Outside the Classroom is a series of interviews with professionals who work in education settings. From social work to occupational therapy, library science to administration, many jobs become a whole new ball game when students and academics are involved. Here are a few of our burning questions for the professionals that classroom teachers find themselves working alongside, and their advice for those who’d like to join them.

The teaching profession has taken some hits over the last few years. Common Core, Big Data and High Stakes Tests are all hot-button topics that elicit emotional responses from people. Decorated teachers are penning public letters about why they are choosing to leave the profession after 20 plus years of service. The pay has never been great. And of course all of society’s ills seem to be the fault of classroom teachers.

So why on earth would someone want to become a teacher?

Woohoo! Summer is here. Well, for the moment it seems. Many of you will be delighted to take a break from teaching, however, for those saving for something special, or just at a loose end, summer can be a great time to earn a bit more cash.

Here are my top eight tips on how to earn extra money over the summer.

Getting students to think for themselves, base their ideas on evidence, and question what they are reading—if I can accomplish this, I’ll be content.  And the way that I do this is by teaching close reading.

But what do I mean when I say close reading?

Learning doesn’t end in the classroom, yet most parents are at a loss when it comes to supporting their children’s intellectual development. Many try to do too well and hover around them when they do homework, which can stifle creativity and self-development. Others let them roam free and hardly monitor their progress.

Yet, studies are unanimous: children are more successful at school when parents are involved. Better yet, teachers, too, are positively affected when parents take interest.

That’s because involved parents promote positive classroom behavior, make sure children do their homework, help them be more organized, enforce disciplinary measures, and validate their effort.

Learning Management Systems have grown significantly in both power and effectiveness since the first computer-based "e-learning" systems were developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The current market is divided into a number of different categories of systems all designed for distinct segments of the educational process. The Learning Management System or LMS is aimed at promoting a framework in which the entire educational cycle can be presented and managed.

At its heart, an LMS is a delivery mechanism as opposed to an authoring platform or research tool. This is not to say some LMS platforms allow course construction. Rather it clarifies the focus of the toolset. For example, the purpose of an LMS like Brightspace, is to not only deliver educational coursework, exams an…