This morning, while drinking my coffee and perusing the news, I came across one of the advice columns about elementary school administrator who is over the top nosey. “This ought to be good…” I’m thinking as I start reading. I’m not even into the third sentence and my blood starts to boil. ‘My 10-year-old’s school administrators are over-the-top nosey and won’t stay out of our business. I think they mean well, but at times, they try to micromanage the care of our child.’ As I keep reading, the gist of the complaint is this: the kids shoes were falling off…
The Best Years of My Thighs….body image lessons learned by a middle aged woman
OMG…did I just say that…out loud…and commit it to writing?!? Does this mean I have accepted my middle aged-ness?! Here it is ladies and gentlemen….(by gentlemen…that means my husband who better savor every word I write 😉) I am in fact middle aged. I prefer not to wear my glasses because they just seem to make everyone, including me, look a little bit older. When I wear my glasses, I can see the crows feet, laugh lines and elevens so much clearer….even (especially!?) on my own face. Two days ago, I plucked out my sixth gray hair….(And I’d like to…
Mansplaining Dinner
I came across this meme a couple days ago, and I felt this all the way to my core. All my mom friends liked and loved it and my husband commented, “so true, I’m sick of figuring out dinner”. Ok ladies….. every.ounce.of.self.control.I.have not to explain the error to this thinking. Because here is the thing: For men, figuring out dinner entails either calling ahead and picking up pizza or tacos, or buying pot pies from the meat market. (I won’t lie….those are life). Now I realize this is a generalization….but in general…you get what I’m saying. Women on the other…
….With Liberty and Justice for ALL: Not Just a Level Playing Field
As I’m scrolling Facebook this meme came up. I’ve seen the equality/equity version of this and referenced it many times in thinking about my students receiving accommodations and modifications under an IEP of 504 plan or an English language acquisition plan, but this meme, which includes the social justice element really hits home. I remember being in Hermosillo Mexico with my family and being in the mercados. I remember seeing large families buying new shoes for their children, shiny patent leather for the girls, and sturdy brown loafers for the boys. And then I remember seeing large families, with their…
You Don’t Know What You Know Until You Know It….Lessons Learned After the Test
This is topic that has been on my mind for a while now….and it started with a message I recieved several years back from a former student. The story starts in the early 2000’s, back when DARE was a thing in schools. If DARE was before your time, the gist of it was that one week a year called Red Ribbon Week, the local police departments would come into the schools and give the DARE presentation about how to “Just Say No’ to drugs. All the kids would make a committment to “Just Say No’, and they would learn about…
Lessons Learned in the Principal’s Office During a Pandemic
This has been a year for the books. The whole world will agree, we have been through a lot collectively this year. While some professional fields worked twice as hard doing the job they always do, some professional fields had to take additional risks with their own health and safety to get their jobs done. Some professional fields shut down and stopped in their tracks, and some moved offices into their spare bedrooms and set up offices at their dining tables. And then you have teachers….who had to completely redefine what the design and delivery of instruction looks like. They…
Raising the kinds of kids people enjoy being around
Do you remember when you were a young adult and you would see kids acting up, and you would think to yourself (or say out loud as one of my kids did) ‘My kids are never going to act that way’. And then in adulthood and parenthood you realize that is way easier said than done? You realize that there are some behaviors you have zero control over, like the overtired toddler I the grocery store who has had ENOUGH….and there are some things you do have control over, like how your children interact with and treat others as a…
The Power of Authentic Apologies as part of Conflict Resolution
Nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes. This is a conversation that takes place at least weekly in my office, sometimes daily, and recently, multiple times in a day. As I sit thinking about the idea of apologizing when a mistake, poor judgement, or hurtful action has taken place, when and to whom to apologize is very nuanced. Some people don’t feel like they are in the wrong, some people just don’t care that they were in the wrong, and some people don’t have the words to express remorse at being wrong. And sometimes right and wrong are not…
Teacher Appreciation Shouldn’t be Once a Year!
Especially this year. Just sayin’. This has been a year that has pushed educators to the edge, from the principal’s office all the way to the custodial crew…we have all had things added to our already full educational plates. Who are we kidding…I think we traded in plates for platters becasue that’s what educators do. We make it work. We find a way. We do the work and we educate the kids. And sometimes the parents. This year, in addition to the design and delivery of instruction, assessment and data analysis, differentiated instruction and MTSS groupings, collaboration and professional development,…
Lessons From the Past, Reflections for the Future
I think as parents, our parenting is heavily influenced by our parents, just not in the ways that many people think. I’ll clarify: yes, I take many of the same parenting approaches that my mom took when raising me, from discipline to values….just as I see my children using many of those same strategies with their children. But I feel like there is a deeper undercurrent to that influence, something that speaks to the inner self of who our parents were as people and how they raised us, and the inner selves of who we are and how we raise…