We give people some incredibly useless advice. Get organized. Speak up for yourself. Take better care of yourself. Set boundaries. Participate more. Be confident. Ask for help. Find a hobby. Okay. How? I have spent most of my career in education, which means I have spent a lot of time around goals, feedback, evaluations, interventions, and people telling other people how they could improve. One of my least favorite experiences was learning that, on most teacher evaluation sys

There are few words in education I trust less than “unmotivated.” Not because unmotivated people don't exist. I have personally avoided folding a basket of laundry for four business days. But after a decade of teaching, I think we use the word much too quickly when we don't understand what is happening yet. I've taught the student with 42 missing assignments. The student who needs to go to the bathroom every time reading starts. The student with three completed assignments cr

The first time I accepted a travel teaching contract, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I knew how to teach. I knew special education. I knew I was burned out. Everything after that was a bit of an experiment. Eventually, that experiment would involve multiple states, a campervan, housesitting in beautiful homes, several teaching licenses, significantly more money than I had ever made as a teacher, and at least one teaching position I called to clarify I was absolute