My students surprise me every day. My students delight me every day. My students amuse me every day. My students question me every day. The repetition of phrases like that is a rhetorical device known as an anaphora. While we
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Three Little Letters
Did you know that teachers can have an entire conversation consisting of acronyms? The SEI teacher has an SST meeting for a student who may need an IEP for his SLD. The OT, SLP and SPED teacher need to do
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Content Reading As Teacher Self-Care
It’s no secret that school staff have large and demanding workloads that leave many with little time or energy to take proper care of themselves. Stress, illness, fatigue, apathy, depression, bad temper, and the like tend to follow. Fortunately, teacher
Read MoreUnconditionally
Crowded in a standing-room-only auditorium, I looked beyond the waving sea of tissues, and listened intently as the speaker had to enunciate over a chorus of sniffles. A young woman who had graduated a few years after me was recounting
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A Prepared Environment, Partnerships and Boundaries
This school year is already the year of all years. I thought transitioning to online instruction was a challenge. Nope! I would do it again when compared to how this year has started out. To be fair, this year would
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The Dressmaker and the Educator
The young woman felt like royalty! A fitting for a dress that was made especially for her. On the first visit to the dressmaker’s shop, they had spent about an hour just talking. What was the occasion the date what
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That “Q” Word
It is a new school year, and that means we are starting over fresh! New students, new clothes, new friends, new perspective; moving on from the-school-year-that-must-not-be-named. We kissed online learning good-bye, and are fully back to in-person learning. Hallelujah! On
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Why do you keep teaching?
Back in 1998 when I graduated from Arizona State University, (Go Devils) I was often asked, “Why do you want to become a teacher?” The easy answer was always that I wanted to make a difference in the lives of
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When Good Teachers Go
At the end of last school year, we all contemplated our future careers in education. My friends and I joked about all the other jobs our teaching skills could be used for and clicked through the want ads when they
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Letting Things Go
I am a yes girl. “Mrs. Kirchoff, will you take the lead on this?” Yes. “Mrs. Kirchoff, will you write this up for us?” Yes. “Can you be on this committee?” Yes. “We are looking for volunteers to help out
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