The Chalk Talks

An Open Letter To Anyone Who Will Listen and Has the Power To Do Something:

My heart is breaking.  Literally breaking.  I have a mountain of data to analyze and write about, a website to develop content for and an article to write this morning and all I can think about is this whole Let's Fire The Teachers and Only the Teachers business. 

Is this really what education has come to?

 Wow.  With the mass firings in Rhode Island, it has been a rough week in the world of education, but I’d like to share my magical teaching moment that makes it all worth it.

Despite how heavy my heart is as I write this, I will swallow my sadness and tell you a story that might help to keep you motivated despite all this insanity raging on outside of our classrooms. 

Here we are- about half way through the school year and right smack in the middle of winter. This is the time of year when I routinely feel

a) so sick of inside recess and the resulting afternoon of madness that I could scream,

b) like I have million things to cover and oh-my-goodness where did the time go and

c) bored to death with my prize box. 

Here are some of my favorite class rewards that won't cost a dime!

Hopefully, at this point, your year is chugging along nicely. You and your friends have settled into your routine and you’re off! It’s time to learn! 

So what happens when you’ve been so engrossed in your teaching that it’s suddenly five minutes before the end of the day, you have a million odds and ends to take care of and nobody has their backpack yet? (Hint: the answer is not “freak out.”) This is the time that you truly need to rely on your little friends to help you get it all done.

As 2010 begins, I know that many of us are scrambling to keep (or come up with) our New Year’s Resolutions. I think the extra long lines for the treadmill at the gym and the empty shelves of bagged salad at the grocery store speak for themselves. 

This year I realized that there are two obvious problems with my resolutions. 

1. They are horribly general. They don’t really name any specific behavior or situations. 

2. They lack a plan. (And you know I love a good color-coded plan!)

So in 2010, I have revolutionized by resolutions!