Crazier than shirttails in the wind

my mtc experience

2008-04-17T11:49:37Z

There's a temptation, in writing this kind of reflection, to look back on my MTC experience the way a mountain climber at the summit looks back down the face he just scaled, feeling an immense sense of accomplishment. Maybe it's my infrequent blo...

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New ideas

2008-02-20T05:25:29Z

I get so used to thinking about teaching as the temporary challenge that it is for me that I often forget that people do this for their entire working life. At this point, I know I won’t be teaching next year. I’m comfortable and happy with th...

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art & life

2008-01-16T04:08:21Z

I’ve jumped on the bandwagon and started watching “The Wire,” as every T.V. critic has been exhorting for years now. It really is as good as they say. I’ve made it up to the fourth season in embarrassingly little time. The wonderful thing about th...

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Goals: the last semester

2008-01-16T03:32:18Z

I realize it's in right now, but my buzzword for this last semester is "sustainability." For the past year and a half, I've struggled to find the appropriate balance in how I prepare for school. Sometimes I'm planning each day as it comes; the les...

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The spirit

2007-10-11T05:51:26Z

I've been in the South for over a year now, and it still surprises me how extensively religion pervades my co-workers' and students' lives. Sure, my students and co-workers last year in the Delta would talk about church and pray at assemblies. I...

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Changes

2007-10-11T04:36:52Z

I didn't leave Cleveland (my original placement) because I was unhappy at my school. True, my school was a hard place to work and it was difficult to imagine going back there, but that wasn't the reason I started looking for a different school. ...

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What a difference a year makes, or "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom"

2007-09-06T05:46:29Z

How was the start of this year different from last year's? It's hard to know what differences are in me and what are merely in my environment. My new school is so different, so much better that I often can't believe that it is the same kind of i...

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Motivation

2007-09-06T05:14:25Z

Everything I've heard about the second year of teaching has been borne out, so far. Yes, it's almost incomparably easier, in terms of classroom management, time management, lesson planning and all that. Now that I can actually run a classroom, t...

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