I am by most metrics a standard-issue introvert(1). I don’t dislike people, and I find a good conversation to be as fulfilling as the next person. It’s just…I really don’t want to go to your party. I like everyone there one at a time, but I can’t manage all of you at once for more…
read more »I have noticed that I write a lot of my posts with the incoming corps member as my intended audience, but I did not necessarily intend for this to be the case from the onset. So, I’m curious: who is reading this thing? If you are someone who reads this blog with some regularity or…
read more »When you enter TFA, you start talking about the Big Goal. This is some quantitative measure which, if achieved, should ostensibly mean that your students are on a Transformational Path. I taught for one year prior to joining TFA. I absorbed my school’s low ranking, determined this year to pull us out of the doldrums. …
read more »Whether or not you teach Special Education, you will have to teach students who get special education services. While SpEd teachers and case managers can be of great services in navigating the how-to’s of accommodations, the best person to talk to is the Licensed Specialist in School Psychology, heretofore known as the LSSP(1). I’m not…
read more »When you move to San Antonio, you may notice stray animals. Often. They might even wander into your school on occasion (usually in the mornings, in my experience). Our city does not do a great job of caring for animals considering we still kill healthy stray animals due to lack of caregivers and shelter space.…
read more »One of the joys and privileges of teaching high school is having the opportunity to coach students you might not see in your own classrooms. Athletics gets all the local press, but the academic events are where the action is. Many of the schools that we serve have a palpable shortage of teachers willing to…
read more »With our church group, my wife and I marched with 100,000 people on Monday at San Antonio’s MLK Day march. Every year, San Antonio has one of the largest MLK Day marches in the country. TFA applicants, if you are looking for a city to join…I’m just saying.
read more »My posting has been on hiatus due to the passing of my grandmother last week. It was not unexpected though no less sad. She was born in Galveston but moved to San Antonio at age 3 when her father got a job working at the San Antonio Light printing press. She graduated from Brackenridge High…
read more »(Source: If you pay peanuts, do you get monkeys? Paying teachers 10 per cent more results in 5-10 per cent higher pupil performance.) There’s a very famous slam poetry video clip starring Taylor Mali discussing the issue of what teachers make, and the gist of it is that teachers make a difference. Well, yes! I…
read more »Over the holidays, I’ve been thinking about our role as educators in our students’ lives. I think if you are called into this profession, one of the goals you have is to leave the world a better place than how you found it, and in teaching that means putting your students on a path that…
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