Archive for June 2011
Blessed innocence
I was reading an extremely abbreviated version of The Little Mermaid to my daughter last night when we came upon this last page. As I pondered what I might say about the adjoining picture, Clara said, “Look, Daddy. Ariel sleeping. Eric sleeping. Eyes closed.” “Yes, Clara,” I said, quickly trying to reinforce the idea. “You’re…
Read MoreGreatest turnaround of all-time
My alarm fired off this morning at 5:00. I opened my eyes and began mentally preparing for work. Lesson plans. Homework assignments. Leveled texts. Motivational strategies. Then I suddenly realized that it was Sunday. A day off. And my alarm was going off because I was scheduled to play an early morning round of golf.…
Read MoreWhat not to wear
I almost always hate when someone tells me what I can and cannot wear. Part of it is the five year old in me, refusing to be told what to do. But an even bigger part of it is the illogical and arbitrary nature of many of the dress codes and social mores associated with…
Read MoreHow much television do you watch?
From a Time magazine piece: “Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health and his colleagues report in the Journal of the American Medical Association that too much TV time was associated with increases in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart problems and the risk of death from any cause.”…
Read MoreShould my students be allowed to make fun of me online?
Time magazine asks: Do students have a First Amendment right to make fun of their principals and teachers on Facebook and other social-media sites? Or can schools discipline them for talking out of school? This question comes in reaction to two court rulings supporting the right to free speech for students. In both cases, the…
Read MoreStop writing me off
Why is everyone so anxious to write me off? I describe my knee pain to a friend, and he tells me that my days of playing basketball are almost over. Elysha gets pregnant, and I am told that we won’t be going out to movies for at least ten years. Clara is born and I…
Read MoreMy worst teaching mistake ever
While I am certain that I have made more mistakes than I can possibly remember, one mistake stands above all others in the pantheon of errors: After promising my third graders a treat for a job well done, I substituted the popsicles that I had promised with what I thought was an equally appetizing alternative:…
Read MoreA clever manipulation of bathroom reading material
Is this real? Please be real.
Read MorePerhaps the Girl Scouts don’t need me after all
Around this time last year I wrote a post about how I would like to change the Girl Scouts, and it received quite a response, both from women who despised their Girl Scout experience as well as those who found my criticism to be narrow-minded and unfounded. While I still believe in what I wrote,…
Read MoreSucks to be a Sprite drinker
Sprite apparently has a new flavor. I am not a Sprite drinker, but I can’t help but wonder what this “new flavor!” moniker is meant to tell the consumer. Good news, Sprite drinkers! The crap that you’ve been drinking for years has finally gotten better! Or… If you avoided Sprite in the past because it…
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