There are those weeks that seem that they will last forever. The ones where the work seems to pile up faster than I can get rid of it, and the students seem ready for the extended weekend ahead already. Sometimes it threatens to slump you into the motions of what you do day to day,… Continue reading Connections from Across the Atlantic
Category: Work
Real Talk
"When Kepler found his long-cherished belief did not agree with the most precise observation, he accepted the uncomfortable fact. He preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions." -Carl Sagan One of the harder realities of teaching the lowest performing students (as measured by the district) in the Reading Department is that many of… Continue reading Real Talk
“I Think I’ll Move to Australia”
“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a… Continue reading “I Think I’ll Move to Australia”
Waiting for the Harvest
"But the wisdom from above leads us to be pure, gentle, sensible, friendly, kind, helpful, genuine, and sincere. When peacemakers plant seeds of peace, they will harvest justice." - James 3:17-18 I started my day with that beautiful message from the Book of James, sent via text to me by my close friend Aley to… Continue reading Waiting for the Harvest
The Parent Promise
Every teacher goes to their fair share of parent/teacher conferences. There are those that are very in and out, and then there are those that feel like they gut you. They are the ones that you sit or stand there and know that if something doesn't change with this child their road might end soon.… Continue reading The Parent Promise
How to Survive Those First 9 Weeks
Here I am on my bed, still in my work clothes from the day, with my hair in a messy ponytail, having just finished inputting and verifying all my grades for the first 9 weeks of the school year. And even my worn down state of sickness brought on in part by playing a little… Continue reading How to Survive Those First 9 Weeks
“The Art of Making Possible”
Earth could be fair. And you and I must be free Not to save the world in a glorious crusade Not to kill ourselves with a nameless gnawing pain But to practice with all the skill of our being The art of making possible. -Nancy Scheibner October has a reputation for being the bottom of… Continue reading “The Art of Making Possible”
When You Need it the Most
It is our choices ... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. - J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets) Some weeks feel especially long. However, even though my body feels worn down and the constant chilliness in my cold has brought on a persistent sniffly nose, I… Continue reading When You Need it the Most
Wading Through the Smog
She's a Dreamer. A Thinker. A Doer. She Sees Possibility Everywhere. Freshmen are a tough group of students. I don't think I could start this post out with any other sentence than that one. But when I type that, there is so much more that I mean than just the fact that my ninth graders… Continue reading Wading Through the Smog
Saying Goodbye to Tulsa
“It is important to teach our children to read and write, but it is more important to teach them to be proud of themselves, and of us" (Other People's Children, Delpit, 1995, p. 89). My children have been my children and my students for the last four weeks. But in many ways they are also not… Continue reading Saying Goodbye to Tulsa
Odelia Younge 