9/17/12 I normally decorate my powerpoints with some type of adjective to supplement the date. This would be mine at this moment in time. It started off rainy. and wet. Lucky for me, I enjoy the rain, to an extent. Class was fine, but then many children skimped on their homework. Page after page…
read more »This weekend, I came across a really interesting (and relatable) article that the New York Times ran earlier this year. You can check out the piece for yourself, but it highlights students who cross the border each morning to attend school in the U.S. Many of the students profiled are U.S. citizens; some are not.…
read more »9/14/12 Today we had our 7th grade service project. I was nervous b/c I had planned a group to go to two nursing homes, and if something went wrong, it was definitely falling on me. To my utter delight, however, after awkward beginnings, the students, 90% at least, loved it and were fantastic. As we…
read more »9/13/12 It’s always a marvel to my students when they find out I speak Spanish. Which, to be fair, I’m about as stereotypical nerdy white girl as you can get. But still, we’re in an age where we’re moving (read: other countries have already moved) to bilingualism. Anywho, hilariousness tonight. As I called parents…
read more »9/11/12 1) Parent calls are still some of my favorites. Today’s call was about a student who started to slip this week. His mom, before I even finished the sentence, was saying – got it, I will speak with him, this will be fixed. BTW – 4 out of 5 calls today were in…
read more »I have had pretty much the most amazing start to this year. Last year at this point, I didn’t know how to call parents since pretty much none of them spoke English, I had a set of inconsistent consequences that was getting exhausted pretty much every day, I had sent at least one kid to…
read more »9/5/12 Wednesday Wonders: This was Tuesday, but many, many parent calls made, and my heart was so happy. I love telling parents how awesome their students are …especially when the conversation is in Spanish. I don’t know if my skills have improved w/listening to the Spanish radios stations for about an hour every day or Houston…
read more »8/30/12 …wonderful by virtue of its proximity to Friday. Life is good, feeling out the students, and trying to get on the good side of the ones I know could pose problems later. It’s always interesting to me how much we have to pander to students, but at the same time, it is lamentable how…
read more »8/27/12 …occur when that Monday is a training day! While across the state, students and teachers alike were entering classes for the first time, I was actually bunkered down with the other ELA teachers across our district, planning out curriculum. It was a really great use of time, and it got me even more…
read more »With school starting in just a few days, it’s interesting how different my classroom planning has been this year compared to the last. Last year, I remember arriving in a room full of materials that weren’t mine and I felt obligated to use. I also remember arriving in that room without a paycheck in the…
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