Today, we read The Little Engine That Could. In our version of the story, there are four trains. The Little Blue Engine That Can, the passenger engine, the freight engine, and the rusty old engine. First, the passenger engine and the freight engine come by, and tell the broken down engine that they are too good and too busy to help him. “That’s mean!” my students said. “That’s really mean.”
Then, the weary, old engine comes by. “I cannot, I cannot, I cannot,” he says. “I am too tired and too weary to help you.”
”That’s mean,” said some of my students.
“No, it’s not,” argued Ezekiel.
I folded the book on my lap. “Why isn’t that mean, Ezekiel?” I asked him.
“Because the old engine is too tired and he need to go home and go to bed,” Ezekiel said. “It’s not his fault.”
I agreed with Ezekiel. I asked my students if they understood…
At last weekend’s Professional Development Saturday, the CEO and Superintendent of Baltimore City Public Schools came in to give a whole group address to the TFA Baltimore Cohort of 2010-2011. I have always thought that Dr. Alonso was an interesting guy who had some sharp opinions on education policy (I like to listen to the…
read more »the following contains my own personal advice and it’s not meant to offend or whitewash anyone else or their experiences. it’s just things i wish i had thought about way back when (actually, not that long ago). but still… i see that some people have been accepted into TFA this week and are probably considering…
read more »it’s pretty well known in teacher lore that october is a horrible month. at least, that’s what everyone says. students become curious about how definite their teachers’ expectations and purported limits are, and start to test the waters more, behaviorally and also emotionally. the honeymoon phase starts to wear off and leaves something downright exhausting…
read more »i am sick. not just a cold, but a stomach bug, vomiting, achey, can barely stand sick. it started on friday evening as soon as i got home from work and continued throughout the entire weekend. i had to call in sick yesterday because i was still so weak and out of it and queasy,…
read more »well, after my last post, it’s only right i check in today to say that i had the best day ever with my kids and that it is my birthday (hello 22) and my kids were just DARLING. some of them even brought in cards and little presents and one parent brought flowers from the…
read more »i just got home from probably the worst day i’ve had so far as a teach for america teacher, which is weird, because the first half of the day was AWESOME (we know P! we love the P song! we can say /p/ and no one mixes it up! we love our literacy alphabet song!…
read more »today while i was idly googling tfa, i found out that its early childhood initiative has only been around since 2006. i have to say, this program’s relatively short lifespan, compared to the entirety of teach for america’s existence, doesn’t really take me by surprise, but it also makes me kind of nervous. i think…
read more »sometimes, being a pre-k teacher feels more like being a nanny than anything else. especially when you’re at a k-8 school where many of the people around you seem to have the misconception that your classroom is basically a daycare center. if i could rewind to a year ago this time… i would not have…
read more »i haven’t really had time to come home and write an update here or anywhere else about my life for the past few weeks. school started for students last week, after hurricane irene interfered for a few days. i started off with about 16 kids or so. i’m up to 24. anyone versed on legal…
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