Tag Archives: education

Teach Them How to Think: What Schools Should Really Teach

Posted on August 9, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

If I could add one thing to what schools teach, it wouldn’t be another subject. I’d spend more time teaching students how to think, question evidence, listen carefully and admit when they’re wrong. Continue reading →

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I Don’t Need Every Student to Like Me

Posted on August 6, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

I still care whether my students like me. But after ten years in the classroom, I no longer believe that being a good teacher means making every student happy. Continue reading →

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The Story Between the Lines: The Bronco Who Bucked the World

Posted on June 27, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

They called her “Little Bronco,” and the name fit. She was fierce, frustrated and nearly impossible to reach. But behind the storm was a brilliant mind, a powerful will and a woman the world would come to know by another name. Continue reading →

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When Students See Teachers in the Wild

Posted on June 27, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

As a kid, I believed a lot of ridiculous things — gum stayed in your stomach for seven years, Pop Rocks and Coke could make you explode, and TV commercials told the truth. But one strange assumption stuck with me longer than most: teachers didn’t seem like regular people with regular lives. Continue reading →

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Best Advice: You Play Like You Practice

Posted on June 23, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

The habits we build when we’re young do not usually disappear when life gets more serious. School is preparation for life, and the way we practice now often becomes the way we perform later. Continue reading →

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I Don’t Hate Student Slang. I Hate Whatever “6-7” Is.

Posted on May 22, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

Every generation has its annoying slang, but “6-7” feels different. It is loud, contagious, mostly meaningless by the time it reaches the classroom, and somehow perfectly designed to derail learning five seconds after it begins. Continue reading →

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The One Book I Still Miss Teaching Every Year

Posted on May 16, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

I thought Flowers for Algernon would be an interesting science-fiction story. I didn’t expect it to become one of the books I most looked forward to teaching — or one I would miss so much after I had to stop. Continue reading →

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Apparently, Yesterday Needed a Sequel

Posted on April 25, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

Friday asked for a risk I took and didn’t regret. Saturday asked when I last took a risk and how it worked out. At some point, even the writing prompts start recycling themselves. Continue reading →

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Some Lessons High School Taught Me (A Few of Them the Hard Way)

Posted on April 11, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

High school taught me a lot, and not all of it came from the front of a classroom. Some lessons were obvious only after the fact. For example: if you struggle with Algebra, signing up for Math Analysis is less … Continue reading →

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Teaching in the Digital Age

Posted on March 26, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

Technology has made teaching faster, broader, and in many ways more efficient—but it has also introduced distractions, new demands, and challenges that teachers from earlier generations never had to navigate. Continue reading →

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