April 2nd, 2013 in 30something, adventure, hello universe? I love you, help, here is my heart, i know- we all LOVE him, i may write about the west wing forever, i promise this is cool, i should be a cheerleader, i want this, I'm yoda. Everyone else is a grasshopper, it makes sense to me, it's a good thing, it's a long one (twss), just do what i say, just say yes, karma is going to get you, mindful happiness, school, something I won't forget, sometimes you just have to leap, this one might be my favourite, when i ask you to do things for me 
I have a student in my class, let’s call him Jake. He’s (secretly) one of my favourite students because he tends to see the glass half full and is grumpy in the most endearing way. He struggles socially and spends a lot of recesses with me as he says “I don’t have friends because my brain has a hard time making some”. He has big brown eyes and his shoe laces are always undone. Jake has a lot of anxiety issues and when I have a substitute at school, he’s so worried about me he works in counsellors office to help …READ MORE
August 6th, 2012 in advice, and now you might know everything, confession of the day, I'm yoda. Everyone else is a grasshopper, it seemed like a good idea at the time..., it's a long one (twss), it's okay- you can skim this one, just do what i say, lists, school, soapbox, the J.O.B., the title says it all, when I go all Dr. Phil on you I’m a teacher.
I spend one thousand, three hundred and twenty three hours a year with kids.
I have taught every grade from two to eight. I don’t have a doctorate and I’ve never written a book but I do feel like when it comes to working with kids, I have some insight. I’m sure there’s a secret teacher handbook sitting on some shelf somewhere that says “DO NOT TELL PEOPLE OUR SECRETS”, but I think there are certain things that parents should know. And would make the world run ten thousand times better.
Secret #1: Of course we have …READ MORE
June 27th, 2011 in advice, charm, games we play, hello universe? I love you, is it weird this makes me cry?, it's a long one (twss), other people say it better, people i like, school, teaching, this one might be my favourite, youth One of the absolute best parts of teaching young kids is that you are there for all those quotes and stories that come out unfiltered. Young kids don’t always put the words in the right order, they don’t care what others think and they are never politically correct. Which makes conversations with them one of the highlights of my job. So whenever we had downtime, whether it was eating at lunchtime or riding on a fluorescent orange school bus coming back from a field trip, I always liked to ask my third grade class questions. About love and books and …READ MORE
October 21st, 2009 in and now you might know everything, i should be a P.S.A., I'm yoda. Everyone else is a grasshopper, it makes sense to me, it's always easier to say it than do it, life lesson, overwhelmed doesn't even begin..., school, self improvement, teaching, the J.O.B., the less i worry the happier i am, the title says it all, the world according to me, this tag is for you Arm!, what i found when i went looking, when I go all Dr. Seuss on you, you're skimming this one I’m sitting here in my classroom- one that was so ugly when I first met it, I almost cried. It was a thousand shades of beige with ripped construction paper and borders that didn’t quite meet around bulletin boards. It had dirty walls, smeared windows and it smelled like my grandmother’s basement. It had torn posters haphazardly dangling from the last cold remnants of sticky tack, a small collection of tattered books housed in a dirty plastic bin and 10 lonely desks stood in the center of the room.
