The Day I Put the Carpet Away
Sometime after Christmas, the 4th grade students in my room lost their minds. The classroom culture and corresponding behaviors were on point. Until they weren’t. When we returned from winter break, I had to wonder if candy canes and sugar plums had gone sour in their brains because they were different kids. I cajoled and…
Processes and Routines in the Classroom (part 2): Lightening the load
Processes and routines make all the relational aspects of a classroom community go smoother. They are the system that actually brings the freedom of a bustling learning community that looks boundless. If you look in my room by October, it may look chaotic and messy: Students moving about the space, respectfully and joyfully working on…
Processes and Routines in the Classroom (part 1)
As I look forward to another first day of school, I want to write myself a series of reminders. Today is the first: processes and routines will be the foundation of learner independence in my classroom. First: “With people slow is fast and fast is slow” aka “Go slow now so you can go fast…
Race to the Past
It had been years since I’d visited. Too long really. But like so many things, I just lost track of time. Schedules and other practicalities kept me away. But here I was. The windows to the shops looked just the same, only somehow brighter and cleaner. On the east side, the fountain and its effervescent…
Classroom Libraries: Part 2 ; Routines
8:14 am It’s a Monday. The 9 year old students roll into my classroom groggy and excited. They have breakfast and we connect. Ok students! I raise my voice as breakfast and our morning meeting has wound down. Let’s start the week with reading. Find a comfortable spot with your book box! After 5, or…
Classroom Libraries: Part 1; The Power of a Classroom Library
A classroom library is a powerful thing. It’s a noun and a verb and an adjective. Maybe even an adverb (librarily?). It’s a place of peace, an action of activism or vacationing or how-to-do-it-ness. A library is a powerful thing. “This is how I show my students that I love them – by putting books…
Three Classroom Lessons from my own 31 day Writing Challenge
I just completed my second year in the Slice of Life 31 day writing challenge (thanks http://www.twowritingteachers.org). It was wonderful! It was also…a challenge! Here are some things I learned that I’m bringing back to the classroom. It’s hard to write when I don’t feel like it! Several times I sat down and just didn’t…
Togetherness
Holding hands near a lockerLaughter and rustling Bowing heads at a tableSolemn elder voice cuts through Hands clasped on an airplaneEngines roar, cart clanks Filing into a new roomVoice says “welcome!” Waiting in line, humid heat, turnstiles and railingBoards rattle, gravity excites, voices shriek Eyes open, files open, “The host will let you in soon”Faces…
That Time I Met Tony Kornheiser
That Time I Met Tony Kornheiser I’ve referred to different albums and genres of music as “the soundtrack of” suchandsuch season of life. But here’s the truth: On a car radio while taking money to the bank in suburban Washington D.C. On a slow Windows PC. On a work issued laptop and 3 generations of…
Rules for the Exception
Rules for the exception A lifetime ago, I worked at a Starbucks outside of the city of Alpharetta, Georgia. We had this customer, real smooth type. He’d pull in in his sports car out front, leave his wife in the car and come in for their coffee. His order: Iced Venti Sugar-Free Vanilla Latte, no…
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Tim's Teaching Thoughts 