Kids say the darnedest things, it’s true! Now that the school year is over (or almost over), let’s share some school-year silliness. What memories from the past school year still have you smiling? Please share! Diane
teaching
Are You Having Fun?
Guess what day it is? Well, yes, it is hump day. However, the day I have in mind is recognized just once a year, yet what it promotes hopefully occurs a whole lot more often. Confused? Here’s the answer: today, January 28, is…drum roll, please…National Fun at Work Day! Now this doesn’t mean you can…
FBI in Local Schools
“What? Oh my gosh!” This is how I recall responding last fall to a local headline similar to the title of this blog. What I learned from reading the accompanying article put me at ease and made me smile. The article wasn’t about the Federal Bureau of Investigation; it was about Fathers Being Involved! This…
Hallway Manners
I love it when I see a class of students quietly parading down a school hallway. It’s such an accomplishment for both the teacher and students! Hopefully by this time of the school year students are falling into a pattern of lining up quickly and quietly; and then again maybe not! How do you encourage…
First Friday Giveaway
Hello, November! Today is the first day of the month and it’s the first Friday of the month. Are you ready to enter November’s First Friday Giveaway? I sure hope so! The topic of teamwork is ricocheting around in my brain. I have to ask. Have you seen or heard about the jaw-dropping performances of…
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…
Stupid Questions?
Do you ever stop yourself from asking a question because you think it might be a stupid one? Or maybe on occasion you preempt a question with the phrase “This might be a totally stupid question, but…?” Why all these questions about asking questions? Well, it’s time to recognize Ask a Stupid Question Day. No,…
Time Out for Test Prep
You learn some interesting things sitting in the bleachers at a little league baseball field. While your children practice the fundamentals and intricacies of baseball, you get to commiserate with other parents about all kinds of things. This weekend, for example, a number of parents chatted about EOGs—the universal End of Grade tests administered in…
You Picked a Great job
Congratulations, teachers. You made a good decision (as if I had to tell you that). Because you chose to be teachers, you chose the good life. Seriously. Let me repeat that for those of you at the back who might not have heard me. Choosing to be a teacher means you chose the good life,…
So Shiny and New
It was a marvel. A toy for teachers. But not just any toy. It was a toy we wanted to play with so badly we were nearly straining out of our shoes. As the salesman demonstrated its marvels, we felt a little like Ralphie in A Christmas Story; we wanted one of those fantastic interactive…