Tag: behavior
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Morning Ritual: Still Not Funny, Dad
Mornings during the school year were something of a production for me. I wasn’t exactly a morning curmudgeon, but I wouldn’t have called myself a ray of sunshine either. My brain tended to boot up about ten minutes before my alarm—though, truth be told, it was never really off. At night, it just gave me…
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Espresso Yourself: Why We’re All Just Addicted to Productivity
An Over-Caffeinated Reflection on the Hustle Culture Buzz We live in a world brewed for speed—where every second counts and productivity is the ultimate pick-me-up. Like espresso shots in a sea of decaf days, we chase the next caffeine hit, the next deadline, the next achievement, juggling a dozen digital tabs and an endless to-do…
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Will Work for Burritos… and coffee.
(Walks on stage holding a coffee mug like it’s a trophy. Sip. Slow nod.) You can tell a lot about a school… by looking at the snack table.Forget the mission statement. Forget the district vision board.Show me the muffins and the coffee pot… and I’ll tell you exactly how this place runs.(pause for laugh) Now…
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The Exploits of an Over-Active Neurodivergent Mind
I’m good at a lot of things.I’ve always been good at things.(Not bragging… just being honest.) Drawing. Painting. Sketching.Music. Hands-on tinkering (mainly taking things apart just to know). Cooking. Eating.And—surprise twist in the third act—writing. (Who knew overthinking could finally earn its moment?) Good at many things, yes. But a master of none. Unless you…
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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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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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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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More Than Just a Writing Lesson…
As a teacher, I made sure my students wrote every single day. It didn’t matter what subject I taught, or how much they wrote. What mattered was the act itself — showing up to the page. Every class began the same way: a writing prompt projected on the board, and five uninterrupted minutes to write.…
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It All Starts with a Question… and Not Just Any Question
It all starts with a question — and not just any question. Not the kind that seeks the right answer. Not the kind that checks for recall or makes sure the reading was done. But the kind of question that opens a door. That invites curiosity. That sparks a pause. The kind of question that…
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