After An Educator's Journey

Out of the classroom & into the universe

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Once upon a time, I taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. Now I’m retired and working on new ventures.
I taught second, third and fourth graders. Teaching was my passion and joy for 30 years. And it didn’t hurt that they called me “mom” sometimes.

Month: March 2013

  • Poetry…. a little silly

    We are beginning a new unit of study in English Language Arts this week – poetry! Going through this new unit I discovered a poem by Emily Dickenson – Autumn. And that reminded me of something Adrien shared with me long ago. You see, you can sing almost every Emily Dickenson poem to “The Yellow…

  • Go Ahead…. Make My Day

    My students started their state testing yesterday. While it continues to aggravate me that my kids are getting tested as if it were the end of the school year (which, believe me it is not!), the test is here and we need to deal with it. By the way, did I mention the test is…

  • Monitoring Language

    Teaching in an urban educational setting has many challenges. Of course, there are challenges associated with trauma and with poverty and other social problems. One of the greatest challenges, in my opinion, is to work with students whose primary language is not English. In my current classroom, the ratio of native English speakers to English…

  • Blaming the Common Core?

    This morning’s Washington Post carried an Op-Ed piece by Deborah Kenney, founder of Harlem Village Academies. Unlike many charter schools run by large (overseas) conglomerates trying to turn education into cash cows, this charter appears to have pedagogy and students at the center. The question Ms. Kenny poses? Is the Common Core causing school experiences…

  • Well, That Was Ugly

    I have always thought it important for students to learn to work cooperatively. When I worked in the private sector, we worked as teams or groups – almost never without some kind of interaction with colleagues.  Kids need to know how to work in collaborations, too.   And so, we set out this week to…

  • You convinced me!

    We all need a good laugh – or even just a smile – every so often. Just to remind us of the joy that can be teaching. In the midst of this silly season – this season when there is some hefty assessment going on – I had one of those moments as I corrected a sizable…