I have to address something my principal said at a recent staff meeting. He was going on about how when his son only read novels in English and learned about interpreting them, then he wasn’t prepared for college. I have to disagree with this. First of all, this is how I learned English and most …
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Collaboration Part 2
As I was sitting and planning with two of my co-teachers this past week, it struck me how easy and lived in this relationship was. We have been teaching together now for multiple semesters and have a good idea of what each other brings to the table in our respective roles. I think this is …
The World Turned Upside Down
In school this morning we had a moment of silence in honor of the day. And I realized that none of my 11th grade students were alive ye ton 9/11. And it sort of blew my mind. 18 years is a long time. I feel like the person I was on 9/11 was someone else, …
The First Day
The first day back at school always feels like a shock to the system. Even of you worked during the summer, the flurry of activity that precedes school opening is a lot. Early alarms, schedules, classroom changes, finding co-teachers, endless meetings…It can weigh a person down before we even meet the kids. Personally, I think …
High School Equivalency for Students with IEPs
Please bear with me as I step on my soapbox for a minute. This article, “To get a high school equivalency diploma, NYC forces students to give up special education services” (https://chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2019/08/21/225295/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cb_bureau_ny) was featured on the Chalkbeat newsletter. Essentially, students who have IEPs and are seeking an alternative path to attaining their high school diplomas …
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The Other Side of the Table (Part 1)
At this point in time, I’ve been a Special Education teacher longer than I’ve been a parent. So when my husband and I decided to have our daughters, who were premature, evaluated for early intervention, I was pretty sure I understood what would happen. What I didn’t realize was how weird it would be to …
The Myth of the Teacher Savior
During the summer, I have time to do things that I sometimes don’t get to do during the school year…such as watch tv. So I watched season 4 of Queer Eye recently (shut up, it’s fun). In the first episode, the makeover subject was a teacher that Jonathan had when he was in high school. …
Recommendations for students: On the Come Up
I recently finished reading On the Come Up by Angie Thomas. Her story about Bri, a 16 year old who is on the cusp of breaking into the rapping world was quite something. This story wasn’t only about rapping though, and that is the beauty of it. The story is multi-layered with commentary about racism, …
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Making Over an English Curriculum
The most basic philosophy of literacy education is that kids will read what they’re interested in. When they find people who are like them represented in a story, they are often intrigued because maybe they feel like there are no stories about them so why should they read another story about someone they can’t relate …
Collaboration
This week I attended a Professional Development (PD) workshop on co-teaching. Contrary to popular belief, teachers who don’t work in the summer sometimes spend their time trying to improve their practice for the upcoming year. So with this in mind, I attended this workshop. Now…I will have to say I was disappointed. While the presenters …
Meditations on Literature and Literacy...Continued 