Teacher Writings

The Best Way I Know to Honor a Teaching Legacy

Nikki Smith, ICTE President
May 5, 2025

“She grades hard, but it’s out of love.” “There is nothing wrong with a “B” in her class.” “She has the best laugh.” This is the advice my seven new students received from students who had known me for a year or more. At that moment, I knew I had made it. I achieved legendary teacher status. Because this is everything I would have said about my favorite high school...

Ten Steps to Having a Great Experience as a Publications Adviser

JoAnn Gage
May 1, 2025

You’ve been hired to advise a high school publication. Now what? Taking over the publication of a school newspaper or yearbook can be a daunting task, especially when you are the only member of the journalism department of your school. Here are some things to consider when facing the challenge: Bargain. Before you accept a position is the best time to bargain for the space, supplies or time...

First Impressions Can Be Painful

Tracy Tensen, Teacher Writer
April 22, 2025

I hadn’t had a student teacher in the last eighteen years. I had a tough experience with one—her end goal was to be a sub and work at McDonald’s. She was falling asleep at school, not working much on lesson plans, had no classroom control, and didn’t learn several kids’ names. I felt awful that I had to let the college know that I believed she should try it again before becoming a teacher....

thoughts and prayers

Rex Muston, Teacher Writer
January 13, 2024

Guilty or Not Guilty: The Case for Impromptu Teaching

Brandon Baggett, Teacher Writer
November 26, 2023

While attending our Fall ICTE conference, my classroom was managed by a well-qualified substitute teacher. Aside from a short phone call on my way to the conference on Thursday, everything was going swimmingly, or so I thought. Monday Morning: I returned to school with the now familiar revitalized vigor of post-conference Monday. Everything seems in order, including the many uncompleted assignments...

Five Paragraph Death Punch, Revisited

Danae Dieken, Teacher Writer
November 17, 2023

She is so disappointed. She is also a bit of a judgey know-it-all. She is me, in my last year of my teaching degree. Her self-congratulatory attitude is in part due to the pride of just writing an essay entitled “Five Paragraph Death Punch” wherein, the five-paragraph essay was word-kicked in its formulaic little baby-teeth using Five Finger Death Punch lyrics. I still love this essay....

Iowa Council of Teachers of English

Iowa Council of Teachers of English

Iowa Council of Teachers of English

Iowa Council of Teachers of English