Author: Andy Allan

When I was growing up, “Video in the Classroom” meant one of two things – a filmstrip or an educational film on the film projector. Anyone near my age remembers being put in charge of the filmstrip projector and advancing it on the “beep”. Every room in elementary school had students trained as “AV Monitors” […]

Every profession develops its own vocabulary, and new teachers quickly come to realize that education is no exception. I can remember even during my education classes at UCSB that there were several student teachers who delighted in this educational jargon. One student teacher in particular seemed incapable of completing a thought without trying to impress […]

The Reality In a perfect world, all teachers would have the budget that is necessary to purchase ALL of the supplies that are needed for the day-to-day function of the classroom. Most teachers quickly realize that budgets only stretch so far, and that some of those supplies come out of pocket. For the record, the […]

A very insightful friend of mine once said to me, “Andy, bad teachers never burn out.” The great paradox of teaching (and other service professions) is that the practitioners will often give so much of themselves that they reach a point where they have nothing left to give. On many occasions, I’ve felt like the […]

About four or five years ago, each department at my school was asked to set goals for the new school year. One of the commitments that we were asked to make was to come up with ways that we could make the campus safer and friendlier for students. The commitment that the science department members […]

Something very unusual happened to me yesterday. I was teaching chemistry in my second period class when an office aide brought a package into my room and handed it to me. My first response was, “I haven’t ordered anything.” She responded that the package was addressed to me. When I looked at the address, it […]

Change is a part of life, but it has not always been central to education. When I began teaching, there were some peers whose lesson plans and notes seemed to have been written on parchment. They hadn’t been changed in many, many years (if ever). And, there was no compelling reason for them to change. […]

When I was doing my student teaching in Santa Barbara many years ago, the adviser to the science teachers in the program arranged periodically for us to meet after the school day with respected members of the teaching community. One of those meetings, at Santa Barbara High School, was with a veteran teacher whose name […]

Background I’ve decided to do some writing on teaching. Over the years, I’ve been the benefactor of some great advice and some superior role models in this profession. At this point in my career, it seems important to me to share some of what I’ve learned. Even if this is not read by anyone, the […]