We've been blessed with two gorgeous, intelligent daughters. They are strong willed, know what they want, and will do great things with their lives for certain. But (you knew it was coming), sometimes, they make parenting difficult! Our oldest is... Continue Reading →
I've kind of taken a week off from soical media - very few Tweets, a post or two on Instagram, a few Facebook posts and likes, but otherwise, I've tried to disconnect myself. I've needed to gather my thoughts about... Continue Reading →
Iowa City is a happy place for my family. I sound like my students with their writing, but it's true. It's always been a fun place for us to visit, ever since my wife and I started dating. Her aunt and uncle... Continue Reading →
Yeah, it's not Friday, I know. Who knows, maybe there will be TWO of these things put out! 🙂 I had a blog started about being positive in the face of a lot of negative stuff. It's been a hard... Continue Reading →
If you've come for the happy thought on Friday, that will not be today. I blew up last night. Lost my temper, lost my cool, and I'm not proud of it. My youngest daughter is a beautiful child. She... Continue Reading →
I know: - "learning is messy." - "a quiet classroom isn't always learning." - "I know my class is engaged by the noise level." - Insert your own volume-based educational statement here. Heck, I've said some of those things out... Continue Reading →
Today is "Black Friday" a day, as one blogger put it, "the American version of The Hunger Games but with sale items instead of food." Seems about right. The thankfulness of yesterday turns into the commercialized feeding frenzy of today. So, our plan... Continue Reading →
Now wait just a dang second.... isn't whole grade sharing the bane of small school existence? It's this a death sentence for independent districts, getting swallowed up, creating larger, less personal learning spaces? In some cases, yup. This is my... Continue Reading →
Tonight, we tried our first "Literacy Open House", similar to a open house we had last year with math. All of our elementary teachers worked on some kind of literacy topic, preparing a 15 minute presentation that would hold three... Continue Reading →
The Life of a Conflicted Teacher 