I often play soft jazz, classical, or some other form of non intrusive background music in my classroom. First of all, it stops the inevitable moment when the room is actually quiet because everyone is working and then someone says, “It’s so quiet in here!” Which, of course, leads everyone to talk again. Having music … Continue reading
Category Archives: Education
Thinking about paperwork
I get it, paperwork is important, but come on, how many times can you file the same forms before you’re just killing trees? Not to mention the ‘we’re going 21st century, no more killing trees!’ plan which switched everything into pdf versions of the papers I used to be able to fill out on a … Continue reading
Thinking about taking a break
No, not like Ross and Rachel. I know, I thought of that line too. But I’m thinking more about the break I took between the end of August and the beginning of 2021. For those of you who don’t know, I am a teacher and this year has been a mile a minute, never ending … Continue reading
Thinking about those questions kids ask
Why is the grass green? Why is the sky blue? Do fish drink water? Why don’t dogs talk? And so on, and so on, ad infinitum. If you’ve ever spent time around children you know that as they get older the questions only get more complex. If you’re feeling stuck at home, and aren’t we … Continue reading
Thinking about Social and Emotional Learning
I’ve been thinking about going back to school, as I’m sure every teacher and parent and student has been, and the ways that being out of school for several months and then spending the summer being pretty limited as to what you can do will impact our children during the coming year. We still don’t … Continue reading
Thinking about Gender
Why does that trope get so much play? Do we really think every person born female is just waiting to bust out of her shell and be a beautiful fully done up woman? Do we think those of us who have decided not to do that are missing out? What about those of us who transitioned? Or refuse to pick a gender with which to define ourselves? Continue reading
Thinking about Blame with Brené Brown
Watching the news and scrolling through social media lately, it has essentially been a blame game. People are blaming other people for violence, for not understanding violence, for looting, for not understanding the root causes of looting, for not being peaceful in their protests, for expecting more peaceful protests when they’ve already beed tried and … Continue reading
Thinking about identity and how we become the adult we were meant to be…
Originally published on momentum.city as part of a series of posts focused on social and emotional learning There is a lot of stress around the time of the year when students are testing. Every year the internet reshares the now viral letter from a school to its families and students clarifying that you are more … Continue reading
Thinking about food…
As I get older I’ve become more aware of the amount of sugar we consume every day. It’s insane actually. Every year the students do an experiment where they put the amount of sugar in different drinks into plastic bags and display it. I’m always disgusted by the amount of sugar in energy drinks but … Continue reading
I tried knitting this week
I remember knitting being harder than this. Of course I haven’t gotten to the end yet. We’ll see if I can remember how to finish this scarf. I found my old knitting needles and went to find yarn. I decided the shades of blue and green were a perfect start to spring so I have a … Continue reading
Time To Stop and Think 