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For my students, becoming teachers on a Pandemic Monday
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Destination: Mars
My friend Lisa Lewis who teaches Chemistry at Albion College in Albion, Michigan shared this terrific way to be a part of the Insight Mars Lander program. Members of the public can add their name to a list that will be onboard the Insight Lander when it sets course for Mars in May 2018. I…
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Dear America, This is my love letter to you.
Dear America, This is my love letter to you. On September 3, 2005, 6 days after giving birth to our first child, four of which were spent in the NICU of the very same hospital where I was born 32 years earlier, I arrived at your door, an immigrant. I was scared, nervous, and worried…
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Messy Moments
It was because of a three year old’s expectorant cough that I came to see the moments captured in mess. Mess #1. On the chesterfield. Under the cushions. I had to scrub. Her first. Then the cushions. Feeling better, she requested pancakes. Sure. It’s Saturday. The furniture can wait. Flour, salt, sugar, milk, maple syrup.…
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Are the crickets singing, Mama?
Inspired by last night’s conversation with my 2 year old… In through her bedroom window, Ellyn heard the sound of crickets. She pushed back the sheets and peered into the warm summer night. “Are the crickets singing, Mama?” she whispered. “Yes,” said her mother. “The crickets are singing.” “Are the crickets happy, Mama?” “Yes,” said…
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Witches’ Fingers and Pumpkin Carvings
It’s two days after Halloween…but as long as there is left-over candy in that bowl, I figure it’s still fair game to post photos… It just so happened that the Hagerman family was scheduled to bring the classroom snack on Halloween. Now, generally, I send in apples, crudités, granola…that kind of thing. But, I’ve had…
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Making Jam
When I was a child, the women in my family canned fruits and vegetables and made jam. I grew up on a farm. We always had a garden and what we didn’t grow ourselves, we bought from our neighbours. In August, my mom would buy bushels of peaches from Mr. and Mrs. Birch. Peaches were…
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On finding a writing partner
It’s probably no surprise to anyone that doctoral students in education are a bit of a self-selecting group. As a rule, we’re generally people who like school — a lot. And when I say we like school, I mean really. Consider the obvious. We like school so much that in addition to having become teachers as…
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AERA 2012
I haven’t been to Vancouver in 6 years and I can hardly wait. It feels a bit elicit, really. I’m not presenting. I just said it out loud. There. I’m attending a major academic conference and I don’t have anything to present. I waffled for some time about whether I should go. And in…
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Leveled Texts in My Daughter’s Classroom
Last evening, I met with my daughter’s teacher. I was worried about the ways that my little one has come to identify herself as a “leveled” reader — as in “I’m a level I reader, Mom, so I don’t read level M books”. At home, she has told me, “I can’t read those words,…