Category: Uncategorized

    Every culture has different Valentine’s traditions. Whether they call it Valentine’s Day or not, most cultures devote at least one day a year to the celebration of love.     In the U.S. and many western nations, we give cards, chocolates, flowers, and even jewelry to our sweethearts on February 14.   In

Today was…Monday… and like many teachers (and students) out there, I hit snooze more than once. I rolled into work with an extra-large, extra-strong cup of coffee. I didn’t have my glasses–I broke them on Friday, so I was kind of disoriented. Fortunately for others on the road, I’m far-sighted. I had a mile-long to-do

Tonight, I was reading a blog post featured in The Washington Post by Ellie Herman. The title, Why So Many Teachers Feel Bad so Much of the Time, caught my eye. I clicked on it from twitter because I was curious. As a teacher who loves my job but often feels bad, I was intrigued. Was it

Yes, it is confusing…the holiday break. I, once again, awoke on the first morning of the break to the scratchy-throat-ed awareness that I was sick. I have a mile-long to do list each holiday, and each holiday, I get sick. I wallow on the couch, occasionally trying to get something done, but eventually succumbing to

Especially when it’s about crime. Oh yes, all about crime. In my sociology class this past week, we cut out articles from the newspaper, explained what type of crimes they exemplified, and analyzed them under the umbrella of specific sociological theories. It was engaging for the students, plus it re-enforced the information we needed to

Death, Divorce, and Moving–the big three. Thankfully, we’ve only been moving for the past week. That makes everything out of sorts around the house–and my blog late. But it’s not too late to talk about Thanksgiving. There are still three days before my students disperse for the holidays, and hopefully a little turkey and family

Unit 6: The Age of Exploration…Revealed! Click Here! Everything you need for a unit on Exploration. It covers European Explorers, Muslim Empires, Native American Empires, and China and Japan. Only six more to go (for that course). These things are time consuming to create but a pleasure to implement. Students cut, paste, draw, write, analyze,

I love Halloween. I love the fall–the crisp air, the red and gold leaves, that feeling you get when you sit outside with a book and a cup of coffee (audible sigh)….Fall is all about change, and change is very bittersweet (let’s not think about the alternative to change, not on this beautiful day). Winter

We’re having midterm exams this week at my school, so it’s been looking over old tests and playing review games in tandem with working on the new unit (we have no time to waste in world history on the block schedule). I’m a big fan of playing Jeopardy “trivia-style” because it saves time. My students

I’m a planner. I plan everything–my work day, my family time, my alone time–everything. Maybe it’s from spending most of my life listening for a bell to ring. I’m serious. When my son was a baby, I had a schedule that read like this: 6:00 AM, feed baby; 6:15, rock baby; 6:45, put baby in