Since I joined TFA, I’m guessing most of my friends and family members have become well acquainted with my typical answers to the questions, “So, how are things going?” or “How’s your class doing this week?”  I’ve become pretty used to giving those answers, too.  It’s funny (but actually kinda sad) how accustomed you can…

Best question I’ve ever asked on a test:  Of all the civilizations we’ve learned about so far this year, which would you most want to have lived in, and why? I. picked Egypt:  ”They have some jars for the mummification. For guts to put in.” A. chose hominids (early humans) although she doesn’t “want to…

Almost all of my kids are obsessed with soccer and completely worship the school’s soccer coach.  Although our school doesn’t have sports teams, about half of the kids are allowed to have soccer practice during the school day instead of regular gym class.  They also play in a local league with the same coach. Though…

After four years of constantly applying to internships, I felt like I had the resume thing down.  But now I’m in the process of updating my resume so that I can look for a summer job.  Specifically, I’m trying to fill in the job description under “Teach for America, St. Paul, MN” and I’m drawing…

So here’s how it goes: 1) I manage to get one tiny classroom thing figured out and I feel confident about it being somewhat effective. 2) I suddenly think of 20+ other things that I’m completely failing at. 3) I start tackling these newly recognized problems. 4) The pattern repeats. 5) Eventually something that I…

I spent a good portion of today catching up on grading and FINALLY putting everything into an online gradebook, Engrade, which so far I’m very happy with.  When grades are due in 2 weeks I should easily be able to avoid a repeat of frantically grading all day and then still missing the deadline. Since…

When we came back from Thanksgiving break, I had four straight weeks of teaching staring me in the face.  Just 1.5 days to go now, and it still seems a little impossible.  These past four weeks have been anything but easy, even though it’s definitely not October anymore and I swear a lot of people…

Assignment:  Write a one-page fiction story on a topic of your choice, using correct grammar, punctuation and organization. (Teacher’s note:  They could have picked ANY topic they wanted.  This came from a boy who has semi-serious behavior issues, but has been doing better ever since his older brother came in to talk to me and…

Two weeks ago, I started writing a long post about my worst week as a teacher so far.  Surprise, surprise:  it wasn’t about my kids (though they’ve recently taken post-Thanksgiving behavior fallback to a new level). For several reasons, that venting post will never see the light of day.  But to make a very long…

I’m definitely not the type to get all emotional and teary-eyed about my students and their life trajectories/limitless potential/bla bla bla, but I obviously do love them to pieces, even when they’re at their worst. And I love the little moments when I can step back and appreciate just how awesome they can be. For…