“Well, my deddy says I ain’t always gonna get what I want, but I’m always ‘on have what I need.”

Posted in teaching Comments Off on The things they teach me.

Sometimes I totally nerd out as a teacher. Last night in my PTA adult English class, we were working on life maps.  Each person was to use bubble letters (woot! woot! throw back to high school!) to write their name and then use pictures or words inside the bubbles to show the most important events […]

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“Sebas, I know that you think third graders are no good at soccer and I know that you get frustrated with them and I realize that all the other boys use those words, but gentleman do not behave that way!  Do you understand me?!  Gentleman. do. not. behave. that. way!” “Yes, Mees.  But, Mees, it’s […]

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Roald Dahl is a wonderful source for new words and always a kid favorite. Today my class and I were reading about The Chocolate Room and silly songs that Oompa Loompas sing.  I was using my best reader’s voice and my students were locked on every word. I read fast in places and slowly in […]

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My hands are always cold.  I’ve heard it said, “Cold hands.  Warm heart.  Hot legs.” but I’m not sure I buy that.  I just know that sometimes mine are so chilly that I can hardly move them.  Especially in the mornings. So, I generally walk around my classroom and put my cold hands on the warm cheeks […]

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He came into the room stomping and swearing as though a swarm of bees were trapped in his shirt. I called his name gently, but sternly in a way he could not ignore, and he sulked toward me.  I asked him to take a deep breath and then to take another.  Pieces of the anger left as […]

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You know those kinds of weeks that seem to blindside you?  The kind of weeks that overwhelm you and sit like an eighteen-wheeler on your shoulders?  The kind of weeks that you wonder if you’ll ever survive?  I had one of those.  I didn’t write or sleep and I don’t recall breathing, although I suppose […]

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Her face was a deep scarlet and her shoulders heaved up and down as the tears soaked her face.  Her black, collared shirt looked pressed and put together and her shoes clicked as she walked, but her sobs overshadowed it all. I let her cry and did my best to comfort her without crumbling myself. […]

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We had a lock in for the kids that participate in Destination Imagination, a program that encourages creative and critical thinking and lots of teamwork, on Friday night.  The idea of the lock in was to provide workshops on different aspects of the program and to build a sense of unity among the teams. For […]

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Teaching fifth graders has been an adjustment for me.  No, they don’t lose teeth anymore and that’s a plus.  Their whiny voices rarely rear their ugly heads and instructions are generally heard and followed without the third grade tendency to ask 563 questions and those things make me happy. But they hold hands and giggle […]

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