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Some days I feel like I’m spinning my wheels. Nothing seems to go as planned. My students are out of control. I’m out of control. And I’m bewildered. Maybe they are, too. But recently something happened that made me realize I haven’t been handling disruptions well. One of my students came up to me and Read more

I may have previously written about this elsewhere. I don’t know. But it’s something that has been bothering me a lot this year. As a teacher, I am uncomfortable with the idea that a student’s diagnosis serve as an excuse for their behavior or academic performance. In other words, if a student is diagnosed with Read more

Read aloud has always been a very important part of my classroom. I’ve alternated between reading class novels and reading picture books with my students. Sometimes I’ve read both a picture book and a chapter of a novel on the same day. This year has been different. On some days, as the children are getting Read more

In math, students had to determine what fraction of a rectangle was shaded. They debated whether it was 1/3 or 1/4. (The rectangle was cut into three parts – 1/2 and 2/4. The shaded part was 1/4 of the whole.) I had to bite my tongue not to interfere in their conversation. Instead, I listened Read more

Setting boundaries doesn’t come easy to me, but I’m learning even when it feels uncomfortable. I don’t protect my time well. I tend to say ‘yes’ more often than I say ‘no’. I bring my work life into my home life; I struggle to separate the two. As a new teacher, I wish I hadn’t Read more

Sometimes having too many choices can be daunting. Whether we’re talking about brands of cereals or classroom instructional strategies or about which educator is the latest one to follow, too many choices is not necessarily helpful. Sometimes less is more. Yet, social media has created a thirst for quantity and a dearth of quality. I’ve Read more

I am a white woman. I also identify as Latinx. Growing up I din’t think of myself as white because my family was culturally different from all the white people around me. We were Cuban. We spoke Spanish and our cultural beliefs were different. Our superstitions were also different or, should I say that we Read more

I’ve been neglecting my blog. No matter how many reminders I set. It hasn’t made a difference. No matter how many notifications ping on my phone telling me it’s time to write a blog post. It hasn’t helped. Then, I decided to try a life coach. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Read more

I’m tired. I’m tired of fighting for the same things in education. Over and over again. I’m tired because nothing seems to change. Things only seem to get worse. Teaching is not the same profession today that it was when I was a brand new teacher. Then, I was eager to learn. I sought out Read more