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Ever Growing Educator

If you love teaching, learning new things and bringing creativity and engagement into your classroom, then you're an ever growing educator, too. HI! 👋🏻

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Featured Post

the n on my keyboard is broken

I was trying to go to canva this morning, but it kept going to cava. I realized my N key is slightly pushed out, making it harder to push down. So to get the “n” letter, I had to push much harder. Why is it human nature to only otice when things are wrong? Dennis Prager calls it the “Missing Tile Syndrome.” We don’t notice perfect ceilings, only those which are missing some tiles. And teachers (and principals!) are probably familiar with this too. So many times we get feedback or text...

11 months ago • 1 min read

I get quite a few text messages that aren’t actually for me.Spam texts, wrong numbers, maybe someone trying to reach whoever had my number before me. When my sister texted me “Can you speak to my 160 11th graders about being a counselor like how to speak to kids and all?” I replied: “Was this text for me? 😂 I don’t do public speaking” That text was probably for my aunt, I figured. “Yes!” She said! “Evergrowingeducator! Can you give some education tips?” I laughed. I had started...

about 1 year ago • 3 min read

My paypal was hacked. Someone hacked my account, added a bank account, and set my available balance to go to their bank each day at 1am. (They did it on Dec 24, right before paypal’s support was closed for the day!) Luckily, I saw it in time and paypal was able to help me undo the changes. How did the hacker get in? While I’ll never know for sure, I was using a password that was a “family password” from 20+ years ago. My father warned all of us not to use it (it’s been breached so many times)...

about 1 year ago • 1 min read

Did you get a text from a friend asking you to download the FLIP app? Or many of such texts? Maybe you downloaded it. Maybe you thought it was spam (like I did until my sister sent me pictures of her order.) In short - it’s a social media shopping app. And after hearing about it all week, I finally ordered my first three items tonight. As I pressed ‘add to cart’ I was thinking about how cool it is that flip merged online shopping and social media into one app. Very 21st century like. Last...

over 1 year ago • 1 min read

I remember my first Sukkos as a teacher. I bought sour sticks, lemonheads and mini clear bags. I stayed up waaaaaay too late assembling edible Lulav and Esrog sets. I gave them to my students, stapled to a booklet with 7 thoughts for Sukkos - one to read each night. This was a long time ago. I wouldn’t do this today. (And I’m proud of that! That’s what an evergrowing educator is. Today I would have had the students much more creatively involved, from assembling the candy to sharing their...

over 1 year ago • 1 min read

Last week, I was honored to give a workshop at the MEF Convention. It was about student engagement, so of course, I didn't come and lecture - I engaged with the crowd. We played wordle, caught a beach ball, discussed choice cartoons and had a great time (while experiencing student engagement, of course.) At the end of the session, I gave out a bag of ABC noodles and asked the participants to write a phrase for their takeaway, out of the ABC noodles. We were short on time, so I turned it into...

over 1 year ago • 1 min read

My kids are such millennials. (they’re actually ‘Gen Alpha’ but do people use that term?)Here’s what a child growing up in 2023 sounds like:My elementary daughter woke up from a scary dream and she told me all about it. And then, at the end of the dream, she realized she was watching it through VR goggles. My other daughter (an adorable toddler) saw a bar of soap in a bathtub when we were away. (We only have the liquid soap at home) When she asked me what it was, I said it was soap. She said,...

over 1 year ago • 1 min read

I took a group of college students (my student board) upstate last week. As part of our retreat and team building, we went to an escape room. There were a few levels to choose from - and the students ambitiously chose the more advanced one. Well, spoiler - we did NOT escape the room. Lots of college level math (or maybe those were red herrings?) and clues that we just couldn't figure out. 50 minutes later, and it was the first escape room that I, and some of the other students as well, did...

over 1 year ago • 1 min read

When I started the @Evergrowingeducator account on social media, I was asked:* Can you speak to my group of teachers at a Melave Malka?* Can we do an insta-live together?* Can you speak to a parent about bringing the values you speak about into their home?And I would nicely say, “It’s not my type.” I’m all for supporting teachers - but public speaking and the stage just aren’t really for me. Then I realized - hey, if I’m all about growth mindset, it’s even in my NAME! - how can I say no to...

over 1 year ago • 1 min read

I was going to email about some facebook drama that happened last week. But when I re-read the email, it was too negative for my taste. And no one wants negativity in their inbox. (Sorry if you were expecting that email! I'm sure you'll love this one, too ;) ) On the note of negativity, life isn’t all perfect. We sometimes have to say no or give negative feedback. But did you know there’s actually a formula for giving negative feedback that is super applicable to the classroom? The 80/20...

over 1 year ago • 1 min read