“Mom, they’re driving me crazy! They used to be so much better behaved. WHY did I go into teaching? Ugh.” I was complaining to my mother about my students. You know, as one does. “Well, I can tell it’s May,” she replied. “You always complain […]
A friend of mine has SEVEN children. Seven. They range in age from preschool to high school. I started thinking about Teacher Appreciation Week and how darn expensive that could get for her family. Especially, factoring in multiple teachers or coaches at the middle and […]
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.) Like […]
“Mom, they’re driving me crazy! They used to be so much better behaved. WHY did I go into teaching? Ugh.” I was complaining to my mother about my students. You know, as one does. “Well, I can tell it’s May,” she replied. “You always complain […]
A friend of mine has SEVEN children. Seven. They range in age from preschool to high school. I started thinking about Teacher Appreciation Week and how darn expensive that could get for her family. Especially, factoring in multiple teachers or coaches at the middle and […]
My AP US History teacher was perhaps . . . not the best person to prepare us for the exam. I knew there was a problem when 1st quarter ended and we were STILL in the colonial period. I lived in Virginia, but come on! […]
I had assigned a writing project to my US History students; when they were turned in I had 1 extra. That’s right. One extra. In addition to his graded assignment, a student actually created a SECOND project and turned it in. For funsies. That’s when […]
The first time I walked into a student’s house to work with him felt weird. First, I was only working with one kid, not thirty. In fact, I would eventually know him better than any student I had ever taught. And it was all so […]
I first realized something was wrong with teen sleep while student teaching. I taught 2nd-semester seniors (whoever scheduled that clearly hated me!) School started at 7:20 and I watched my students walk in with coffee, caffeinated sodas, and candy bars to wake themselves up. While […]
“So, I’m going to take 7 IB classes next year, Ms. P”. Josh was a junior, getting ready to apply to competitive schools the next fall. There was NO need to take all IB classes, but he insisted. I’d taught Josh when he was a […]
Did you ever watch the show Community? It’s about a group of lovably weird community college students who join a study group that changes their lives. That’s right – they create the group to study for Spanish class, but end up staying together, becoming the […]
According to Hollywood, you need the following to study: Big books, and lots of them A notebook, in which you take feverish notes and every once in a while rip out pages, ball them up, and throw them on the floor Highlighters, for feverish highlighting […]
“Um, Ms. Porzel, why haven’t we ever learned how to do this before?” my student asked while we were setting up their planners for the semester. I was teaching a small studies skills class to 9th graders. The course was focused on organization, study strategies, […]
