Using this Site
- “A Day in the Lifeâ€
- Tools for Teachers – Curricula, Lesson Plan Ideas, Resources
- Policy
- Research and/or Articles
- Issue Specific Categories – Discipline, English Language Learners, School Closings, Student Assignment, Testing and Assessment, Unions and/or Union Reform
- Events – TAG Events and/or Events of Interest
- News – Local and/or National
- Uncategorized
“A Day in the Lifeâ€
Part of why TAG Boston (and our website) exists is to allow teachers to tell their stories.  The teaching profession is often (mis)represented in the media, which can cause people to develop unfair and inaccurate perceptions of teachers and the work they do.  We believe that teachers need to have a voice in the decisions that are being made about the future of education. Sharing our stories about teaching can help paint a clearer picture of the challenges facing education; and, we believe, constructively contribute to policy development.  So, use this category to invite the world into your schools and classrooms.  The “Day in the Life” category indicates that you’re sharing a story about a typical (or not so typical) day in your life as a teacher.
Tools for Teachers – Curricula, Lesson Plan Ideas, Resources
“Curricula” is a broad category that should be used when you’re discussing the content of entire courses, as well as issues related to curriculum on a district and state level.  The “Lesson Plan Ideas” category allows teachers to share ideas and get feedback on specific lesson plans. When you want to share information about tools (such as books and videos) and/or other types of resources (e.g. museum exhibits, potential funding sources, etc.) but don’t have an entire lesson plan to share, categorize your post as a “Resource.”
This category is reserved for posts regarding education policy on local, state and national levels.
Research and/or Articles
TAG Boston seeks to connect classroom teachers with cutting-edge scholarly research and articles that can help support teachers and improve the quality of their teaching.  Ideally, posts categorized as “Research and/or Articles” will serve as “grassroots professional development” opportunities of sorts, encouraging critical thinking and discussion about teaching and learning.  An article that explains why we think “teachers teaching teachers” is important is entitled Developing Social Justice Educators by Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade in Educational Leadership Vol. 62 pg. 70-73 (2005).
Issue Specific Categories – Discipline, English Language Learners, School Closings, Student Assignment, Testing and Assessment, Unions and/or Union Reform
When posting about specific issues, you can choose from a variety of categories we’ve identified as common and/or pressing in today’s education policy environment. Â We will continue to add to these categories as necessary, so please feel free to contact us if you have suggestions for new issue categories.
Events
Please categorize your posts as “Events of Interest” when you want to share information about local events for teachers and students, as well as national conferences and other events that may be of interest to social justice educators.  (Feel free to comment on people’s postings, sharing additional resources and your impressions of events you attended.)  The category “TAG Events” should only be used for events sponsored by TAG Boston.
When posting, please use this template (followed by a brief description of the event):
Date:
Event Name:
Sponsor:
Type of Event:
Location:
Time:
Event Website:
The “Local News” category is reserved for posts relevant to education in Massachusetts.  Use “National News” when posting about education/education reform news outside of Massachusetts.
Uncategorized
This is a default, “catch-all” category. Â We suggest that you use it only temporarily if you don’t feel any of the available categories are appropriate. Â In that case, please email us so that we can figure out a way to accurately categorize your post.
