Summer Reading Bingo

Last year I started a tradition with my students. Well, I tried a new thing, and since it worked, I brought it back again this year. So I think we can safely call it a tradition. I don't assign any required summer reading, but I do give the kids an optional summer reading bingo sheet....

Not a Forever-Goodbye

About a week ago, I told my oldest students the story of the events surrounding this post from eight years ago. After moving seven times in five years, constantly starting over and proving myself repeatedly, I thought I'd found my place to put down roots -- only to have the rug ripped out from under...

9 Books in 6 Weeks

I’ve dabbled in Genius Hour as part of my Language Arts class for a few years now. It always looks a little different each year, but one thing that remains the same is that I always do a Genius Hour project along with my students each time. Why ask them to pursue independent learning if...

A Year of Reading

In the town we lived in when my kids were born, our local library had a "1000 Books by Kindergarten!" program. Kids who reached this achievement won their names on the wall, a free book, and even a stuffed animal, I think. I'm not really sure, because I never signed my kids up for it....

What’s Your Why?

I was sitting in a faculty meeting last week, and the line was used about how teaching isn't a job, it's a ministry. It was hard not to cringe because I've heard this line used so many times to gaslight and guilt trip burned out teachers into meeting every possible need except their own. Thankfully,...

The Importance of Being Seen and Known

"Once more unto the breach..."-Shakespeare, Henry V. The battle cry from Shakespeare's Henry V were my parting words as I left our morning faculty devotions and headed out to class yesterday. It's my go-to line for the hard days, which there seem to be a lot of these days. I didn't carve out this space...

The Day After Halloween

My day started with a missed alarm clock, and it went downhill from there. I woke up to my kids yelling for me. Usually I'm completely up, dressed, and ready for the day before their alarms go off, and today I had to scramble. Somehow we still got out the door only 5 minutes later...

Vulnerability and Risk in Teaching

Do you want to know something weird? One-on-one meetings with students intimidate me. In the past, the only one-on-one conferences with students I've done were forced upon me (such as when I taught for The Princeton Review, who didn't allow for teacher autonomy in their curriculum). Ironically, now that I think about it, I actually...

Book Therapy

I recently discovered the podcast "What Should I Read Next", hosted by Anne Bogel, and at 300 episodes, I have no idea why I'm just now finding it. While I enjoy listening and constantly adding to my "to read" list, I'm also fascinated by the format. Anne asks each guest to name their top three...

Triangle Talk

I teach in a hallway. No joke. You know all those remarks I've made in my last two posts about my severely limited teaching space? How I used the term "classroom" loosely? It's because I don't have a classroom. Not really. Our building is roughly shaped like a triangle. The outside edges of the three...