Students need all kinds of teachers.
- The extroverts who bring energy.
- The introverts who lead with quiet thoughtfulness.
- The serious teachers who bring structure and focus.
- The silly teachers that put students in a state of relaxed alertness.
- The spontaneous teachers who model a creative spirit.
- The organized teachers who bring clarity and consistency.
Part of education is learning how to work with, learn from, and relate to people who are different from ourselves.
We have a teacher shortage for a reason: poor behaviors, low pay, and lack of administrative support. It all builds a profession that no one wants to do.
Just because a teacher disagrees with a grading scale or PBIS or restorative justice or unions or the idea that teachers should be martyrs doesn’t mean they don’t want what’s best for kids.
Too many admins and teachers automatically assume bad intentions when someone disagrees.
In many cases, it’s not about helping kids at all. It’s about bullying people into conformity.
Bedtime reading is not a sleep strategy.
It is a ritual that tells a child that stories are how the day ends.
Not screens. Not tests.
A voice and a story.
If you ever read to your children at bedtime, you planted something.
The grandchildren of those children still benefit from it.
That is how a love of reading passes between generations.
As the school year begins to wind down, I just want to say thank you to every teacher out there.
Thank you for the early mornings, the long days, the patience, the encouragement, and the thousands of small moments most people never see.
Thank you for believing in kids when they struggled.Thank you for showing up even on the hard days.Thank you for the difference you made in the lives of children this year.
What you do matters more than you know.
Now as the year comes to a close, take care of yourself too. Rest. Recharge. Breathe. You’ve earned it.
And if no one has told you lately,
Thank you for all you do.
Congratulations to Alumni Hall of Fame member Shaquille O'Neal @shaq on earning his Master of Arts in Liberal Arts from Louisiana State University🎓
A powerful reminder that growth never stops & it’s never too late 💜💛#AmericaNeedsClubKids#BiggestClassofLeaders#LSU#shaq#NBA
This is what transformational programs do.
The moment here was about far more than just a game. It was an expression of belief, confidence, and investment in a young person’s future.
Long after the final score is forgotten, moments like this remain. They shape identity. They build confidence. They remind someone they matter.
Too many programs have lost sight of what this is really about.
@SDCoyotesSB clearly has not.
#BeTheDifference
Somehow, we’ve forgotten a simple truth: the best learning happens in silence.
You can’t read and talk at the same time.
You can’t think clearly with constant distractions.
Every classroom should nurture silence as a habit, not an exception.
Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers.”
Not the warmongers.
Not the authoritarians.
Not those who see their religion as a battle against “the world.”
Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers.”
Wherever peace is chosen instead of violence, there are the children of God.
If you haven’t taught in a classroom post-Covid, you don’t know what it is like to teach the modern student.
The students have changed.
Teaching has changed.
You have to be in the classroom daily to understand what I mean.
A nation that calls itself a “Christian nation” cuts healthcare and food assistance for millions of people yet instantly funds wars without question.
Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, and told Peter to put his sword away.
May we understand the hypocrisy.
Nonteachers will never understand the art, precision, and patience needed to teach a classroom of reluctant writers how to write a coherent and well-structured paragraph.
“Bring a book with you to class, so that you can read it when you finish,” is a nearly extinct practice that has been replaced with, “You can play a game on your Chromebook.”
Matthew 25 tells us that when Jesus returns and judges between the righteous and unrighteous, he doesn't judge them based on their orthodoxy, their patriotism, or their individual definitions of morality.
He judges them based on their compassion towards vulnerable people.