Category: Featured
when numbahs don’t lie (2025-6).
Students can’t be reduced to a number. They can’t be defined by their results on a common assessment, reduced to where they fall on a state test, nor limited by their SAT/ACT scores. However, sometimes numbers don’t lie. With a towering goal of helping students fall… Continue Reading “when numbahs don’t lie (2025-6).”
the gratitude project (2025).
Eight years ago now, during Thanksgiving week, I began assigning what I lovingly call “The Gratitude Project.” Essentially, I forced my students–and myself–to reflect on the Good in our lives in the midst of all of the Bad. And it quickly became one of… Continue Reading “the gratitude project (2025).”
why we stay.
Teachers are still leaving by the droves. Unless you’re on a media fast, you’ve heard all about it. But these aren’t newbies, 44% of whom typically quit within five years. (That’s pre-pandemic data, by the way.) No, these are seasoned teachers simply walking away… Continue Reading “why we stay.”
the collaborative novella.
In October of 2021, I read Liane Moriarty’s best-seller (now Hulu series) Nine Perfect Strangers. The story features nine individuals (strangers, in fact) whose paths intersect at an Australian wellness center. The focus of each chapter alternates among the characters. The result is a… Continue Reading “the collaborative novella.”
when numbahs don’t lie (2021-2).
Students can’t be reduced to a number. They can’t be defined by their results on a common assessment, reduced to where they fall on a state test, nor limited by their SAT/ACT scores. However, sometimes numbers don’t lie. With a towering goal of helping students fall… Continue Reading “when numbahs don’t lie (2021-2).”
the myth of the working (teacher) mom.
I beat myself up. A lot. Like a lot a lot. I know I’m not alone–especially for those of us who are juggling responsibilities at home AND at school. Whether we’re raising babies or tolerating teenagers or caring for elderly parents or working second… Continue Reading “the myth of the working (teacher) mom.”
all i really need to know i learned in the covid classroom.
(with apologies to Robert Fulghum) In 1986, Robert Fulghum’s bestseller All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten reminded us to return to the basics. Fulghum’s premise was, if we just recalled the principles from kindergarten (e.g., share, play nice, clean up… Continue Reading “all i really need to know i learned in the covid classroom.”
our break-up letters to 2020.
My Creative Writers keep Writers’ Notebooks, housing writing exercises we complete each week. Some entries are brainstorms, others are single-sitting warm-ups, and others are the beginnings of pieces we’ll develop at a later date. It seems fitting, then, that our final entry for 2020… Continue Reading “our break-up letters to 2020.”
new year’s resolutions–covid edition.
2020 was, to quote CNN’s Jake Tapper, “a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a trainwreck.” And others agree. Towns rang in the new year with literal dumpster fires; the Holderness family pushed out a Billy Joel parody about them; and one YouTube… Continue Reading “new year’s resolutions–covid edition.”
WHERE OTHERS GO
THE LIFELONG LEARNER 