Monthly Archives: March 2013

     “We will be having outdoor recess this morning boys and girls but please use your best judgement regarding the mud on the playground,” our principal announced over the intercom.  I peered out the window.  Dirty remnants of snow … Continue reading →

Conferences are done for another year.  My full mind releases gradually as the evening unfolds.  My breathing slows.  I stop biting the side of my tongue, change into fleece, and sit down to a yummy lassagne dinner prepared by a … Continue reading →

     What is there about young children in pajamas that makes them so endearing?  I watched as my students bounced into the classroom, flanneled, robed, and slippered.  They looked so much smaller and even my most impish of friends … Continue reading →

     My favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon is to read the New York Times Book Review.  I read it from first page to last, articles, reviews, advertisements, and commentary.  Today while reading, a recommendation listed under … Continue reading →

      March conferences in first grade allow us the opportunity to really “show off ” the growth of our students.  There was one child’s work in particular, that I was especially looking forward to displaying .  Charlie, my most hesitant writer in September, was now … Continue reading →

       If you are like me, this is the speaker you have been waiting for all year.  I was so excited when Martha asked me to introduce Penny Kittle and after I agreed I spent time thinking about … Continue reading →

     I recognized her on stage today. It would have been hard to guess 16 years ago when Mal was in first grade that she would grow up to become a comedian. As she pranced about the stage growling … Continue reading →

  I awoke  for the second morning at my hotel in the small college town of Oberlin, Ohio. It would be impossible to begin the day again with hotel , restaurant coffee. Peeking out of the rubber curtains I saw … Continue reading →