This Wednesday, July 1, is International Joke Day. Of all years, I think we could use a good joke or two during this one! Laughter is good for the soul—and it turns out that it really is the best medicine, relieving tension and stress plus helping your body produce its own natural painkillers. So in…
“Dare and do”: That was the personal motto for computer coding pioneer and genius Grace Hopper. And it sounds like the perfect motto for your summer—and for your school year too! Win a copy of this book about Grace by submitting a comment to my blog. Let me know, what will you “dare and do”…
Plug can mean a few different things. For some reason, I immediately think of a hair plug. No, I don’t have any—it’s just my slightly off-center sense of humor! The big ole plug I’m making today is filled with fantastic opportunities for teachers. For example, $750 worth of classroom cash (yes, you read that right!)…
More pay for public school teachers. Universal preschool. Increase the curriculum focus on STEM learning. Smaller class sizes. Longer school days. Or an option of your own description. Last week I assigned The Mailbox Blog readers a simple, one-question quiz. Which idea would do the most to improve the quality of public education in America…
“You should be a teacher.” I heard that quite a bit from people in the ten years before I switched careers and became a teacher. Most of those people were rational, arguably sane individuals. However, none of those people were teachers, so their advice and enthusiasm should have been suspect. When the time came, I…
As you might guess, I am not employed solely to write a blog. That means that I don’t necessarily have all the time in the world to follow each development, large and small, in the great big world of education. Still, I try to keep my eye on things, write about what I know, and…
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…
One of the most beautiful things in the world is the IBM Selectric typewriter. It looks like a work of Mondrian, sounds like a tango, smells like the future, and responds like a thoroughbred beneath one’s fingertips. (That covers four out of five senses. I’ve never tasted a Selectric.) When I was quite young, I…
Sometimes I can go on a tear and have something that I want to write about here at the Exchange just about every single day. Then we have a stretch like this recent one, where I go missing for a week and a half. What’s brought me back is another number. The number is 15,800,000,000….
Stepping into Mrs. G.’s classroom was like stepping into another dimension for me. By merely walking through our adjoining closet, I could appear at the front of her room and quickly get questions answered or share important news. Mrs. G. taught math. I taught language arts. Our classrooms connected. Our subject matter? Not so much….