How many times do you write your new students’ names? How many sets of name tags do you make? I spent the day making name tags. First there are the name tags for their cubbies. Then there are the name tags (on cute froggy shapes) that go up all
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As I said in this post last week, my principal (the Prince) really pushed back at me last week when I challenged him on our NCLB status and some other things. On Monday we had someone from the district come out to talk to us in very clear, positive language
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On my second day of work, with the Open House only two days off, I had to spend the day at trainings. The morning was frustrating, as it was all about math and there was nothing presented that I didn’t already know. And sorry, but ALL preschool
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Yes, that is my class count. I checked out the list today on my first official day of work and started laughing when I figured that out. Sixteen boys. Yikes. Um, did I mention, my class has SIXTEEN BOYS?! I have to hope that if some students don’t
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Here’s what my classroom looked like this morning: and here’s the view from the windows: My children were with me, and while the younger one blithely read comics, played with a Nintendo DS, and went out to the playground to play, the older
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Because I read a lot of blogs and books about teaching and felt like I have a few things to say that haven’t been said before. Because I like to write, and I want to keep getting better at it. But mostly….because I want to tell a story. “There’s
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Yesterday at our mentor/master teacher meeting, we met Wonder Woman’s replacement, and at her request, went through our end of the year notes on what worked, what didn’t, and what we want to do differently this year. I was rather pointed in
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I won’t be posting for a little while; I’m on vacation with my extended family. So far, so good. I finished the 700+ page Breaking Dawn (last installment in the Twilight series), and have been very very relaxed. I hope this feeling lasts,
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Every day, at the end of our morning together, my class stands up and holds hands in a circle, and sings the “School Family Song,” to the tune of “You are my Sunshine.” You are my family, my school family, I feel happy when you
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Perhaps because I started out teaching in a high-poverty school, and such schools tend to be law-and-order places, I am fairly strict about my students’ hallway behavior. Now I work at a school where people are pretty lax about the halls, and my
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There’s a great article in the latest Newsweek about TFA and the problem of attracting and retaining the best teachers. As I said in my post about what policymakers ought to know, our schools of education need attention. Unfortunately, they don’t
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Splatypus’s comment about my last post got me thinking about the days when I taught kindergarten in one high-poverty school after another. Kindergarten can be high-stress for a teacher. And not just because her students are living in poverty and
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I’ve been tagged! This is the first time someone has reached out and tagged me to participate in a meme. Thanks, Science Goddess. This meme originated with Teacher in a Strange Land.
So, as a teacher, what do I wish ed policymakers understood? What
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On the first day of school — my least favorite of the year, but that’s a different story — my centers are all closed. The house corner gets roped off with a sign that says “Closed” even before the open house, so the children
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I’m in this week’s Carnival of Education, over at The Chancellor’s New Clothes, and so is a great post on how to set up your classroom, from Michaele at Kindergarten 3 R’s. Check out her photographs and how well her classroom is
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