Category Archives: Thoughts and Reflections

Last year in March I thought about a project where my students could study what they were interested interested in. We called it #projectspeak. We looked at Prince Ea’s What is School for? We discussed their interests but my students in that moment struggled to identify something that they really felt passionate about. There wasContinue reading “Important Conversations”

I was at work incredibly early this morning and sitting at my computer in the silence. On my desk there was a little pile of books, to my left another behind me some more. The shelves of the classroom library in their typical Friday disarray. I love my classroom library. I love to be ableContinue reading “We can’t Read what we Can’t Access”

“One upon a time, there was a boy who was invincible,” he whispered, breathing in deeply and filling his lungs with knight superpowers. The Boy, the Boat, and the Beast-Samantha M. Clark I read this line this morning. The “Once upon a time” section appears throughout the story as the main character talks about himself.Continue reading “Once Upon a time”

A few years ago I attended a conference where I was introduced to a speaker named Dr.Jody Carrington. The sessions discussed emotional regulation and another talked about the concept of compassion fatigue and those in fields of work like teaching needing to practice some self care. I was immediately struck by her passion (and theContinue reading “The most important work”

This time of year the Gilsons, when not teaching, are at basketball. If not working in the concession, I am sitting on the bench or in the stands cheering the kids on. We love to support the kids, we love visiting with the parents but it is a time commitment and I think often otherContinue reading “What a team looks like”

Yesterday I was talking with a teacher in a very small school who has had 3 or 4 students this year attempt suicide or report suicidal ideations to the point of having to enter a monitored treatment program. We are talking 10 year olds. Some friends, some not but all dealing with mental health strugglesContinue reading “What do we do when the world is on fire?”

Tomorrow we head back to school. The break has been pretty relaxing. I did less work than I should have, I watched a lot of movies and listened to some awesome podcasts. I should have read more but reading slumps happen and I have a lot of books waiting for me when I am ready.Continue reading “Hello Tomorrow”

Lately I have been a part of a lot of conversations around equity and antiracist pedagogy and how so much of the work is being left to those who are also unfairly burdened by polices and practices that uphold those inequities. The conversations lead by amazing educators have been eye opening and I am learningContinue reading “A Quick Post”

Ok so yesterday I wrote about the questions I have been struggling with and I don’t want anyone to think that I have solved them because I most certainly have not. But as I went to log out last night I stumbled on the wekly live chat with the amazing Dr.Jody Carrington who has anContinue reading “Words Found”

The last few years I have taken part and had my students take part in the whole #oneword project. Pick a word to frame your year around versus resolutions. My first year was Creativity and last year I chose Valiant. It was fun to think about ways I could frame the year around the word.Continue reading “Not yet the word”