Around year ten in teaching, I decided to take my first early morning run of the summer on the last day of teaching. I am not sure why — maybe I did it unintentionally the first time and craved it subsequent years for its physical …
Digital Portfolios: “Hello, Future Teacher! Allow me to introduce myself.”
Our students walked through the door of our classroom 174 days this year. The door has never been propped open. That would be against fire code. The door is always locked to make lockdown and fire drills more efficient. The magnetic strip in the door …
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I am not a Reader.
“We have just ten minutes before the music assembly, so we can get started on our final portfolio. In the past, the audience for these portfolios has been your parents, but this time it is…” I say waiting for some sign of life. “You?” one …
Introducing the Best Co-Teachers Around
“So the speaker is saying that she wishes her mother would have left her courage behind instead of her brooch. Can you relate this poem to another poem or story?” says Jonathan. “Yes, Andy*?” “This reminds me of a movie, Guardians of the Galaxy.” “What …
10 Books That Made Me a Teacher and Why I Am Re-Reading Them
Monday night I am going to the retirement dinner of the woman who was my student teaching field instructor: Kate Manski. She was the first person to bear witness to my practice as a teacher in 2003. A couple years ago, she sat in my …
Please, stop with the countdowns.
I am a resistor of the “countdown,” as in counting down the days until the end of school. I am anxious as nearly 600 other educators to dive into Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher’s 180 Days and get the story for my next novel that is …
30, April 30th, Lines and Verses Borrowed
Congratulations! Inspiration: We have shared this virtual space for 30 days — 30 days of words, phrases, images, and lines borrowed from lives lived and imagined. Today, we’d like to encourage you to select a day from our 30 days on ethicalela.com and reread …
29, April 29th, Remembered
Inspiration: What is your ultimate goal in your life? Geesh, this is a big, deep question to which you may not be ready to respond, but imagine for a minute or two what you would like people to say about you years from now. How …
28, April 28th, Overcoming
Inspiration: What was your greatest struggle? How did you overcome it, and how has it changed you for the better? Form: Try to write your poem in couplets today. A couplet is a poem made up of two-line stanzas with the final word of each …
27, April 27th, A Sonnet of Sympathetic Joy
Inspiration (and a challenge from Jackson):Sympathetic Joy is the feeling which arises when you are able to be proud of other people’s accomplishments. We rejoice that in the good fortune of others. In this way we overcome resentment, envy, and jealousy and even find inspiration …