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Mad, Mad, Mad World

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This month has been a horrific one for educators.  I know the phrase "In like a lion, out like a lamb" typically describes the weather in March, but I'm hoping it applies to the 2018 calendar year.  So far this year, there have been 18 instances of guns being discharged either in schools or on school property.  Since I personally had only heard of what has been the worst this year, the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, I decided to look a little more at what qualified as a school shooting since I hadn't heard about the others and found this article on Snopes.   But I digress.  I am not here to say what "counts."  Everything should count.  Anytime someone loses his or her life, it should "count."  There are more than 17 people who did not return to school today.  There are kids who will never return to that building.  There are teachers who will probably leave the profession.  The shooter took more than 17 lives: he took aw
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Women in the Workplace

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Education has traditionally been a female-dominated workplace, even as the rest of society and the world has been male-dominated.  Luckily, women have come leaps and bounds the last century (though I would argue there is still a lot of ground to cover).  The other day I was thinking about my educational role models and the names that are often referenced today and I came to the startling conclusion that most of them are male.  In college I consumed all of Ron Clark's books, especially The Essential 55: An Award Winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child .   As a professional educator, I am evaluated using Dr. Robert J. Marzano's model and am currently working to incorporate his book about Building Academic Vocabulary .  As a teacher who is constantly looking to improve and grow, I'm in the process of devouring Timothy Walker's  Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms . I have been so fortunate that social
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Letter to the Tired Teacher

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It's still January.  I feel you.  This month lasts, according to my very close and personal experts, 17 times as long as every other month.  You're tired.  You're so tired that some days it feels like you're sleep walking.  You're so tired, because despite that exhaustion, you come to work every day and give it your all. Students aren't aware of your ability to teach while sleep walking because you are that dedicated, you are that good.  You're proud of the fact that your kids are thriving and growing (or possibly just surviving at this point).  They don't know that every night your head hits the pillow after grading and planning, with dishes in the sink and laundry piles that are beginning to compete with Mount Everest.  Your place is beginning to look a little like a submission video for the show Hoarders , but it's okay because at 8:00 on the dot, you are in the school, ready for a new and exciting day. It's okay to go to bed at seven.  If
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Introduction

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Hi Mom!  (I'm assuming my mom is the only one reading this, and maybe my grandma if someone has taught her how to use google).  I've decided to dive back into the world of blogging, this time with a focus on education and what is happening in my classroom.  I am by no means an expert so I'll echo Albert Einstein, " I have no special talent. I am only  passionately curious. " So here I am, about to embark on my second year of teaching, and my fifth year in education (because let's be honest, I learned more from being a paraprofessional for three years than some of my education courses taught me).  I want to grow as a person, an educator, and a learner-so I figured a blog would be a great, and very public way, to help hold me accountable. Thanks for checking out my blog, and I hope you find a little bit of entertainment while you're here!
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