Waiting to Exhale Before I Choke
For the next two weeks, I am on March Vacation. Like most independent schools, my place of employ follows a traditional prep school calendar. Thus the reason my place of employ breaks in March for two weeks. Independent boarding schools take three weeks off, essentially closing things down for the month of March. I’ll admit: [...]
Having Our Hands on the Right Things
The following is a reply I posted on the now-defunct MFL blog. Due to a lot of flap, the blog has since been taken down. Thus, I am glad I preserved my comments. I don’t think that Mr. Picardo espouses a die-hard tech-only point-of-view. We tweet from time to time. I am also an occasional [...]
It Depends On How One Views the Situation
or…a teachable (anti-racist) moment for teachers. I’ve recently become a fan of a teacher blog, whose target audience is language teachers. I enjoy most of their posts and ideas. But, the one promoting a Mexican Lotería app isn’t one of my favorites. The reason? Some of the game board images are stereotypical, even downright racist. [...]
A Cultural Visitor
My school has a cultural exchange with Venezuela. So, every year in early January, a small group of students and a teacher from our partner school in Caracas visits our school for about a month. The students are usually in grades six and/or seven, and have been learning English from a very young age. They [...]
I’m Done
Are you able to recall an incident which greatly disappointed you, but, logically, it really should not have greatly disappointed you? My eighth grade Onesies greatly disappointed me recently, and, the situation is one that I really should not have taken so personally. The Situation: Approximately 50% of the class (there are 13 enrolled in [...]
Get ‘Er Done
As part of my campaign to raise the level of expectation in my seventh graders – both academically and behaviorally, I’ve instituted the following. Strategies are courtesy of Teach Like A Champion. 1. Procedures for Entering the Classroom* a. Go directly to seats. b. Set everything out that is needed for class. c. Place homework [...]
The Bane of My Existence
As a teacher, two things I detest the most are marking student work, and, computing end-of-trimester grades. Along with lost keys and mislaid eyeglasses, they are the bane of my existence. As much as I strive to be fair and balanced in my approach to assessment and evaluation, I feel that I always somehow fall [...]
The Culture of Expectation
I was talking with a friend recently – my asthetistician, to be exact, but I also consider her a friend – while getting my monthly professional facial treatment. We talked about the recent days-long power outage, our parents – hers about the same age as mine- and life in general. We then somehow got on [...]
Exhausted, But Still Thinking
As I typed my last comment report this morning at approximately 10:22 am, my face crashed down into my laptop keyboard. I was overcome by mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion. Although I am relieved to see the year end, I feel good about the things I was able to accomplish with students. I made some [...]
Decompressing
A teacher colleague re-tweeted this. Got me thinking about how important it is for teachers to de-compress from the year. In fact, a bit of pre-decompression before the year’s grading, comment writing, and year-end meetings are complete, is perhaps necessary and important as well. I have 3/4 of my grading completed. Which means that I [...]
