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…
Education Reform
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…
For the Love of Dictionaries
As I write this blog post, it is Dictionary Day (October 16). Now, as a writer, I love both words and dictionaries, as well as the magical ways in which words can be sequenced to convey meaning, tone, and point of view. I could have just said syntax, but that word doesn’t pack the weight…
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…
Bedrock, Biomes, Creepers, and Teachers?
My youngest son is in second grade. There are a lot of things we could talk about, but the subject most often on his mind is the game Minecraft—what he’s building, what he has explored, and how he’s gone about doing it. His older brothers are into Minecraft as well and have been at it…
Your Turn
I worked for a principal who was noted for saying she wished she taught in an orphanage. Her reasoning, of course, was that she easily could achieve longer school days without the occasional meddlesome parent. I suspect she may have also preferred it if all the teaching staff lived in nearby barracks, where we could…
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…
Gooey Gray Mud
If you had told me that walking knee-deep through the gooey gray mud of a tidal basin during a cold New England April would be one of the highlights of my high school years, I might have laughed. Right in your face, in fact. That’s if I had been paying attention. (I was not…
Building Bridges
Team-building exercise. Three words. One hyphen. Plenty of trepidation. I’m not a fan of team building. I should be, but whenever I hear someone at the front of a room I’m in use the words “team-building exercise,” I look for the nearest exit. If you’ve got a few hours, maybe we can trace the origins…
I Bought Myself an e-Reader
At the beginning of the summer, I bought myself an eReader. It’s a popular one from an online retail powerhouse. And it’s okay. My reasons for buying it were simple: portability and an end to space- and paper-consuming physical books. This device was going to revolutionize my reading habits (which had suffered the last few…