So, having worked for a paltry two weeks at an inner-city charter school, I have found myself reflecting quite a lot about how to best work with these kids. They are, to put it gently, a challenge. I have never seen such open disregard for authority, talking back, willful defiance (mostly on the part of the boys), and attitude (mostly on the part ( Read more... )

My school's head office is sending someone to interview me for our "featured teacher" spot in the monthly newsletter and they sent me the questions in advance. I just spent a good hour typing up my answers, so here they are in what is likely their completly irrelevant glory to anyone who isn't a teacher, posted here mostly for my own perusal when I ( Read more... )

Despite the trying times, I’ve had some really great classes this semester and as the end of it approaches, I figured I’d take some time to document some of the things that kept me going and had had me in stitches.

I took on a GT1 Prep class - kids who came into my class with very little English; just the basic words and a minimum of phonics ( Read more... )

Last Friday was my last class day with Eric; Thompson has now taken the baton. I have a bunch of new kids, many of whom are fantastic ... but none of whom have yet proven themselves as unique as Eric. So, in tribute to my first few months of POLY and the kid who had me in hysterics half the time, I give you the last installment of Ericisms ( Read more... )

Just as there are students whose brilliance I cannot even hope to attribute to my teaching skill and instead I simply enjoy knowing, there are other students who are - to put it lightly - a challenge ( Read more... )

Our semester is quickly coming to an end, so my time with my favorite grammatically gifted narcissist Eric is also dwindling since I probably won't have him in my class next semester. In fact, if there is any justice in the world, he'll go straight to Magnet (which is the advanced school) given that he's practically fluent ( Read more... )

[Absolutely randomly with no provocation.] "I'm a rich kid ( Read more... )

So a conversation that I had with Eric in class on Friday went something like this:

Me: "What can we do in the fall?"
Eric: "We can liquidize vultures!"
Me (chuckling): "No, Eric, we can't do that. What else can we do?"
Eric: "We can liquidize pesky androids!"

God bless that kid and the endless amusement he provides.

Teaching is an education unto itself ( Read more... )

When I was in school I used to occasionally entertain fantasies about being an elementary school teacher (of course, I also used to entertain fantasies about being a trauma surgeon, spy, opera singer, stage actress, ball-busting CEO, environmental crusader, novelist, motivational speaker... the list goes on and on), probably largely because I ( Read more... )