There I stood in my lovely class of 1st – 3rd graders with 29 eagerly engaged students and 3 crying in agony. The cries were not from physical pain, but the emotional turmoil that sets in when we sit in places of discomfort.
Read MoreI’m Fun at Holiday Parties, Really!
Around the holidays, many visitors and holiday party-goers comment on how tired I look. I don’t think they mean this unkindly – it’s true, I do look exhausted this time of year (and many other times throughout the school year).
Read MoreFrom Chanel to Shakespeare
Coco Chanel ruled my life for seven years. The bold French designer who revolutionized women’s fashion dictated nearly every decision I made after I graduated from NAU with a degree in merchandising. You are probably wondering, “What the heck does
Read MoreFrom the Mouths of Babes
Pick a blog on this site and you’ll see just how important it is that we train and retain a new generation of quality educators; we simply don’t have enough on a national level – and low pay and per pupil
Read MoreA Day in the Life of a C School
7:00am The sun just peeks over the White Tank Mountains and onto the field as the boy’s and girl’s soccer teams and coaches begin warm-ups and the cool air fills with music and shouts. Over 1,200 preschool through eighth-grade students
Read MoreHell’s Bells
So my last blog post was titled “Back in Black,” which – I hope – made you sing just a smidge of AC/DC and maybe play a little air guitar; AC/DC has a song by the same name that holds
Read MoreSociety is Shaped in the Elementary Classroom
Renewable Resources Most agree that social justice in America is becoming more questionable. We are a nation drenched in biases, prejudices, and mistreatments. We have a multitude of programs and initiatives aimed at righting these wrongs ranging from the Civil
Read MoreIt Takes a Village
No, my family is not a family of teachers. In fact, I am the only teacher in my family! When I decided to leave a nearly decade-long career in luxury retail to become a high school English teacher, my family,
Read More“The Dream Catcher” or The Girl Who Championed Self Doubt
I’m not sure if she was solving multiplication problems with the Checkerboard or working in Read Naturally when I called her over. I noticed she took a deep breath and had that faraway look in her eyes, but she shook
Read MoreWhy I Became a Teacher
I’m a teacher. Three little words that pack a punch when someone asks, “What do you do?” The recipient of those words usually replies with, “Oh, wow! What age group? I can’t imagine.” Along with these words, there is usually
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