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Elisa Waingort

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A Teacher Musing Out Loud

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  • Musings on a Tuesday Evening

    I am caught between a rock and a hard place…of my own doing. I have made it my mission to say, “Yes. Then, let’s talk about how it went,” when students ask me, “Can I…” or “Am I allowed to…”(This last one really grates on me, for some reason. But that’s a post for another… Read more

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  • A Philosophical Rumination

    One day, as you’re getting on with your life and everything seems great, everything could change. It happens on TV and it happens in real life. I think about the families crossing the border. Hoping for asylum. Thinking they are getting a fresh start on life. Then…separation…cages…despair. I think about the thousands of refugees who… Read more

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  • A Compelled Tribe Post – October Reading

    Even though I am an avid reader, whenever someone asks me to reflect on books that have influenced me in some way, I am not often ready with titles or takeaways. And I wonder why that is. Sometimes it might be because when I read I am in the moment. And then the moment passes.… Read more

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  • Writing Workshop – A Collaborative Writing Experience

    I’m doing something different in writing workshop this year. I didn’t plan it. It just happened. Or maybe I had been planning it in my head without being aware that’s what I was doing. Or maybe, I seized the perfect moment to do this with a student, and it went so well that I ended… Read more

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  • Inquiry Teaching and Learning

    When you hear the word inquiry what comes to mind? Do you envision kids studying abstract topics without teacher guidance? Do you imagine they are left “to figure it out” on their own? Do you picture a chaotic room where kids don’t know what to do? Or worse, do you think that the kids in… Read more

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  • Homework – Yay or Nay?

    I am taking @IanAByrd’s challenge to create a personal philosophy about homework, or at least to have a clearly developed argument for when students and/or parents want to know why I don’t give homework. This has become a topic of interest recently as other teachers at my school start assigning homework. All I say to… Read more

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  • Stepping Back So We Can Move Forward

    This afternoon didn’t go well. Here’s a list of reasons why: I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. I had a headache that started in the morning and never went away. I was teaching something the kids weren’t ready to learn, at least not all of them and definitely not the way I… Read more

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  • State of the Class – Day #6

    We’ve been in school for a total of six days and even though everything still feels new, many things are starting to feel familiar. We’re staying close to the bell schedule…most of the time. Except for this afternoon when the music teacher showed up at our door to pick up the class because I was… Read more

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  • Tomorrow

    It’s 11:35 p.m. on the night before the first day of a new school year. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be though, from time to time, my mind hovers over the thought that maybe I should have worked in my classroom this weekend. There must be things I’ve forgotten to do, I tell myself.… Read more

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  • My Home Office

    For most of my adult life I have been searching for the perfect home office. I know that sounds crazy, but if you’re a writer or a teacher or a reader, or any combination thereof, you will understand. Disclaimer: I also love office supplies. So, the perfect home office. You know the kind. Lots of… Read more

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