Tag Archives: life

Does money matter for teachers?

People used to ask me, “What do you do?” I’d say, “I’m a Publications Specialist.” Before that I’d say, “I’m an editor, writer, graphic artist, or copy editor.” They’d nod and smile in approval and ask more questions about it. I felt respected. Now, when people ask that question, I say, “I’m a teacher.” TheirContinueContinue reading “Does money matter for teachers?”

Religion is in the details.

At the end of the first week back to school in Florida, I stood in a line with moms beaten, worried, and tired. We were from everywhere in Miami. We wore business clothes, jeans, and sweatpants. The “perfect” mom with the straight, red hair, black V-neck sweater, and pencil skirt raised her eyebrows as theContinueContinue reading “Religion is in the details.”

I Remember My Dream

Digging graves, unconsciously, just digging. Scaring everyone. Dreams…well…they change. They morph into something scientific, to be dissected or picked apart. Between disillusionment and the idea that you needed to be more than what you should be or than what you really wanted. You don’t really dig graves. You dream, like every single one of us.ContinueContinue reading “I Remember My Dream”

Sometimes, we just don’t need to talk.

Relationships grow, crumble, fade, part, and regenerate. It’s when they’re quiet that you know you’ve done something right. It’s the kind of quiet where neither one of you needs to talk. You don’t need to ogle each other like teenagers or stare lovingly into each other’s eyes like you desperately can’t live without the otherContinueContinue reading “Sometimes, we just don’t need to talk.”

The Best Summer Ever

The great part about being a parent is always the intensity with which kids force me to have fun. They bend my perception of myself backwards to a time when I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to stand like that or say those things. So, here’s what happens when you spend summer with kids. 1.ContinueContinue reading “The Best Summer Ever”

The Colors of To Kill A Mockingbird

Every year since I began teaching, my students and I read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee together. They reluctantly open it and groan because after the first page, they almost unanimously claim confusion and therefore annoyance. By the third chapter, they’re excited, irritated, laughing out loud, and angry. They love reading with aContinueContinue reading “The Colors of To Kill A Mockingbird”

You’re only as good as your enemy. That would be you, mom.

Rolling your eyes at your mother seems a rite of passage for most girls. My daughter rolled her eyes so much lately that I finally rolled mine back at her. Of course, I was extra dramatic about it. I rolled my eyes up with an extended flutter to emphasize the severity of only the whiteContinueContinue reading “You’re only as good as your enemy. That would be you, mom.”

Our Education God: The Test

Teachers often share many similarities with the students they admonish, chastise, chase, change, and ultimately love like a mother who spends her days doing the same. Because we’re together so much of the time and essentially trapped in the same environment, teachers want to escape just as much as students do, especially at this timeContinueContinue reading “Our Education God: The Test”