

Motivating Your Class (and Yourself) During the Holidays
Ah Christmas... that wonderful, magical, and somewhat crazy time of year. Our mailboxes are stuffed to the brim with Christmas offers and donation requests from charities. TV ads are blaring everywhere with thousands of “must-have” products, all the while reminding us of the dwindling number of days until Christmas. It’s a time of abundance and need, family and loneliness, magic and mayhem. With all the noise, excitement, and chaos, is it any wonder that both in and out of

The Efficient Educator
I admit it. I’m a workaholic. I actually enjoy spending hours upon hours planning lessons and perfecting them. When I first started teaching, I did just that (often to the detriment of my personal life.) I can’t even count how often I missed out on social and family events because I was knee-deep in grading or materials creation. Within a few years, I began to realize that my excessive hours at work were starting to wear on those around me and on me as well. Things came to