Personal Facebook friends of mine know that, from time to time, I post links, blogs and overall feelings about the teaching profession in addition to the usual, daily things like, “Alaina Adams is eating Frosted Flakes right now.” On September
Read MoreMy Reverse Ark
Do you have any elephants or gorillas in your ark? You might want to consider letting them out.
They’re stinking up the place.
The Best Way to Appreciate a Teacher
Oscar Wilde has a famous quote about work: “The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.” I invoked the spirit of this quote as I drove to work this morning, completely not in the mood. Then I imagined the quote with a slight twist: substitute the word “job” for “teacher”.
Read MoreNo Prom For You!!!!
"Student banned from prom for romantic gesture." This was the headline I read earlier this week. Of course, like the rest of America who read an article covering this topic, I was outraged. How could a boy be suspended from
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The Heart of Teaching
February brings many flutters and shudders for teachers. The flutters are connected to the chocolate, Sweetheart candy, and wonderfully-sappy cards that tell us how we’re the best teachers ever. The shudders come from a month full of test-prep and the emergence of
Read MoreSo Few Students; So Much Time
Every single student, all 190 of them, have a 30-minute long, midyear conference to which they invite parents, guardians, peers, teachers, and other staff members. They share work from their portfolios, talk about their accomplishments and struggles, reflect on their growth in the Habits of Heart and Mind, and set goals for the short and long term. The advisor facilitates each conference, but the student is truly in the driver’s seat. It’s not strictly a time to show off, although that happens sometimes. The roundtable conference is a time for honest reflection and hard conversations too.
Read MoreWhy I Teach
by Alaina In a recent InterACT blog post, Kelly Kovacic gave a 90 second summary of why she teaches. In solidarity, bloggers in Washington and Arizona are posting blogs to pay tribute to why each of us teaches. Why do
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If I Had a Film Crew
I, rarely, watch movies about teachers – mainly because it drives my husband nuts when I yell at the screen because a teacher has pulled a karate move with inner city students, has placed chains on doors to lock out crime, or is connected
Read MoreElections, Squirrels, Teaching, and Shiny Things.
An old adage suggests that if one wishes to understand why something truly happens, the question“why?” must be posed at least five consecutive times. This allows the questioner to get below surface-level influences and arrive at the root cause. I
Read MoreSorry, Superman.
You can keep waiting for Superman, but he’s not coming. I find the title of a certain highly controversial documentary to be ironic, because it is problematic in its symbolism, alone. To invoke such iconography during the debate over
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