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 →
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 →
You know, getting this dang blog done on a Friday is killing me!! 🙂 Yesterday it was school, ball practice, high school play, then home. From 7:40 AM to 10:15 PM, I had a total of 30 minutes at home.... Continue Reading →
No negative thoughts. No mention of them as I have a beautiful wife, daughters, a solid job, solid home, and so many other things in my favor right now. My happy thought for the day: Halloween! Yup, as a teacher,... Continue Reading →
Yeah, I missed Friday. My wife had a couple of appointments in which she needed a driver. Nothing major by any means, but I was with her, a nice feeling in itself. And honestly, I've been struggling. Now, I've said... Continue Reading →
Last night, my wife and I got to watch our daughters sing as part of our conference vocal music festival. If you don't know what this is, imagine five high school music programs all singing together as one with a... Continue Reading →
I really had to struggle with this today. This has not been a good week for me personally or professionally and the positive vibe that I've worked on to create is in danger of crumbling. My kids are going every which... Continue Reading →
Yup, I'm going to hold myself to this one. My class is 30 of the more talkative kids I've ever come across. The tsunami of paperwork that both these kids and the district is creating has me a bit overwhelmed,... Continue Reading →
The Life of a Conflicted Teacher 