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You’re not my favourite teacher.
“I mean, no, you’re not my favourite, Mrs. Allum. No offence.” “Yeah, agreed. No offence, Mrs. Allum. I mean, you’re up there as a good teacher, Mrs. Allum, but M*. ****** was my favourite.” “Yeah, mine too!” “I don’t know…they just explained things well. Told a lot of stories. We played lots of games,” “Yeah!”…
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Loss.
…and I realized the last time we were on a Via train I left with you and came back empty. There was Rue St. Catherine steak and frites and streams of red in the cavernous basement mall bathroom. The doctor was kind things were too bright too blurry The train ride back was me spending…
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Non-compliance
You told us it was student password change day. We obliged. Going as so far as to make slides about safety and creating passwords with uppercase, lowercase, special characters, long letters, short letters, letters from another language, cheese strings, broken chess pieces, and a large gnat’s toe. We did all of that. However, when hundreds…
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3, 2, 1…
I think I have seen many slicers (thank you, writer geniuses!) use this format, and I have always liked how it gives a brief, yet really intimate, look at what is sitting with us. Mostly because my creative juices are zapped today, and I have an ever-luscious warm bed and non-descript (but oh so comforting)…
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Putting my Mom Together from Memory
I think I remember her telling me when she was 12 she stole some beers out of the fridge (I imagine sun pouring in from a small kitchen window and avocado coloured appliances. A tarnished cigarette ashtray on a formica table), tossed them in her front bike basket (I imagine white wicker with a pink…
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When you teach crappy…
…and, I am hoping that those of you out there will nod along with me (so I don’t feel more bad than I already do). So, to make something that I could ramble on about for a long time short, essentially this: And I know why. Duh. I am like, 17 years into this teaching…
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Just really tired.
There is screen light warmth and fuzzy coloured shapes behind my eyelids. I am sitting in the dark, at this computer, chin in hand, and (moments ago) had my eyes closed. My fingers ache. My legs are tired. I am in a Snoopy snuggly sweater (a student gave me) and wondering how to make it…
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It’s my birthday…
…and there is a settling. A settling in myself and in how I view others. There is a humbleness. A resignation to the fact that I am aging. The grey hairs and wrinkles are arguing for space in their respective spaces. There is an altered and lowered expectation. A simple take-in dinner, and treating myself…
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4 O’Clock Coffee and Timbits
Had parent meeting. They were so kind and brought me coffee and Timbits. My classroom was a disaster of popsicle sticks and hot glue reminents. This parent is worried about their child’s anxiety. I am not really sure how to help, but will try. Not sure if anything I try is going to work. I…
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Writing Roadmap & Encouraging bad writing
In my grade 7 classroom, we have been tackling some rather boring expectations aligned in our curriculum (see top of image). To make it less daunting, and more, I don’t know, manageable? I have made this roadmap. Students began what they deemed interesting sentences from texts, and check-point one was determining the structures of sentences,…