Besides professional sports, I can think of no other profession that receives more unsolicited advice than the teaching profession. The uninformed teacher basher is surely cut from the same cloth as the Monday morning quarterback. I have a confession to make. I used to be one of them. FROM THE TOP When I…

As a practicing Christian, my family is a member of a congregation that belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). Over the years, I have made some humorous observations that — if you’re a Lutheran — you’ll understand. Color-coordinating clothes with the season If your church wardrobe includes white for Christmas, green for…

Recently, the media have been talking a lot about student loan debt. NBC even reported on a man in Houston who was arrested for a $1500 past due student loan that had grown to $5700 with accrued interest. Maybe it was excessive for U.S. …

Jim Rohn once said that Mr. Shoaff told him to work harder on himself than he did on his job, and that changed everything for him. For students, school is your job. You are not getting paid in currency. …

As a high school math teacher, I often hear this lament from my students: “When will I ever need to use this?” That’s a fair question. Here are a few compelling reasons I share with my students. See if it works with yours. …

Eat your vegetables! — I heard a TV personality recently say that he never ate vegetables. Why? I guess he got a kick out of defying conventional wisdom. Everyone with a pulse knows that vegetables are good for us. They delay the aging process, fight free radical damage, and so on. …

I know what you’re talking about. Life can be messy. I think you’re saying what a lot of folks are thinking.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there. Without this holiday, many of us would never wear new socks! All joking aside, dad’s across America love any gift from socks to ball caps or no gift at all. Being your dad is the gift. So if you’re stressing out…

Running a spin-free classroom is not always easy. I respect students enough not to blow smoke up their butts, but in their relentless pursuit of good grades, many see some of my policies as roadblocks to achievement. But achievement is not synonymous with activity. And that is why I do…