It is Teacher Appreciation Week here in the US and after a 3rd school year where we have all been impacted in some form or fashion by COVID, the majority of teachers have very complicated feelings about our profession. I wrote this piece last year in honor of one of my most favorite teachers–someone who […]
Category Archives: Education
In late January 2020, I joined a number of my ROW teammates to train to become UCanRow2 indoor rowing coaches. The idea was that member coaches could take some of the weight off of the other ROW coaches (non-member) and increase our options. Little did any of us realize that within 2 months, 5 of […]
First up, let’s talk about the Inauguration! What a day! So wonderful to celebrate America’s first female Vice President, first African American Vice President, first Caribbean American Vice President and first Asian American Vice President! I wore my pearls on Wednesday while teaching in honor of Madame Vice President, Kamala Harris, and was able to […]
The quieter one. More reserved. My public high school experience was one of privilege. Granted I didn’t realize at the time just how lucky I was, but in comparison to where I have taught throughout my own teaching career, I recognize just how much we had back then in regards to resources–and amazing teachers. Many […]
This evening, the Chicago Teachers Union hosted an emergency tele-town hall meeting for its 20,000 plus membership. The current Chicago Public Schools plan is to have schools begin to reopen in January, with a small group of Pre-K and Cluster students returning in person January 11th and their teachers (and support staff) returning the week […]
For the past number of years, Chicago Public Schools has collaborated with Google to present a summer tech bootcamp called Googlepalooza (named after the big summer concert festival that is now housed in Chicago, Lollapalooza) where teachers are able to attend a variety of sessions to learn various tech skills and tricks to help prepare […]
Hello! One of my daily class norms so far with teaching virtually this crazy school year, has been very old school: I say ‘hello’ and call roll. By this time in a usual school year, I know my students enough to take attendance by simply looking over my classroom and double checking a seating chart […]
Wow! Last evening, I logged into WordPress, my blog hosting site, where I have had my blog for 8 years, to continue this post on triggers, after an exhausting week–which compounded an extraordinarily tiring, exhilarating, crazy, engaging, and stressful first month of virtual teaching. WordPress had been warning that they were changing up their whole […]
And we are off! I knew the 2020-21 School Year was going to be a wild ride when I was Battening Down the Hatches last month–and if these first couple of weeks are any indication, I was definitely correct. If nothing more, when things settle down, this will be the most unique school year of […]
Last week we had a super intense storm, which blew in and out very suddenly, with lots of wind, thunder and lightening. As I was securing our deck while the wind kicked up–bringing chairs and lighter plants inside, putting more solid things down low–a lightening bolt flashed and struck a power line in our alley. […]
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