After An Educator's Journey

Out of the classroom & into the universe

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about

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.

Category: Braindroppings

  • Photographing Local Farming

    One of the ongoing creative projects Adrien has been working on is photographing some of the farmers working and learning through the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project. We receive a weekly share of the farmers’ bounty through World Peas CSA and, so far, it has been a wondrous adventure in fresh local veggies – and…

  • The older I get, the more things stay the same

    Summer hiatus is a challenge for me ; I am compulsively obsessed with education. However, this summer I have made an effort and, until today, have left my pile of things to consider in a far corner of our spare bedroom. This week, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved implementation of the…

  • How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!

    This is a quote from John Muir who advocated for preserving the natural beauty in our country. Every so often I need a head slap from nature to gain back perspective.  Last week, I was lucky enough to do just that when Adrien and I traveled to Mount Desert Island for a mini-vacation. The Island,…

  • Reflections on the Fourth of July

    It is no secret that politics in the United States are a puzzlement to me. Things I believe in – the common good, generosity and understanding in treatment of those who are not like me, a belief that freedom is a treasure that should not be eroded – these things are often not valued, if…

  • Well, they are gone…. and summer vacation is started. How I feel like hoarding these precious days off. Honestly, I don’t know how people who teach during summer school manage it. By the last day of school, I am so dead tired, it takes about 2 weeks to become human again. And usually, the start…

  • Bumping Up

    It’s a rite of passage, I guess. Yesterday my third graders bumped up to meet their fourth grade teachers.  My students were pretty evenly distributed across the four  fourth grade classrooms so while they will see some familiar faces next Fall, they will have an opportunity to meet new friends. While my current kids were…

  • The end of a year

    We have five days to go. I find it incredible that this journey of an academic year is quickly coming to the finish line – or more accurately, getting ready to crash and burn. It’s a time of year when every culminating activity that was ever invented gets scheduled: field trips, tests, report cards, field…

  • Sound the alarm

    I have an emotional relationship with alarm clocks. Not the hate relationship that most people have because it interrupts sleep. My relationship is far more basic than that. When Adrien and I were first married, we saved extra pennies in a jar until we could afford a radio alarm clock. We finally achieved our goal,…

  • The Road Not Taken

    A lifetime ago, I was involved in music. Growing up, as I did, in the midwest – home of Friday night football and marching bands – I can’t even remember when music performance wasn’t on the radar. As an elementary school student we were prepared to be in the high school music program fairly early,…

  • Defining the term “furlough”

    The public hearings on the 2010-2011 school budgets begin tonight in Lowell. No one thinks that there is any way the schools will be able to get through the next fiscal year without massive cuts of programs, services and teachers. The last several years the budgets have been decreased and belt-tightening measures have been put…