-
Credit where it's due
I am a big believer in taking the time to praise people when they go over and beyond my expectations or respond to my occasional overreactions with poise and patience. Too many times people skate by on minimum effort or stoop to being petty or responding in kind to an involuntary blip on the emotional radar ( Read more... ) -
For lack of a better place...
My school's head office is sending someone to interview me for our "featured teacher" spot in the monthly newsletter and they sent me the questions in advance. I just spent a good hour typing up my answers, so here they are in what is likely their completly irrelevant glory to anyone who isn't a teacher, posted here mostly for my own perusal when I ( Read more... ) -
This crazy life
I've been pretty sedate lately, as life goes - mostly spending my time in hibernation with my dog, waiting for winter to pass. But this past Saturday was one for the record books, and I feel I should document it for the sake of my own recollection when the day arrives that these types of shenanigans no longer happen at all ( Read more... ) -
Sixteen (plus nine)
It’s taken me a while to compile this list. I was trying to reveal things that people don’t already readily notice about my personality or which they might not ever know if I didn’t tell them. Not entirely sure I succeeded, but here ‘tis ( Read more... ) -
For everything there is a season...
Despite the trying times, I’ve had some really great classes this semester and as the end of it approaches, I figured I’d take some time to document some of the things that kept me going and had had me in stitches.
I took on a GT1 Prep class - kids who came into my class with very little English; just the basic words and a minimum of phonics ( Read more... ) -
"While we try to teach kids about life, they teach us what life is all about."
After having once read Rafe Esquith's There Are No Shortcuts prior to giving much thought to teaching, much less to being a teacher, I have rediscovered his books (including the newest Teach Like You're Hair's On Fire) in Seoul, South Korea -- and I am enraptured.
His insight is so much more relevant (and it was already incredibly relevant) when I ( Read more... ) -
Three cheers for hope!
Am I overjoyed that Obama won the U.S. election? Obviously ( Read more... ) -
My mother
Growing up and coming into a fuller awareness of the world, the people in it, and the influences checking and balancing (or knocking off kilter) both has brought me to a greater understanding of something ( Read more... ) -
Since when is generosity a problem?
I have a problem with being overgenerous to people who haven't earned my generosity. I operate all too frequently under the misconception that treating someone like she/he deserves the best will make him/her live up to the potential of his/her best self ( Read more... ) -
Election 2008
If you've read any of my journal entries or know me at all, you probably realize that I'm voting for Obama/Biden. I've gotten much more involved in the political process this election than I've allowed myself to be in a long time. (The risk of closely following the actions of the current administration being that I would have to learn to live with ( Read more... )