In over twenty years in education, I’ve seen the impact of good teaching, not only in those exhilarating “light bulb” moments in the classroom, but also in the long term. As a tenth grade teacher, I have the benefit of watching students progress through the upper grades; additionally, it is not unusual for students to…

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Last week, I was selected to represent the teachers of Pennsylvania as the 2019 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year. I am incredibly honored and grateful for this commission. I am especially grateful to have gotten to know the other finalists, who are gifted, devoted educators: Spring Grove Area School District’s Brian Hastings; Bethlehem Area School…

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Over the weekend, I had the honor of delivering the Faculty Member speech at the graduation of Abington Heights High School. Here is that speech. Welcome parents, family, and friends, and Congratulations to the Class of 2018. You are a class of many achievements, great and small—in academics, in sports, in music, in art, in…

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Last year I decided to dedicate the first 10 minutes of every class to silent, free-choice, book club reading. I had already been doing book clubs in my classes (all tenth grade) the past couple years, for which students could choose any book and any group of 2-8 people from any of my sections. But…

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Each year, I use one of our stories in class as springboard for the following question: Does happiness come from the inside or the outside? Is it determined by “outer” events in one’s life, or does it come from inside oneself, regardless of outside circumstances or events? Or is it a combination of both? Students…

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