Comparisons are deadly. A few months ago, I had a case of viral Crud that kept me feeble for weeks.  I came to work every day with my low grade fever and kept all of the lights off in my classroom to delay the inevitable daily migraine.  When TFA staff came in and made the…

I haven’t brought work home from school during the week for a long time.  Call it Senioritis, call it work place efficiency, call it whatever you want.   Whatever it is, I dragged a lovely and inspiring pile of student work home with me tonight, and settled down to spend 3 hours alternatively snacking and…

I think I am slowly losing cognitive function. This is being written on a clipboard on Day 2 (of 3) of district benchmark testing.  If you don’t know, that means we have to give long, painful, multiple choice tests three times a year that, theoretically, predict performance on the state test. I can think of…

Being a teacher means not ever being Sure. At the beginning of the year, you’re not Sure where your classroom will be, or with what and with whom it will be filled.  If you’re like me and you work in an unaccredited district, you’re not even Sure you’ll have a classroom. Kids ask you questions…

A really long time ago there was this guy named St. Valentine.  He lived in Rome and there was something about weddings.  It’s really interesting, you should learn about it some time. (Yes I just wrote that paragraph.  Yes I spent today in a writing PD.  Yes I should probably be ashamed of myself.  Oops?)…

A friend of mine said recently that she missed my blog, but that she assumed that all was well in my universe if I wasn’t writing much. This is mostly true.  The good news, to all of you first years in the dreaded pre-Valentine’s amp up, is that on this side of year two, things…

Ms. B Room 374 School January 4, 2013 Dear children of Room 374, I am writing this note, in friendly letter format, because after two weeks without my priceless insight, you’re probably in the mood for some light reading. Here are some of the things that I have done since December 21st: Read some books, many…

I have this fantasy that I will unit plan out the rest of the year in the next two hours, leaving time to bond with my family, reconnect with high school friends, fly back to STL, clean my apartment, determine my fate for next year, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc…   That’s a lot…

As a member of the sixth grade team, I have the indubitable privilege of last hour plan periods.  Here are three from this week. One. At the beginning of my plan period, I have the honor of spending the first 10 minutes chasing seventh graders from the hallway into their classrooms.  The only sixth grade…

When I was little, a famous family Thanksgiving at my aunt’s house in Illinois changed the way we talked about gratitude in November.  When we, like dutiful Americans, went around the table to say what we were thankful for, we were banned from the profound or the cliche.  So my mom was thankful for post-its,…