Category: Education – Teaching
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“Just Coffee” A Mini Monologue for the Over-Caffeinated, Slightly-Overwhelmed Middle-Aged Soul
So I walk into Starbucks.Already, mistake number one.It’s not a coffee shop. It’s a lifestyle temple.There’s music playing that sounds like a cat whispering into a synthesizer.Everyone smells faintly of ambition and vanilla. The girl behind the counter—probably 19, speaks with the confidence of a TED Talker—She gives me that smile. You know the one.Like…
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The Paradox of Connection
You’d think, as a high school dean, I’d have a crystal-clear picture of youth culture. I mean, I see it all—hallway drama, TikTok choreography in the quad, debates over whose Crocs are cooler. I confiscate phones with the reflexes of a blackjack dealer and mediate arguments that start with, “I only liked the post—I didn’t…
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An Educator’s Love Letter to Liquid Sanity
Let’s get one thing straight: coffee isn’t a luxury for teachers. It’s a survival mechanism. A coping strategy. A legal form of self-medication brewed in Keurig pods and staff lounge folklore. Coffee is what separates us from the animals.Also from the students.And occasionally from making deeply inappropriate remarks during professional development. To the untrained eye,…
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Finding Me
There was a time when my creative spirit showed up everywhere—like glitter at an arts and crafts party. It got into everything. Teaching, storytelling, even rearranging the spice rack felt like an act of expression. I was a voracious reader, an obsessive tinkerer, a forever-curious soul who saw the world as one big “What if?”…
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More Me Than You Think: A Creator’s Spirit
We all carry worlds inside our heads—some loud, some quiet, some a little strange.This is mine: a peek behind the curtain at the curiosity, the quirks, and the caffeine-fueled chaos that shape how I see and create in this world. One day, that guy in the mirror asked me, “Dude, what goes on in that…
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Year 26
25 years as an educator—and at least a dozen more before that coaching, mentoring, running camps, leading arts programs, and engaging in general kid-centered monkey business (some of which may have included dodgeballs, duct tape, and popsicle sticks). It’s been, quite literally, a lifetime of working with young people—changing lives, dodging glitter explosions, and watching…
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Tales from the Inside: The Usual Suspects (Lounge Cut)
It was the Thursday before the first day of school, and the teacher’s lounge had that eerie calm-before-the-storm vibe. You know the one—burnt coffee brewing, the hum of a vending machine that hasn’t accepted paper money since the Bush administration, and the distant cry of a copier that’s jammed again because someone tried to run…
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What Writing Looks Like (for Me)
I’ve always been drawn to creating things—music, sketches, photos, splashes of color and sound—but writing? That one snuck up on me. I didn’t grow up thinking I’d be a writer. I didn’t carry a journal or dream of publishing a book. But over the years, I started noticing little stories piling up—between mariachi gigs, painting…
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Designing for Redemption: Rethinking Grading and Growth in the Classroom
There’s something profoundly human about allowing a student the chance to redeem themselves—but redemption can’t be accidental or symbolic. It must be deliberately built into how we teach, assess, and relate to students. Too often, our systems—especially grading—treat learning like a one-shot game. A missed deadline, a failed quiz, or a moment of bad judgment…
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What Teaching Used to Be —and What We’ve Lost Along the Way
There was a time—not long ago—when teaching was built on short readings and long conversations. Classrooms echoed with curiosity. Students asked questions. Teachers asked even more.And the best days? The ones when we didn’t rush to answers. Yes, there was some drill and kill—rote memorization, timed facts, spelling tests.But it wasn’t the end goal.It was…
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Someone asked me today how I was doing.
I am tired…. …of being strong. …of feeling sad. …of not having answers. …of needing a break. …of this continuing heat. …of not enough sleep. …of feeling tired. But, I am grateful, and thankful… …that I am alive. …for my family. …that I have a place to live and food on my table. …that I…
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What Drives Me
Over the course of my life, and career as an educator, I’ve been asked these questions more than once.I remember one time clearly—it was during a workshop on student resilience. Another time, it came up in a leadership meeting. We throw words like determination, persistence, discipline around like they’re universally understood. But the more I…
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Built By Hand
There’s something to be said about working with your hands. The whole DIY thing—patching a leaky faucet, sanding down a splintered door, fixing the fence before it falls over—doesn’t get the credit it used to. These skills were once passed down like family recipes or last names. Now they’re slipping away, replaced by apps, services,…
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Sunsets in the Valley
I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it—there’s nothing quite like a sunset in the Imperial Valley. Clouds or clear skies, summer heat or winter chill—it doesn’t matter. The sky catches fire, the desert exhales, and for a few quiet moments, the world feels gentle again. These sunsets remind us that even in the…
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More Than Words: How Quotes Spark Conversation and Learning
There’s something powerful about a well-timed quote. Maybe it’s a line from a movie that lingers long after the credits roll, or a phrase that echoes from history books. Quotes carry weight — and in the classroom, they carry possibility. Over the years, I’ve found that using quotes — from films, speeches, poems, and revolutionaries…
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