TCAP testing starts tomorrow, and that means that anything remotely educational or informative in the classroom has to be removed or concealed. So, I spent part of the day taking down posters in my room ( Read more... )

Robin and I gave up dining out for Lent, and I have really enjoyed it. Eating at home has been nice, and we have saved money, saved time, and lost a little weight ( Read more... )

I just attended a workshop on the State of Franklin at Tipton-Haynes Historic Site as part of a grant-funded series of programmes for teachers by the Jonesborough Heritage Alliance. It included a short lecture on the State of Franklin, a tour of the grounds with a focus on where key parts of the Battle of the Lost State of Franklin (27-29 February ( Read more... )

According to that humourous, dirty old reprobate Voltaire, in Britain it is thought wise, from time to time, to execute an admiral in order to encourage the others. Perhaps a similar thought inspired the decision a year ago to deny me tenure. To my surprise and gratification, this provoked petitions, letters, and other protests and offers of ( Read more... )

I just finished a book I have meant to read for a decade, Polk's Folly: An American Family History by William R. Polk. I have always admired President Polk, even before discovering that he is a distant relative (Sarah Childress Polk is a great-aunt several generations back on my maternal grandfather's mother's side). I was told that Polk's Folly ( Read more... )

Once in a while even I am stunned ( Read more... )

My Christmas letter is done. Now I just have to print off 125 copies.

The first Sunday of Advent has come and gone (and Robin and I have even constructed our own Advent wreath, with the purple and rose candles being ones we dipped ourselves in the driveway) and Saint Nicholas's Day will be here soon ( Read more... )

About a month and a half ago I was in my local Super Wal-Mart. I was in the electronics department, for reasons that now elude me, and happened to pass the DVD section. The endcap of one of the aisles was a display of horror movies suitable for mid-October. Among famous and unknown films was a stack of boxes holding Five Across the Eyes, a ( Read more... )

Science Hill had a Thanksgiving programme on Tuesday and, in contrast to most of our assemblies, pep rallies, and other school-wide events, the 8th and 9th graders were allowed to attend (although separately from the 10th - 12th grader students ( Read more... )