See Me After Class by Roxanna Elden

Mr. Teachbad is hilarious, and he’s frustrated about the same things you are. He has a talent for writing exactly what you need to hear after a bad day, and though he’s tight-lipped about his identity and location, don’t be surprised if you feel like he works in your district. Read the rest of this entry »

Click here to watch a YouTube clip of the poem All of the Above. The poem is in the book, and also available for download from the link below.
Frustrated Teacher Poem: "All of the Above" (222)

Click here to watch my most hate-mail-generating YouTube clip ever. (To be fair, it seems like most of the angry comments are from people who were trying to look up Freedom Writers and got my video instead.)

You know this. Your principal knows this. Even the teacher next door who claims that she *always* teaches like she’s being observed knows this. Click here to see watch some tips on this subject from a recent speech.

Before you started teaching you never imagined this subject would consume so much of your energy, but here we are. Click here to see some tips on handling bathroom passes from a recent speech. Come on! It’s an EMERGENCY!

Click here to see the video on YouTube.

This poem is from the end of the book See Me After Class, and it’s written especially for new teachers. Click here to watch Make Me or Break Me on YouTube. You can also download and print the poem from the link below:
Poem: "Make Me or Break Me" (195)

In this guest post for Rick Hess Straight Up, I mentioned a teacher who created extra materials for a district-mandated “best practice” in which students write their own test questions based on fill-in-the-blank “question task cards.” You may have correctly guessed that I was the teacher involved. (Perhaps the slightly bitter tone gave it away?) Below are the materials. Read the rest of this entry »