Last year, I was overwhelmed by the number of kids initially in my room (27) and the number of kids that left and arrived over the course of the year. I’ve already had my first student leave and it breaks my heart. The school was simply too far away for the family. He left unceremoniously…
read more »And we’re officially back in business! Metro Nashville schools welcomed back almost 80,000 students on Thursday for the first day of school (albeit a half one at that). The week leading up to it was a blur of faculty meetings and room preparation, so much so that on Wednesday night I felt that familar “uh…
read more »I think it’s safe to assume that many teachers were like me when I was little. I’d eagerly look forward to the return to school — not just to find out who my teacher was or who would be in my classes, but for the back to school shopping. As the daughter of a teacher,…
read more »It is now the Saturday after my third week of teaching. I just woke up from a 12-hr night of sleep and I had a delicious breakfast of grits, biscuits and gravy, and coffee with ice cream. The Delta U cafeteria is growing on me I meant to update this blog last week when I…
read more »By far one of the biggest differences I’ve encountered this summer is the attitudes of my 7th and 8th graders, compared to the mindsets of the kindergarten students I had been around for the past 9 months. I realize I’ve been spoiled by the eagerness of little minds who are at just the beginning of…
read more »On the first day of institute in MIssissippi, a wise CMA (Corps member adviser) told me, “Institute is like standing under a waterfall with a dixie cup.” After 2 weeks, I can admit that’s the perfect analogy for how this place works. The first week of institute was intense in the sense that we were…
read more »Three weeks ago, my mom and I drove from Pittsburgh to Nashville with my life packed in my car. We explored the city the day before Induction and checked out the Parthenon, Broadway, Vanderbilt, Lipscomb, and the schools where I was scheduled to interview the next day. My first impression of Nashville was, “It’s hot…
read more »Although it’s taken several weeks, I’m finally relaxed enough to enjoy my summer. After the school year ended, I was still having dreams about not having my copies done and feeling unprepared. While I’ve had other vacations, this is the first time I don’t have to worry about my plans and my students — the…
read more »I’m a teacher! Kind of. (P.S. Momma: thank you for making me keep this bag. I don’t care how non-courtroom it is. At 5:15 in the morning, it makes me happy.) The problem with this is: I just ran my kids diagnostic data into the system tracker today to find out their summer growth goals.…
read more »It’s week two of summer school, and the days left to standards needing to be taught ratio weighs on me like the oversized shoulder bag of resources I carry to class each morning. I’ve said it before, but even after just a week the two dozen middle school students have already taught me so much…
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