Hello Friends, Over the past days, which now total near weeks (a week and a half, plus one weekend, to be exact), we have not been together. This has been hard. Really hard. And over these days and weeks, your teachers, and educational assistants, and custodial staff, and bus drivers, and resource teachers and support, …
It’s indoor recess. I am making the rounds, and uncharacteristically, having a fairly easy time of it. I head into each classroom, make some small chat and then move my way along to another room to do more of the same. I arrive in one room where a student sits at his desk, a scowl …
I received an interesting comment this week on my blog, with regards to my viral post on what students remember most about teachers: “This is sweet talk about how important it is to relate to students’ lives. A certain amount of that is important or you can’t reach the students. It is also critical to …
We are standing together, even as the long line stretches out the door, snaking around one corner and then further back into the spacious funeral home chapel. Our feet ache from our high-heeled shoes, but we are both so intent on seeing each and every person that places their warm hand into ours so as …
One year ago, I wrote a blog post titled “What Students Remember Most About Teachers” which went viral the second month after I published it. Since then, it has been the single most-read item on my blog with hundreds of views each day and over 2 million views to date. In particular, at key times …
I recently ran into a former professor of mine from my undergrad days at U.P.E.I. I actually had been invited to attend a talk that he was presenting to a small group of people in his home- thus the reason for our paths crossing. As I was re-introduced to him by my friend (after a …
My two kiddos are playing a game of catch in the small space that is our camping site. We are sandwiched in between two large R.V.’s causing our own hardtop to dwarf in comparison. As I sit by a dwindling campfire chatting with my parents, I watch the baseball they are throwing inch ever closer …
Dear Counselor Down the Hall: In December, before the busy rush of Christmas, before the calm of early January (after the seasonal chaos), before the press of semester changes and reporting periods and term-end assessments and all that entails: I wrote a letter. My letter was written to a young teacher and it was …
To teach with heart- formidable task as that might be with the outcomes and core curricular goals driving our attention. But teaching with heart is the one, sure way through; it is the one way forward and the only way out for some of our students. Halted as they might be by circumstances, events, issues …
