Spring Break

As a teacher, spring break is a different beast than it was as a student. I can say I have truly never looked forward to breaks and vacations more ardently than as a teacher. This particular spring break was even more of a god-send than usual. I don't ever seem to stop talking about how…

When education is hard to swallow

There are many times when education is hard to swallow. Look at education "reform" in this country. It's pathetic. But there are a lot more mundane day to day examples too. The truth is that we encounter these little things every day, sometimes so often that we fail to notice them. Sometimes when we do…

Another Day One

Somehow we're about to start a new school year. Again. As in, I'm still teaching. How? Who knows. I thought it would be interesting to take a little stroll down memory lane today and look back on the beginning of each school year I've taught, since they are all documented here. There are also some…

Thoughts on Active Shooter Training

Once upon a time, when I first started teaching, Active Shooter training was different. In fact, my first school didn't have anything of the sort. But once I was teaching public school there was a 15 or so minute video we all had to watch and take some little quiz on, and that was that.…

I’m a little plum…

Today in class we were taking science notes on sound. The portion we are looking at today is about the human voice and vocal cords. The information we were discussing was that part of the reason men tend to have lower pitched voices than women is that their vocal cords tend to be longer.  This…

Amusement

I'm always amused by the things that come out of my students' mouths. Today: Kid 1: "Last night I told my mom about how sound waves have crests and troughs and when there is a high frequency there is a higher pitch. And she said where did you learn that?! and I said at school! and…

November 15th

The other day they were thrilled that I was such a nice teacher who drew them a picture.  I wonder what they'll think tomorrow... I'm ready for vacation. Are you?

A Bit of Perspective

It is not often that I take a step back from being disappointed with my line of work and actually appreciate what it is I'm doing. I should do that more often. But I'm more of a chronic critic than anything, and pointing out the charms doesn't come as naturally as pointing out the flaws.…

Miss R. and the Bionic Eye

I had just taken my students down the hall to the cafeteria and sneaked back into my room. The lights were mostly off so as not to alert anyone to my presence, and I sat behind a file cabinet, finally checking my phone, drinking some water, eating my lunch, and enjoying the comparative silence. Then…

Silence

It makes sense that after talking to eight year olds all day that I wouldn't want to continue vocalizing, come end of day. But what is quite inexplicable is that I cannot find the words that have been squashed back for another time - the words whose time and place is not an elementary classroom…