Today was 8th grade promotion parade and I didn’t take a single picture. I did, however, snag a screenshot of a friend’s video for this blog post after the day was over. My district does promotion parades for all the
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An Impromptu Conversation – Part 1
There are few enjoyable moments during testing as a teacher. But I find sometimes magic moments come out of it. This year as I was proctoring the AASA test to the English as a Second Language students, I had a
Read MorePumpkin and Spice
Pumpkin and Spice “Squeak, squeak, squeak”.…is the greeting I hear every morning when I open the door to my third grade classroom. I walk over to the opposite end of the room and greet the class guinea pigs,
Read MoreKnock, Knock
“Hi Ms. Brinkman, do you remember me?”- is a sentence I am beginning to hear more and more as I advance in my teaching career. Having been at the same school for my entire career, (17) the benefit is having
Read MoreLet me tell you bout’ my best friend
During math period one morning, my third graders were working on solving a division problem with repeated subtraction. After spending time discussing the strategy and how to work through a problem, I let them know they would have a chance
Read MoreThe Breakfast Club
What does your breakfast routine consist of? I asked my educator friends and heard the following: “I never eat breakfast” “I make a run for Dunkin; the employees know me by name and have my order memorized!”
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Relationships Matter
Every Wednesday I meet with my advisory. We started together when they were sophomores, and now, three years later, they are big, bad seniors who are almost ready to graduate. Our class started with about 25 students, but with transfers,
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The Magic of Books
Scene: My sister sent me a video of my niece this week. 15 months old, she is sitting as her mom reads one of her favorite books to her, and she parrots the words “a baby” on cue after her
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A Little Faith
In typical back-to- school fashion, I had the usual first day of school anxiety nightmare, this time with a COVID twist. I was getting a COVID booster shot only to be told I had never actually received my vaccine, had
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