The origin story
As a recovering control freak working in education
Here's some of the mistakes I made in the beginning (rites of passage, if you will):
- I spent many a night and weekend planning everything down to the minute and being all too hard on myself when lessons didn't go the exact way I planned
- I treated my classroom like the early 2000s gem The Wedding Planner. I was JLo and I catered to my students like 30 bridezillas who absolutely depended on me to make everything easier for them in order for this experience to run without a hitch.
While many fellow teachers would hear this story and lovingly laugh it off as necessary growing pains and “part of the process,” here's what 10 years of experience has taught me:
Those years of burning out, feeling defeated, working myself to the bone they're a result of both me and the generations of educators before me being a product of teacher prep programs that are part of a much larger struggling education system.
So, Deeply Human Teaching can perhaps be called an experiment of sorts
We're rejecting the null hypothesis (STEM teachers, that one's for you) that the best way to teach is when you stand at the podium for 30 out of the 50 minutes and then “gradually release” responsibility.
We're building classrooms that are student-led and inquiry-based.
We're anchoring our units with juicy essential questions that don't have a Blooms Taxonomy word in sight.
Here are the results from my own classroom
- Students rise to the occasion
- Attendance and test scores go up
- Teaching feels more sustainable and joyful
In my classroom
Welcome to the world of Deeply Human Teaching
This is a home base for high school educators who care equally about the big picture of pedagogy AND the small daily moments that can't be measured by a quiz score or a lexile level.
Our alliances are with the students and it's our #1 priority to build learning experiences that shape good thinkers.
Here, you'll find ongoing conversations that have no clear answer, plenty of exceptions to the rule, and a community of educators who are figuring it out and tinkering and rebuilding every single day.
I'm Drea, your new teacher mentor
Previously held titles in education
camp counselor, substitute teacher, teacher mentor, curriculum writer
Self-proclaimed titles I'm really proud of
Conflict Resolution Extraordinaire
One time, my principal actually covered my class for 20 minutes so I could sit with two freshmen girls and help them work through their beef
Student Rapport Specialist
I laid the groundwork so that students actually felt comfortable coming to me when they knew one of their friends was making poor choices (because they wanted to keep their friends out of trouble, not get them in trouble)
Professional Bamboozler
I proudly told my students at the beginning of each term that I was going to bamboozle them into writing essays without them knowing it (and always succeeded at doing so)
Here's some things you'll never hear me say:
“I get paid whether you learn or not”
ew, very cringe, very ick
“The bell doesn't dismiss you, I dismiss you”
it's giving crazy, it's giving out of touch
“Get the hell out of my classroom”
i fear she has lost the plot
Oh wait, I've yapped your ear off about my identity as an educator and almost forgot I'm an actual human
(We tend to do that)
Guilty pleasure
Trash reality televisionVanderpump Rules, Love Island, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (the holy trinity)
In the summer
You can find me in the poolI'm talking for hours. You'll have to pull me out kicking and screaming. And if I'm in a floatie with my Kindle pruning by the second? Just know that I'm exactly where I want to be.
Favorite content
Podcasts + audiobooksI'm an Enneagram 5 girly, and that basically means my mind is always hungry for more lore and more knowledge. On an average week, I'm learning about educational psychology, copywriting, designing learning experiences and whatever Amy Poehler is up to
Weird habit
I can't napI think it's a combination of my world-class sleep training (I go to bed at 11 and wake up at 6:30 365 days a year) and the fact that I'm always plotting my next hyperfixation hobby session, my next book binge, and contemplating the state of the world
Proud member of
Dink Club + Book ClubDual Income No Kids (though I've considered ending my subscription to that club in the near-ish future…) Meanwhile, I'll never end my subscription to club (aka me and my best friends monthly yap sesh obsessing over fake dating and rivals to lovers tropes)
And when you're ready
to dive into the Deeply Human Teaching universe
Read through my blog
I'm on a mission to make my blog the go-to resource for high school educators to find all the teacher secrets they don't teach you in the credential program.
Let's read some blogs →Get my free trainings
I have two free trainings that address the two biggest pain points for high school teachers:
A. How the heck do I run a high school classroom?! I need a classroom management system that works!
Get the 10-minute training on classroom management →B. How the heck do I plan a unit?! Where do I start?!
Get the 10-minute training on planning a really good unit →Get into a workshop
(All about how to write good essential questions and actually use them in your unit)
Check out the Essential Questions workshop →