If asked to pick a fictional character that most closely describes me in high school, it’s Hermione Granger, hands down. That girl and I are way too similar. Super organized, high strung about school, and bit too judgmental. (I’ve calmed down since high school.) […]
I’ve had a lot of first days of school. From being a student to teaching, I’ve probably done at least 25. Yep, 25. For me, the first day of school was always exciting. I was usually a little nervous or a lot nervous on […]
My original title for this post was “How to turn in a summer assignment that doesn’t suck,” but that seems a little harsh, no? This is how it generally goes: It’s the week before school starts and I suddenly remember that summer assignment I […]
I’ve had a lot of first days of school. From being a student to teaching, I’ve probably done at least 25. Yep, 25. For me, the first day of school was always exciting. I was usually a little nervous or a lot nervous on […]
I taught US Government for many years. And in that course, I touched on every 3rd rail of American politics – race, gender, class, abortion, gun rights, Social Security, etc. Literally every controversial subject possible came up in my class. I expected outraged parent phone […]
I’ve taught summer school several times and really enjoyed it. And even my students seemed to enjoy it. Why? Because summer school is WAAAY more laid back than regular school. (And I taught seniors whose graduation was on the line.) The classes tend to […]
I almost quit my major on the 2nd day of college. I walked into my first college history class sooo excited. Until my professor told us he would try to keep it to 2,000 pages of reading. Two thousand. I almost fell out of my […]
There may or may not be some pictures of me dressed up at a Civil War reenactment when I was in high school. Like full on dressed up with blouse, skirt, and bonnet. Ok, those pictures definitely exist, but I will never show them to […]
Looking back on my teen summers, my memories are . . . pretty hazy. All right, I don’t remember much except when we left home for a vacation. Other than that, they all blend. I believe I spent my time going to friends’ houses, reading, […]
I’m not going to mince words here – I hate summer assignments. I mean, really hate them. I’ve completed them as a student and assigned them as a teacher. Y’all, they’ve got to go. Many AP and IB courses give incoming students an assignment […]
My first year of teaching was exhausting. Literally and figuratively. There were multiple times when I took a nap Friday afternoon and woke up the next morning. But I survived my first year and was proud of what I had done. Yet, when I […]
“So, Ms. P, what IS the Legislative Branch?” Shelly asked. On the day of the Legislative Branch test. As she began taking the test. Clearly, there were some holes in Shelly’s knowledge. But she was not uncommon. Students would come to me right before […]
Ahh, the group project. The bane of many students’ existences. I remember enjoying some group projects in high school because I got to work with my friends. However, as I got older, group projects became less fun and more work. By the time I was […]
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