In our district we have witnessed how teacher morale can be impacted by high stakes testing, district mandates, increased teacher professional requirements, and lack of funding for public schools. Not to mention, increased class sizes and lack of special education funding as well. But day in and day out educators show up for their students. They still want to be the best they can be in the face of all these issues that make teaching more difficult. We want to offer some tips on what educators can do in their buildings to change morale and bring back some joy on a daily basis. Below we have listed 10 ways to help increase teacher morale in your building. We hope you begin to implement some of these to bring some joy back into your building. Music Who doesn't love a little music to sing or even dance to? If you have a PA system think about pumping some upbeat music at the end of the week on Friday into the hallways and classrooms, or even make it a part of every morning as th......

Inspirational quotes are, well, inspirational! We teachers love displaying our favorite quotes in our classrooms. A good quote packs a big punch of meaning in a nice little (hangable) package. Using quotes is also a great way to get students thinking critically, and there's a lot we can do with one of these bite-size pieces of text, like: Vocabulary (What words within the quote should we look at more closely to understand the quote?) Literal Meaning (What's the author of the quote saying?) Deeper Meaning (What's the author really trying to say? Is there symbolism? metaphor? analogy?) Language (Does the author use word play? Is there an certain economy of words that adds clarity to the quote?) Context (What are the circumstances surrounding the time in which the quote was said? What is the historical background? What is the author of the quote famous for?) Transcendence (To whom does the quote apply? Does it transcend age? gender? culture? time period?) ......