeks. We’ll spend the time brainstorming and planning for the year to come—and planning some new blog series and authors for you!
Read MoreEducation is rife with racial and gender inequities, and the intersection of those two can often feel overwhelming. However, we sometimes get some news that seems uncharacteristically positive. This week, we got some of those headlines. Secretary of Education Cardona is about to have a busy month—he will begin rollbacks of DeVos policies and institute more protections for lots of students. This week, we break down a few components of the Cardona agenda: good, questionable, and unclear.
Read MoreI’m going to be honest, when I started thinking about ways to talk to teachers about self-care, my first thought was “stop.” Stop talking to teachers about self-care, especially in May. I can feel my school’s social emotional learning (SEL) committee and my colleagues who put affirmations in the bathroom disagreeing with me already. But hear me out here before you decide that I’m wrong.
Read MoreRecently, there was an Opinion piece in the New York Times in which a former employee talked about how the creation of a “family” culture in her job at Google made her feel like it was unsafe and unwise to report issues of harassment. This got me thinking a lot about the number of times that so many teachers this year have been exhorted to think of their schools like their family and to “do it for the kids.” Y’all, we’ve got to talk about why this metaphor is dysfunctional in schools and why continuing to use it leads to lots of terrible behaviors, including shaming, intimidation, and the creation of a culture of toxic positivity.
Read MoreIn my short time as a professor, I have reviewed hundreds of applications for doctoral programs or for faculty positions at my institutions. Women and men tend to talk about themselves in different ways. Referents—the people who write letters of recommendation—also tend to write about women differently than they write about men. The more I’ve considered this pattern, the more I’ve thought that the application process is an opportunity for women to advocate for themselves. Personal statements are your introduction to a program or position—you get to tell a story about why you’re qualified for that position. Letters of recommendation, similarly, articulate your match to a specific position or program.
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