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I don’t know why I get nervous about parent-teacher conferences. They usually go well. My students’ families want to know if their child is doing well in school (if they’re happy, engaged, learning), and if something is not going well, they want to hear about that too. But they want suggestions. They want to know… Read more

I just finished the first round of parent-teacher conferences. Tomorrow is the second day. We – parents and children- talked about what is going well and why, what’s not going well and why, and the children fleshed out their goals. I had one in-person conference and the rest were virtual; the same for tomorrow. Next… Read more

Today’s slice is short, but maybe not so sweet. I teach. I read. I write. I love. I’m exhausted. Cross posted to the Two Writing Teachers March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Read more

I am taking a course through the University of Cambridge called The Fundamentals of Educational Dialogue. This is the second week of the course. The readings, videos and other resources for the first week were phenomenal. They support what I’ve previously read about classroom talk and go deeper. This evening, I met my research buddy.… Read more

Note: I was inspired to write my autobiography by another slicer. (Sorry, but I can’t remember who that was, but thank you for the inspiration!) I was born in a small town in Cuba just 30 minutes from Varadero beach – the most beautiful beach in the world, IMHO. I’ve lived in the US, Canada… Read more

I’m reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Talking to Strangers. This is not the first book of Gladwell’s I’ve read and it certainly won’t be the last. Gladwell is masterful at building an argument, even if at first it’s not easy to follow where he’s going. At least, that has been my experience. Gladwell claims that the… Read more

I have (mostly) stopped reading or listening to the news lately, which doesn’t mean I’m uninformed. I (mostly) know what’s going on in the world. There are (mostly) no surprises. History does repeat itself. It is just showing up differently of late. Jaded, you say? Well, yes and, no. What’s happening now, around the world,… Read more

I spent a lot of time today reading through school emails and blog posts. And as I did, I wrote down tips, strategies, and events that I want to keep track of or remember. But I have yet to touch the list of things I would like to cross off my to-do list this weekend,… Read more

Yo enseño en una escuela bilingüe. Los niños aprenden en inglés y en español. La mayoría de mis alumnos solo hablan inglés. La gran interrogante en nuestra escuela y en nuestro distrito escolar sigue siendo: ¿que podemos hacer para que nuestros alumnos hablen cada vez más en español? Para ayudarles a desarrollar su español de… Read more

I keep a daily record of what I call, wins and joys. I include small, medium and large activities that I accomplish every day. Here’s a list of my students’ wins and joys for today. —Students practiced their lines, in Spanish, for a scene in a play that was filmed in the afternoon. —Students read… Read more