ABC COUNTDOWN TO RETIREMENT: P is for…

May 29, 2015: P is for Peace Place. One of most interesting schools I worked at was a dual language school in Chicago. Besides having instruction in both Spanish and English at all grade levels, they emphasized student independence and problem resolution from an early age. I worked there the first 12 weeks of school […]

ABC COUNTDOWN TO RETIREMENT: O is for…

May 28, 2015 A few years ago when I was a bilingual 2nd grade classroom teacher , we were also doing an ABC countdown at school. O was Oreo Day. So today’s entry is called O is for Outside With Oreos Day, even though it is actually the story of an afternoon field trip. In […]

ABC COUNTDOWN TO RETIREMENT: N is for…

May 27, 2015 N is for No Child Left Behind (An educational initiative act). This law makes sweeping changes to the ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act), which was enacted in 1965. I admit, I have never actually read the text of the NCLB. However, I have felt its effects, which have been mostly negative. […]

ABC COUNTDOWN TO RETIREMENT: M is for….

May 26, 2015 M is for “maestra”, the Spanish word for teacher. I’m used to being called this and actually like it. It is an expression of respect. In my first year of teaching, a Latina who was the head of the bilingual department for the district told me (and other bilingual teachers) that we […]

ABC COUNTDOWN TO RETIREMENT: L is for…

May 22, 2015 L is for Lesson plans. I had a love-hate relationship with lesson plans. On the one hand, I liked doing them because it gave me a chance to get somewhat creative. The important thing was to achieve the goals and objectives of the lesson. I would experiment with different online forms and […]

ABC COUNTDOWN TO RETIREMENT: K is for…

May 21, 2015 K is for Kindergarten. Before I got a full-time teaching job, I worked as a substitute in several districts. I always dreaded being assigned to kindergarten – I wasn’t used to children that young. What if they knocked over something and got hurt? I imagined all sorts of scenarios in which disaster […]

ABC COUNTDOWN TO RETIREMENT: I is for…

May 19, 2015: I is for incentives. Incentives at school are now part of a required behavior “curriculum” – the acronym is PBIS, which I believe stands for Positive Behavior Intervention System. At the beginning of the year, students are explicitly taught expected behaviors for different areas of the school – in the hallway, in […]

A TEACHER’S ABC COUNTDOWN TO RETIREMENT: H is for Halloween

May 18, 2015 Halloween is the favorite, most anticipated “holiday” of most children I know. Everything about Halloween is geared to kids: candy and other treats, wearing costumes, telling scary stories, playing games. In every school I’ve worked in, Halloween has been celebrated in a big way. Of course, there are always some families who […]

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: Ducks (& geese & loons): a story of growing up, loss, and saying good-bye

There is a female mallard duck that comes every year to the school where I work and settles in an enclosed courtyard, where she makes her nest, lays her eggs, and raises her young. Mallard ducks live to be about 20 years old and it is common for them – as it is for other […]