Jim Mayers

so we’re just gonna violate FERPA and violate student & family privacy rights because we have a fancy word calculator now?

I just said “alexa turn off the tv” except i’m in my classroom and was talking about the projector

I want to set up some kind of class blog for students to publish and share their writing next year with each other. I haven’t done this in a while, and don’t love the idea of managing things like substack accounts. Any class blog platform recs? Something clean, efficient, and (ideally) free.

if we really cared about learning & valuing teachers, these standardized tests would be administered in the fall, and teachers would be provided comprehensive data reports to help them design targeted instruction throughout the year

once standardized tests move to AI grading—as I think they inevitably will—those same companies monetizing them should be compelled to offer free, real-time AI feedback throughout the entire school year on the same model that will score student responses on the high stakes exam

Brooke High in Boston

tbh I’m also doing lots of independent final work hah

Imagine teaching research methods to 11th graders right after Jaylen Brown drops by your school for a surprise visit bc that’s what I’m doing rn

I bought a 2025 Honda CR-V in July 2024. I am sad about the fate of the republic but at least my car will actually increase in value by the time it’s paid off.

I teach AP Lang, and at its core the class is about the art of persuasion. I think I’m pretty good at persuasion.

Something important about many of the protest signs from this weekend is that they are very, very funny.

Humor is incredibly powerful against cowardice, and all bullies are cowards.

last recession I applied to TFA because there weren’t any other jobs & that worked out okay honestly

idk who needs to hear this but “attention grabbing” is a very important skill these days and maybe we can learn a lesson

1-4-1

discussing today’s prank fallout with the OG teacher chat

the “above and beyond” rhetoric around teachers is toxic and perpetuates burnout.

celebrating sustainable systems that allow students to thrive in safe, predictable, affirming classrooms is more important than individualized after-school tutoring.

If we cared about kids learning instead of blaming teachers, standardized tests would be administered in the fall with an 8 week data turnaround to teachers as a year-long instructional tool.

Imagine how quickly schools would collaborate and improve.

teacher appreciation week is May 5-9 this year and we should be in the streets

Chanea 👑👑👑👑

I now have dozens of emails like this at the end of every unit:

Not only has this basically eliminated any family complaints about grades or missing assignments, but it’s a critical way for families to be looped in when they can’t make it to conference night. And tons of parents have emailed directly to thank me for making their kid write the email.

On Twitter a while back you posted about having students email families about their grades. I tried it out, and have been literally radicalized by it. So many amazing reflections, vulnerabilities, and honest growth from teenagers have come from this in ways that surprise me every time.

It sounds almost cheap to say at this point, but dismantling the Department of Education—and I assume the money it provides for school—is a pointed, intentional, malicious attack on the people this administration hates almost as much as they hate immigrants:

Anyone who isn’t rich.

Federal education money in these towns is literally keeping communities from consolidating or collapsing altogether. Where people have homes, school dances, and Friday night football.

Kids in Appalachia and the Delta don’t have access to this same type of infrastructure. For lots of rural kids and families, the public school system is the only reliable place with essential services like breakfast and lunch programs, and oh yeah, VOTING.

Schools in big cities, like the one I work in now, have their own issues for sure. But one thing my current students have that my former students don’t is access to infrastructure: transit, clubs, after-school facilities, and healthy organizations independent from the school.

I will always be immensely proud of the work I did in the Arkansas & Mississippi Delta. My former school, and many others like it in the region, the local high school is the life blood of the town.

Saying federal money “only accounts” for 10% of school budgets is a national average.

In rural, low-income, mostly red districts, that can be up to 25% of a small district’s budget. A death blow to one of the only critical community institutions & largest employer in many small towns.

start with the premise that if AI can do it, it’s not that important to begin with

just learned about @5calls.org today. if you’re like me & don’t know what it is, it’s an org that provides call scripts for progressive messaging to target the right representatives & elected officials.

calling your reps is still the most powerful way to influence policy & people in a democracy.

Until you start funding progressive candidates for mid term elections, you’re still directly part of the problem. Yelling at dems to waste their time on legislation we all know will never pass is just meaningless clickbait and virtue signaling.