Last night my teacher friend Miss B convinced me to go to dinner with her teacher boyfriend and then to the movies. I didn’t really think about how I was the 3rd wheel until this morning, while typing this… anyway. Usually I am too exhausted on Friday nights to do anything social; but somehow a…

I have two classes of kids who failed Math 2 last semester. There are a few kids who failed because of their attitudes and refusal to turn in homework, maybe attendance issues. But the vast majority of these students failed math because they genuinely struggle with math. They lack so much of the basics, they…

There are loads of things I could come up with to complain about the pubic school system, but the one thing that infuriates me beyond words is the lack of working copying machines at my school! We have two, one nice one and one old one. I worked at a law firm for three years…

Sweet little G. comes to my room (almost) every day after school. If not, he will come before school or during his lunch. He can’t seem to understand what the heck I am talking about during class, but seems to get a pretty good grasp on things when explained to him one on one. Because…

Second semester is going by as quick as I could have ever hoped.  I was heart broken when I realized that I had all new kids, because I somehow convinced myself that I would never have students that I loved as much as I did last semester. Now, I have two repeater classes of kids…

Since the Christmas break I’ve revamped a number of things in my classroom, and transitions are tighter, expectations are higher, and work is more challenging than ever. I refuse to clean up or push in chairs after my kids, and the worst punishment I give is a student has to stand in front of the…

On the last day before winter break, I printed out little cards for all of my students with a note that said something along the lines of: “Dear so-and-so, I hope you and your family have a joyful and restful winter break!” and I attached a candy cane to each card. All of my students…

I feel really proud that my kids have internalized what it means to be a Star Scholar, and they actually want to do their homework! I also really love that I have good relationships with all my kids… management is so much more effective when the kids know I love them and think they’re smart.…

So I know I’ve been just about the worst blogger ever since things have gotten crazy busy at school, but now I vow to reflect more regularly through blogging. Since the last time I posted I was switched with the pre-k teacher; yup, now i teach 4 year-olds. Apparently the other teachers was “too stern” with…