When I started college, I was shocked by what my fellow freshmen were unable to do – laundry, making their beds, making a simple meal, and the list went on. Some of them were having a LOT of problems handling the adult portion of their…
Have you ever seen the movie The Princess Bride? The book starts with a grandfather reading a book aloud to his grandson. The grandson is less than excited in the beginning, but gets more and more into the book as the plot progresses. By the…
My first day of teaching was also my students’ first day of high school. (Yay for teaching all 9th graders!) I’m not sure who was more scared. As I nervously sweated through my clothes (TMI?), I realized my students were all terrified. Huge eyes, nervous…
A few years ago, one of my history students asked, “What was life like before the iPhone, Ms. P?“ As much as that question made me feel REAL old, I could see her point. My students’ lives have been completely taken over by cell phones.…
I remember coming home from the hospital with our first child. She was so sweet and tiny and helpless. My husband and I got home and looked at each other, thinking, “Well, what do we do now? We had just figured out there was no…
So, I hate to run. Hate it. But a while back I had friends who loved to run together. So, I decided to start running, too. Peer pressure, yo. via GIPHY But I knew that I couldn’t just start running (literally out my door) without…
“How can I get Jake to do his homework?” If I had a dollar for every time a parent asked me this question during my teaching career, I wouldn’t be working anymore. No joke. Homework battles were the biggest problems facing most of my parents.…
An e-mail arrived from my mom titled “Your Last First Day of School.” It was my senior year of college and I about to head off to the first day of classes. But I would leave a few minutes late and wiping my eyes. My…
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,…
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 started…