This year, my school has scheduled in a 30-minute block for “Enrichment” for every kid. Struggling readers go to Reading Enrichment. If they don’t need reading help but struggle in math, they go to Math Enrichment. If they need neither, they go do fun projects. It’s awesome because every kid has enrichment, and no kid…

I love mandated reporting. I really deeply appreciate the fact that it is not my job to decide whether abuse is actually happening or if it’s “bad enough” to deal with. I don’t have to worry about making a big deal out of nothing or about shrugging off something serious. We’re legally required to err…

Remember This Kid? I hope you didn’t think I was ever going to stop writing about him, even if I’m in a new state far away now. A couple kids got my phone number at the very end of the year last year. I wouldn’t give it to them while they were my students, but…

If you are a teacher and can understand Harry Potter references, you really need to watch this video. It is hilarious. http://www.collegehumor.com/video/5803618/dangerous-wands

It is 96 degrees outside, and there is no air conditioning at school. Fans are not making a dent in the oppressive heat inside each classroom, and you are sweating profusely while you try to listen to your teacher. You have two choices. You can: A) Go get a drink from the water fountain, where…

We are opening up a brand new school. That’s pretty crazy. I’m just saying. Everything feels really high intensity and every decision really matters, because no one has done this before. If we screw up, it’s a huge disaster. If we do well, we create something great into the future. Noooooo pressure. Part of the…

Sometimes you don’t appreciate something until it’s gone. I knew I loved working with rock star math colleagues, but I didn’t realize exactly how much I loved them until they split to opposite coasts of this huge country and left me alone in the middle. I miss them terribly and figured I should probably take…

At the beginning of last year, a girl entered my classroom for the first time with the announcement that she wasn’t good at math. Her parents and a former teacher both came to talk to me about how she’d struggled and wanted to do better. She had never been able to pass the math AIMS,…

Some hilarious clips in defense of teachers for your viewing pleasure: The Daily Show does MTV Cribs – Teacher Edition John Stewart comparing views on teachers and Wall Street bankers Matt Damon vs. Shitty Cameraman