“There is no fence around time that has gone. You can go back and have what you like if you remember it well enough.” — Richard Llewellyn I look at the teachers around me and wonder what they were like when they started their teaching career. Where they this cynical in the beginning? Did they [...]
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust One of the focuses of my teaching has been viewing the world through different eyes. I have met many people in my life and the ones that piss me off the most are the ones that [...]
In educational circles, I often run into PjBL or Project Based Learning. The more I learn about it, the more I love it. I really wish others would get on board with the idea. We need a pretty serious shake up of our educational system if we want to truly reach students. This philosophy has [...]
Has anyone actually reviewed the days students get off from school? There are some pointless “holidays” including my favorite Columbus Day (*note the sarcasm). This year my children did not get the 2nd Monday in October off, but usually they do. Many of the other districts in the area did take the day off. It [...]
Lately there has been much talk about budget cuts. The local school district put a “suggestion box” on their website. They responded by looking into the suggestions and sorting them into “suggestions taken,” “suggestions not taken,” and “suggestions being researched.” Among the more interesting “suggestions not taken” was cutting field trips. The district responded by [...]
I mourn the death of the written word. Not by me, but by my students. Every time I assign a paper or really anything I internally sigh and then kick myself. Why am I doing this to myself? Because I am trying to actually teach students. Once the assignments are turned in, I actually kick [...]
I don’t care who you talk to, teaching is at least 30% entertainment. I have become quite the actress over the last three years. How do you make kids want to learn economics? You cannot appeal to their inherent desire to learn about economics. You cannot appeal to “the information will become useful at some [...]
Disclaimer: This blog entry is specific to private schools. I spent all of my education in the public school sphere, but have been teaching in private schools. I find some of the quirks of private schools interesting. This entry is an example of that fascination. So what’s up with admissions standards in private school? Or [...]
I love running into students outside of school. Really I love to play with kids. Whenever a teacher runs into a student in, say, a grocery store, two things follow. Surprise I imagine that a statement something like “Holy crap, I didn’t know my teacher existed out of the classroom” runs through their head. For [...]
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” — Einstein I do not have all the answers. It’s true. I am not omnipotent. I am still learning. And actually there are certain things that no historian knows. There are mysteries in history. Such [...]