Being a substitute teacher has given me the chance to see how others teach. One of my favorite memories was escorting a special-needs student to his dance class. He was taking dance as an enrichment and they were working him into one of their routines. Of course, he really stood out in a room full
I’ve been doing a lot of substitute teaching lately, which has led to some reflection. Everyone is in favor of a quality education for all our children, but what exactly does that mean? It means a deaf child gets a sign-language interpreter, a child with a seizure disorder has an aide, and a child confined
What’s the most eye-catching opening line of anything you have ever read? I like to pick a work at random and just read the first line to see how interesting it sounds. “Once upon a time…” just doesn’t cut it anymore. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was
In a earlier post, I had asked if English had enough words. This week I found a new word that has been newly invented. What do you call people who are more than friends? How about framily? That’s combining friends and family. I found this in the April 2015 issue of Runner’s World magazine
Have you ever heard of Juli Windsor? She finished her first Boston Marathon in 2014. And she’s three feet nine inches tall. She and a friend a little bit taller, John Young, were in the in the 2013 Boston Marathon. You know, the year of the bombing, and they were halted a half mile short
Today I got another reminder of how high school has changed since I was a student. This morning some students came into my classroom selling the school’s news magazine. I had a couple extra dollars, so I bought one. The cover story is “Let’s Talk About Sex.” Other major articles are “Being Gay in High
One benefit of substitute teaching is I can follow students throughout their academic careers. I saw a young lady with anger-management issues successfully complete high school. Students I first met as fifth graders are now finishing eighth grade. It’s a very rewarding feeling. On the other hand… I especially remember one young man I worked
I see Forbes magazine has published its billionaires list again. http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/ What would it be like to have that much money? I have no idea myself. But twice in my life I’ve gotten a glimpse of wealthy lifestyles. It’s like some careless person has left the door ajar, and I got to peek inside. The first
I was reminded again today that there are two sides to every story. In this case it was whimsical, but the point is valid nonetheless. I had taken one of my infrequent substitute-teaching jobs in elementary and noticed a book in the classroom, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf. Did
If you could travel through time, would you? Which way would you go, forward or backward? What if you went forward and the world no longer existed when you arrived? If you went backward, why? Right a wrong? Warn of an impending disaster? Fix a relationship? Change history? Make yourself wealthy? Today I was catching