Teacher Town

It's not uncommon that our school is short on subs. On such days, we receive a morning email with some absurd predicament. "We have...

This is a structure I've borrowed from a parenting podcast that I often listen to, "Mom and Dad are Fighting." The original co...

The laundry isn't done, and I still have about ten papers to grade by tomorrow. However, I will count this slice as my success for the d...

Picture a lovely afternoon after the elementary school bus dropped the children off. Parents and children headed home for snack and then met...

Meals with the Ortinos were magical in what felt like a perfect world. Until that night that Matteo and Tommaso got up from the table to ...

I scare easily, as anyone who has startled me in one of my deep in thought moments knows, and I decided ages ago that I wouldn't see any...

Only one of us had a scheduled activity, but three of us plus the dog jumped into the car.  We dropped  my middle son at Phoenix to continue...

The famous Mrs. Miller could belt out a tune, but it wasn't pretty. The songs were catchy--her voice wasn't. Yet, her shrill, off-ke...

I felt obliged to attend the ice cream social. Good news: My son decided to register for the new high school next year, and this event was o...

One new development in our SOL test administration leaves English teachers out of the mix when it comes to proctoring the writing test. This...

When a teacher of nearly eighteen years has to approach her colleagues to ask, "What's your secret to getting these kids to work?...

My mom flew back into town today, and because the timing of her return was just between after-school pickup and dinner time, I texted an off...

My family and I headed out for my choice of birthday fun on the National Mall yesterday.  We were h almost to the National Gallery, not that...

Most of my days feels rushed. I set up a series of lessons that includes timed segments to meet set objectives. Particularly pre-Writing SOL...

The phone conference I had about a week ago couldn't have been better if I scripted it myself. I jotted everything the program director ...

There are times when my commute to or from work feels like a magical moment of my day. I walk to the end of my cul-de-sac to find a short, w...

After sledding trips to two different hills, snow angels on the trampoline, backyard wrestling and snowball fight with the dog, and an elabo...

We live in such uncertain times that we can't even trust our own microwaves. This news from KellyAnne Conway is only further proof our g...

We cancelled the newspaper about a year ago. It had been stacking up on the table week after week, and frankly, some of the writers were get...

Isn't this weekend just a race to accomplish as much as is usually possible with one fewer hour to work with? It makes total sense in th...