Elisa Waingort

Sometimes having too many choices can be daunting. Whether we’re talking about brands of cereals or classroom instructional strategies or about which educator is the latest one to follow, too many choices is not necessarily helpful. Sometimes less is more. Yet, social media has created a thirst for quantity and a dearth of quality. I’ve Read more

I am a white woman. I also identify as Latinx. Growing up I din’t think of myself as white because my family was culturally different from all the white people around me. We were Cuban. We spoke Spanish and our cultural beliefs were different. Our superstitions were also different or, should I say that we Read more

I’ve been neglecting my blog. No matter how many reminders I set. It hasn’t made a difference. No matter how many notifications ping on my phone telling me it’s time to write a blog post. It hasn’t helped. Then, I decided to try a life coach. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Read more

I’m tired. I’m tired of fighting for the same things in education. Over and over again. I’m tired because nothing seems to change. Things only seem to get worse. Teaching is not the same profession today that it was when I was a brand new teacher. Then, I was eager to learn. I sought out Read more

Free writing. Journal writing. I’ve shunned this in the past thinking that it was a go-to for teachers wanting to include writing in their classrooms without actually having to teach writing. But it turns out I call it silent writing and it’s basically the same thing. My students and I write for 5 minutes at Read more

Who’s tired of hearing about the Science of Reading (SoR) advocates and their accusations that teachers don’t teach phonics and that’s why kids aren’t reading at “grade level”, whatever that means? I know I am. And, here I thought that the irrelevant ranking of kids reading at a 3.7 grade level was a thing of Read more

I’m sick. Again. But this time I’m trying hard not to crawl into a “crud hole”, as my children like to call it. But I’m restless. I’m aware of a rising sense of anxiety or nervousness: what am I going to do so that the politics of work don’t get to me. I do that Read more

Over the last couple of years I’ve been reflecting on the quality of the relationships I have with particularly challenging children. I think I haven’t been true to my core as a teacher. I have forgotten to emphasize the importance of connections with students, especially those that are hard to teach and reach. I have Read more