I liked this suggestion from Tammy Boyle Kearns on the Unshakeable Facebook book group ( Read more... )

I signed up for the facebook book club on Angela Watson's Unshakeable: 20 Ways to Enjoy Teaching Every Day...No Matter What. I'll be gone for most of the time, but really it's more of a way for me to process my own thoughts, since both Watson and most of the people in the book club are elementary teachers ( Read more... )

Yes, my back hurts every time I try to run. Or bend. Or put on clothes. But I still think like a runner. This morning when I woke up at 4:30am again again again, I thought I couldn't do it. I couldn't get up. I couldn't look nice. I couldn't come deal with whiny May teenagers. Could not. I couldn't grade the piles and piles of papers I have ( Read more... )

Today was one of those days. There were plagiarisms to deal with. There's a seating chart that must be redone ASAP. I was so booked solid with meetings and things to do that I didn't eat my lunch. I feel like I could use a pep talk. What evidence is there that I'm making a difference ( Read more... )

Here's one for you ( Read more... )

I had such a cute experience today at school. One of my freshman boys stayed after school to ask me about asking out a girl. I never ever ever would have had that conversation with any one of my teachers. I would have died protecting myself from the awfulness of that situation. He didn't go to his mom or his coach or his male history teacher. (As ( Read more... )

I've made a number of errors in judgement with some grading and passing back papers and posting them, etc. It feels complicated to explain. Last night, when I was trying to read some of my freshman papers on-line, I kept getting messages from juniors who saw their grades without my feedback. Ugh. Horrible me. So today I just got off my chest ( Read more... )

I could use a pep talk. That's not fair. I had two really really great emails from parents today. They were quite gushy, really, about how good they feel about putting their kids in my hands. So, yeah, things are cool there. Well, cool until I pass back the freshman papers with not-so-good grades. I am going to allow them to rewrite, so I ( Read more... )

The last couple of days I've had the sensation that I am living in a dream. Not a fantasy dream-come-true sort of dream. Not a nightmare either. Just the sort of dream I have a lot where it's just life and I'm just living it, and I don't realize how things are until one thing happens six times in a row, or I look down and have a fish tail or ( Read more... )

Yesterday, a friend who has retired from the department I am about to join hosted a party for the department so that they could meet the new teachers and we could meet them. I did meet a lot of people from the department. I think only women were invited. They were all wearing a lot of makeup. I had put on makeup and then, since I haven't worn any ( Read more... )