I look around now. I have brightly colored material stretched over …READ MORE
September 22nd, 2009 in and no you can't say world peace, hello universe? I love you, here is my heart, i love fragment sentences, i need to spend more time on spelling, i second that emotion, I'm yoda. Everyone else is a grasshopper, it happened this week, it makes sense to me, italics make it appear more thoughtful/interesting, life lesson, other people say it better, question of the day, school, so sappy it hurts, the J.O.B., what i found when i went looking, you're skimming this one I don’t do maxi dresses (I’m too short) and I’m not really in love with granola (blame the granola binge of ’06), but the way I talk to my class sometimes, I’m sure I’m labeled the ‘hippie teacher’. We talk about feelings and goals and quotes that inspire us. We talk about why we are learning and how we are learning it and what we can do with the knowledge we are gaining. We sometimes talk about how what we learn in school just isn’t for school, it’s for life- that every piece of information we gather is to help …READ MORE
September 7th, 2009 in 1/2 funny 1/2 serious 100% important, and now you might know everything, are you there God? It's me- ripping off Judy Blume, confession of the day, earning my dork badge, i complain because I care, it happened this week, it's not you it's me, italics make it appear more thoughtful/interesting, lists, overwhelmed doesn't even begin..., school, the J.O.B., the one that nobody reads because of the title, these are the things that happen to me, you're skimming this one I was going to start this post as though I was dead and writing to you from the great beyond. But it was high on the creep factor and low on the funny (much like a guy I made many bad choices with). But I felt like I need to make some reference to death since I’ve started getting emails with- “ARE YOU DEAD?”. Which has caused to reflect on the fact that hey, I’m not dead. So I should write something to show that I AM alive, even if I’ve spent every waking moment of the last two weeks …READ MORE
August 11th, 2009 in AHHHHHHHHHHH!, and now you might know everything, confession of the day, hello universe? I love you, i love fragment sentences, it happened this week, let's not talk about how long this took, school, seriously, teaching, the title says it all, who's the boss now?, work I have a job.
An honest to goodness teaching job.
This year.
In a school.
Where I will go to the same classroom everyday and teach grade four students about reading and writing and how to not write run on sentences like this one.
I have a job.
(Also? If you want to make a difference and gain huge karma points- go here and see how you can help!)
Thank you so much for your kind words and emails everyone!
May 27th, 2009 in 98% of me thinks this is funny, AHHHHHHHHHHH!, conversation of the day, i am slowly going crazy, I'm yoda. Everyone else is a grasshopper, it happened this week, lists, school, teaching, the one that nobody reads because of the title, the title says it all, these are the things that happen to me, Things I Said Today, you're skimming this one, youth The title says it all. Here are ten things I said today (and I only started writing them down at lunch- that’s how crazy this class was). I spent a better part of my drive home daydreaming of a workplace where no one put things down their pants while talking to me. I’m sure there is a GREAT dirty joke in there but I’m too tired to find it.
1. “If you keep talking inappropriately about Michael Jackson, you will spend your recess with me”.
2. “Show me that you are ready for gym. That means you need to get …READ MORE
January 15th, 2009 in conversation of the day, it happened this week, oh dear, proof i attract crazy, school, teaching, the J.O.B., the title says it all, these are the things that happen to me, you're skimming this one, youth Somedays I really hate parent bloggers.
Okay, that’s not true (I just needed a really controversial opening line and anything else my brain thought of involved B-list celebrities and was far too offensive to share), but honestly- I’m often pretty envious of parent bloggers. Having a kid is pretty much like having blogging gold on hand 24/7. Seriously. Every 2.8 seconds kids are saying something ridiculous enough that you could blog it and people would think you were hilarious. This is the same reason I get angry at bloggers who own pets. Or have significant others. Or you know, hobbies.
…READ MORE
November 5th, 2008 in 1/2 funny 1/2 serious 100% important, and then i laughed out loud, genius, hello universe? I love you, it makes sense to me, it's ironic because I'm Canadian, midgets and/or peacock feathers dipped in gold, politics, quote of the day, school, so sappy it hurts, something I won't forget, teaching, the title says it all, youth There are moments where I feel like I really am teaching. Surprisingly, they don’t happen often. Between the morning routines, the review, the paint spills, recess time, field trips, class presentations, if I catch a single glimpse of a child experiencing an ‘ah-ha!’ learning moment in a day, I feel lucky.
I got up this morning to teach one of my favorite groups of kids. A grade two class of eighteen very unique students who often make me laugh out loud. It was the block before lunch when one of my favorites came up to me and in a very …READ MORE
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quote of the moment "Once you start googling 'unlikely animal friendships', life gets better."
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