Do you start the new year by setting goals for yourself? Perhaps it is one word that will be the theme of your year or a set of professional and personal goals. Do you do this with your students as
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The Power of Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences, Part Two
Conferences have come and gone for myself and many educators I know, but districts that start later in the year or have conferences after Fall Break may still be in the midst of these important events. For those reading about
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Failure Is an Option
Their motions are similar: Wide-eyed, pupils darting from side to side, hands fidgeting, an upturn of a smile only to be replaced by a quick, nervous bite of the lips. They scan the room, looking for both a seat and
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Reflections
My 18th year of teaching is ending. Our desks are empty and stacked against the wall, my bookshelves are covered with butcher paper, and I have 5 mere hours to entertain my almost-sixth graders before we say our goodbyes. I’ve
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The Requirement of Reflection
My teaching assignment changed this year, about five weeks into the first quarter. Due to a district policy of only counting “bodies in seats,” not enrolled students, our 5th-grade class sizes were huge (36 – 38 students in tiny portable
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Wrestling with Myself
Marcus Aurelius said, “The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.” No time of the school year feels more like wrestling than testing season. Between analyzing benchmark results and the looming high-stakes tests, it feels like the perfect
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