One might think that nearing the finish line of a long and busy school year would be a smooth-paved path of ease and simplicity. One might think that-- but the complete opposite...
What's that in the air? Unbearable heat, humidity, and the excitable chorus of children soon to be released from the daily constraints of modern schooling? Whether you're rejoicing over the end of...
After another breathlessly chaotic day substitute teaching in a new class, I slumped into the worn office chair loitering bedraggedly behind the teacher desk and poked under piles of papers and half-sticking...
Though this blog is now mostly dedicated to chronicling my stories and advice from substitute teaching and motherhood, my roots reach all the way back to classroom teaching. If we pan back...
One of the hardest parts of leaving teaching after five years was telling my favorite students I wouldn't be coming back. I had just "looped" with most of the class from third...
"Being a long-term substitute is a scam." -Reddit user. The job of a long-term substitute is never easy. These adventurous, and often naive, people can get gobsmacked with an avalanche of classroom...
Right before a teacher packs up his clsasroom for the summer, something glorious happens. (Or-- depending how it's celebrated-- a week of lackluster attempts at fanfare comes and goes.) However a school...
It's possible you've found your way here because you've decided to teach summer school this year. You've taken up a noble quest. You will join the ranks of myriads of other tough...
"Hi! Come on in!" I cheerfully intoned as I swung open the door amidst the sweltering summer heat to a squiggly line of bouncy almost-Kindergarteners. My summer school students were eager to...
When school's finally out for the summer, it's debateable who's more thrilled: the students or the teachers. Summer break in traditional schools can be seen as a restorative stretch of freedom, a...
If you're planning on this spring being your last semester in the classroom, first: Go you! (I know it's not easy to leave this love/hate career) Come up with a strategy for...
Celebrating Easter is an occasion I always look forward to. Stuffing myself into billowing pastel church dresses and savoring Easter basket chocolates piece by piece has given way to dressing my own...