As we enter the last month of the 2025-2026 school year, I am feeling all of the feels: exhausted, accomplished, scared, proud, and anxious. I intentionally avoid end-of-the-year countdowns for fear of sending the wrong message to students, but it is glaringly clear that things are winding down. While I think about the changes in … [Read more…]
APM’s journalist, Emily Hanford and colleagues, have done it once again. They have taken a complex topic and made understanding of it attainable for any listener. They have shed light on contributors to our literacy crisis in episodes 1 – 10 of the Sold a Story podcast, and in the last 2 weeks have released … [Read more…]
Last week, I wrote about my trepidations with launching a reading intervention with some 7th and 8th grade students. As is so true with many things in education, the past week did not go anything like I planned. It was already a four-day week because of Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. Bitter cold temperatures … [Read more…]
One of my favorite all-time quotes, which I reference often, comes from Brené Brown: … and as Mark Manson reminds us in the title of Chapter 6 in The Subtle Art of Not Giving a #@%!, “You’re Wrong About Everything (But So Am I).” This entire book has been chalk-full of reminders that I am … [Read more…]
There is value in identifying, analyzing, and holding close your values. I can’t remember what/who prompted me to do this several years ago, but my understanding of the process is this: begin with a list of 100 or so values (there are lots to choose from with a quick Google search.) Choose your top 20, … [Read more…]
Oh adversity – you tricky wicket, you. You continue to be ever-present. Thank you for assisting me in self-reflection, growth, and continued maintenance of a positive attitude with a focus on gratitude. Among many difficulties that arose this week, several occurred in my role as an instructional coach. The verb “coach,” as defined by Google … [Read more…]
via GIFER I write today from a place of unease, with many contributors to that unease. 2024 has not been an easy year to date, and seems to be on track to be one my toughest ever. You might say I’m in a bit of a rut, as George Couros named it in Saturday’s weekly … [Read more…]
I usually avoid reading the plethora of blogs that I subscribe to on the day that I plan to post my latest writing. I do this to avoid straying from the original idea for my own post that usually comes earlier in the week. I like to let ideas “marinate” before adding more to the … [Read more…]
If you haven’t read Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson, M.D., I highly recommend it. It’s short, it’s lessons apply to both personal and work-related situations, and the advice is timeless. The gist is quite simple: the unexpected can happen to us at anytime. It (an unexpected change) occurs regularly at home, at work, … [Read more…]
We are 15 days into 2023, and I’m finally “releasing” my first post and my One Word for the year. I took a planned two-week hiatus from writing, which ended up becoming a three-week hiatus, due to my mom’s ride on the cancer roller coaster, filled with lots of ups and downs. I am writing … [Read more…]