The closest I ever came to the paddle was during third and fourth grade, when I attended elementary school in Florida. To be honest, I didn’t come very close, but I was asked on several occasions to bring a classmate to the vice principal. Not once was my classmate innocent. Not once did they fail…
Current Events
Halloween Evolves: 1973–2013
In the time of wide lapels, enormous cars, and disco music that we fondly call the 1970s, going to school on Halloween without wearing your costume was about the biggest faux pas a kid could commit. And the only night more exciting than Halloween was the night before Halloween, which we called Mischief Night—an evening…
Answer the Teacher Prep Critics
I took a nontraditional route to teaching. I’m sure you’re not surprised. After a decade as a cubicle dweller, two untimely layoffs within a year were enough to make me finally take the step I had been contemplating for a long time. With little advance preparation, I took the Massachusetts teaching licensure exam, which, when…
A Thought on the PTA
I recently read an opinion piece in a major newspaper in which the author states she is “fed up” with the endless fundraising a modern PTA organization must undertake. The author, an editor in New York City, notes that the PTA at her children’s school (which she had been an active member of) raised $185,000…
Celebrating the Classics
On The Mailbox Facebook page, we often note significant anniversaries, birthdays, and historical dates that have a connection to education, specifically elementary and early-childhood classrooms. Recently, we noted the birthday of André Cassagnes, the Frenchman who created the Etch A Sketch; Robert McCloskey, the author of “Make Way for Ducklings”; and Virginia Lee Burton, author…
Good Evening, Mr. and Mrs. America
If there’s anything that can be a slog, it’s that wonderful day when teachers and parents enjoy meeting each other one-on-one. I’m talking about parent-teacher conferences, of course, that special time when you get to see fully grown adults balance themselves on your students’ tiny chairs But while the parents struggle to maintain their balance…
Reading, ’Riting, Running
We were not always the smartest kids on the bus. I’m thinking back to 1975 here. Still, I don’t think that changes the fact that we were foolish to think a pile of leaves stretched across the road was enough to prevent the school bus from getting to our stop. We tried, but the leaves…
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Do you see what’s just ahead? Autumn. Autumn is all about change, and it’s no coincidence that the traditional school year starts on the cusp of autumn, since there are always so many changes at the beginning of each school year too. For example, my oldest son is in middle school. This week, all 1,100…
Let’s Make a Plan
One of my favorite websites is all about pencils. I’ll let that sink in for a moment. Talk about straddling the borderlands between past and future! A website about pencils. I don’t even know what to compare it to, but it’s a regularly updated blog about pencils, notebooks, and the collision of the old and…
Name That Student
It’s the day after Labor Day in the US and that means just about everyone is back to school now. The question is: how quickly can you learn to recognize all your new students and match the right face to the correct name? Every teacher has a special trick for getting student names right, even…