The Life of a Conflicted Teacher

I saw this phrase in my Twitter message box and laughed out loud!   If you've read this blog at all, you know that I'm no writer. I'm just some guy who puts a lot of words on a page,... Continue Reading →

"Read the directions first, then ask questions."   How many times has that statement come out of my mouth?  Some days, I just want rolling markee that I can put up at the front of my room that has an... Continue Reading →

Ok, I've got a grumpy crabby post that I was thinking about, but then it hit me, it's Read-In day!  Why would I ever want to spread my curmudgeonry on to anyone else on a day like this??   For those of... Continue Reading →

This will probably be my shortest blog, so pay attention! 🙂   We got word that our Iowa Assessment scores were back today. Yippee (please note the extreme sarcasm here).   Every time I try to write about this, it comes out either... Continue Reading →

I won't lie, I'm a very small man.  I love looking at the statistics of this blog, seeing how many times it's been accessed, how many days in a row that someone, anyone, has visited, keeping track of how many... Continue Reading →

We've entered that time in Iowa where we are discussing, re-discussing, hashing and re-hashing Iowa's educational future.  I will be the first to admit, as a state, we've rested on the "well, we are number 1" for far too long.... Continue Reading →

This afternoon, as part of our professional development, we took part in a poverty simulation put on by Northeast Iowa Community Action.  The purpose, pretty obvious, to give us who are decidedly middle class teachers a small sampling of what... Continue Reading →

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for any basketball game: men, women, college, high school, jr. high, you name it I'll watch it. Heck, I've been known to watch 5th and 6th grade basketball games, without my own kids playing... Continue Reading →