Sharing my story has been an important part of the videos I make for Primary Focus. Today I am releasing my vlog on my last few weeks teaching.

Merit Pay has been a looming controversy for North Carolina teachers. It's been proposed before, but now state superintendent Catherine Truitt has been pushing this as a way to overhaul the way teachers are paid in North Carolina.

One of the biggest issues families face in homework time is whining. This can turn a simple 10 minute routine into 45 minutes of fighting and 2 excedrin 😤.

It takes a lot of patience to sit next to a child after a long day and encourage them to independently complete something you could do in 30 seconds. I'm going to give you a few simple tips to keep your child on task and model study skills they will need for college and beyond.

When I taught, I personally hated assigning homework, but I can't say all teachers feel the same. In fact, homework is a huge controversy in schools and each one I taught at had a different policy.

Back to school time was a season I was dreading...

Test scores for kids (specifically 9 year olds) dropped to their lowest levels in decades.

I've been having some fun. In July I went to A Zoo 2 You in Monroe, NC to meet their animals.

I published an article! Since I was in grad school it's been a goal to publish an article on education.

Phonics is hard work to teach, but as your child's skills grow, it can actually be really fun.

Teaching a child to spell starts off simple (cat, dog, etc.), but quickly gets challenging

These five little letters a, e, i, o, u may seem straight forward, they often take the longest time to teach and learn.

With a little nudge, any new speller can sound out the word pen ✍️ Elkonin Letter Boxes are a tool used to spell CVC words (consonant vowel consonant). They are a tool used to break down the sounds in a word.

Over the next 5 weeks I'll share a series on phonics- here's the first one. Phonics simply means the method used to teach reading and writing. It's for languages with an alphabet- like English and it's not for the faint of heart.

I resigned: Until recently, I thought I would teach for my entire career. I felt sad and defeated as I packed up my classroom, but I knew "it's about damn time."

As the adults in the room, we are the ones who have to teach kids when to stop trying and accept no for an answer.

During those hot summer days, all your child's progress this year could be drifting away