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.
Category: Braindroppings
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I am not certain exactly when the idea occurred to us, but this past week, Adrien and I celebrated our anniversary with a quick trip to Paris. Nevermind that I now have a deeper understanding of my immigrant grandfather’s voyage to the new world after spending 12 hours on planes without being able to wiggle! Airline to…
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Every child can relate to the anxiety one feels when you enter a school building for the first time. So can any teacher. We feel helpless to comfort our colleagues and their students. Their grief and sense of loss is unimaginable. And they will naturally feel anxious when they return to a different school building…
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There is a pall hanging over us. We want answers to the unanswerable. We need to put our anger and sadness somewhere, but there is no place. Tomorrow is a Monday that will be unlike any other. Tomorrow I need to try to reassure my 8-year-olds. Many of them will have watched too many reports…
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This is the longer version of Adrien’s short documentary about an extraordinary group of young people and the United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) here in Lowell. Take a moment to see what overcoming adversity to hope and to dream about a future really look like. And then,if you are so inspired, support UTEC’s programs and…
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Last Friday as I watched one of my favorite weekly shows (Greater Boston‘s Beat the Press segment), I heard panelist Margery Eagan describe the atmosphere at the Boston Globe as the “joyless pursuit of excellence”. In our local newspaper world, there is no doubt that the Globe is a superb paper and even when I don’t agree…
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Several years ago, my husband Adrien was working in the corporate world as a software engineer. For a long time, he had worked for large and small software companies and enjoyed both the work and the camaraderie…. and the pay wasn’t bad either. But some time about five years ago, he had a moment when staying…
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Many (many) years ago, I read nearly all of Norman Vincent Peale’s Positive Thinking books. I read them during a dark time: I was struggling with the career for which I had trained (which turned out not to be a match); a spiritual life that was unfulfilling. In need of an epiphany, I ended up watching…
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I have to touch the third rail: is education today more assimilation into a one-size-fits-all or is it about reaching a baseline of standards for learning? I ask this because lately it seems that there is an underlying expectation that we plan or are given one lesson and asked to apply it to every student…
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A colleague of mine once referred to No Child Left Behind as No Teacher Left Standing. We laughed – later we cried – and now, speaking just for myself here, we are just plain depressed. It matters not how diligent an educator is about keeping up with research and data, the stream of new initiatives…
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It was at the end of our school day yesterday when one of my students matter-of-factly asked if I had heard about “the shooting”. Knowing about the violent incident this past weekend on a street near my elementary school, I waited for her to continue. Which she did. As if it weren’t something out of…
After An Educator's Journey 