And Forgive Us Our Trespasses

Hubby and I used to have an on-going joke about the Lord’s Prayer. We would snicker and/or poke each other when the debts or trespasses thing went by in the middle. Because we’re very reverent people, clearly. Actually it was because we had two different churchy-upbringings, and we disagreed about whether the line is “forgive us our […]

June

Every day they come in and act like monkies. They smell. Haven’t we had the deodorant talk yet?  They wear inappropriate shoes – we told them to wear sneakers from here on out, darn it! Mostly little girls in pretty sandals. They ignore us and do what they want; talking, goofing around. Then they tattle on each other. They skip out […]

$%@# my students say about cardiomyopathy

So I’ve had the surprisingly enjoyable task of  explaining the whole “Where Was Mrs. D” thing to my students. I basically told them 5 things: 1.  I was really sick and I didn’t know it. Always tell your parents and go to the doctor when you feel like you can’t breathe right. 2. My heart […]

The Arts as an Antidote to Testing

If it’s quiet in here, I’m doing it wrong. I am sitting on the chilly windowsill with my legs dangling, kicking the bookcase below. The sound in my room is such that my clunky boots can’t be heard hitting the shelves right below me. Another teacher walks in – she may have knocked, who knows […]

Under New (Behavior) Management?

So, I let the elder offspring give this letter to her teacher: Parents, teachers, and friends, I need you to tell me what you think of that move. Here’s the background: I have the feeling that my kid has been put in the ‘rough’ class several times now, probably because she can fend for herself academically […]

Leave my 2nd grader alone, Arne Duncan

This quote and stunning portrait of Secretary Duncan popped up on social media last week. It’s from his speech during a 2009 visit to a Brooklyn elementary school. It is, of course, taken out of context here.  But that just means it’ll fit right in with every other quote on the internet, ever. Here’s a post about Mr. […]

7 Tips for Back-To-School Success

We are a two-teacher household, and we do not “work” in the summer. We keep busy with summer rehearsals for school-year ensembles, curriculum writing, prepping classrooms for the next school year, I’m taking courses towards my Master’s, blah blah blah…Oh yeah and we do have the kids. So yes, “It must be nice to have […]