Tag: teaching

  • Several Hundred Words Later

    We’ve all been there. Not as heroes, not as villains—just as silent witnesses to someone else’s emotional eruption. That strange moment when you realize you’re no longer part of a conversation, but the audience to a performance you never bought tickets for. You don’t interrupt.You don’t argue. You simply stand there, nodding politely, mentally taking…

  • The Algorithm on Main Street

    The Algorithm on Main Street

    In Calexico, stories used to travel slowly. They moved on bicycles and sneakers, through chain-link fences and across dusty backyards. They passed through kitchens where tortillas puffed on comales and radios argued with each other in English and Spanish. By the time a story reached Main Street, it had already changed shape—edited by laughter, softened…

  • Standards, Grades, and Other Things We Pretend We All Agree On

    I sat through an administrator’s “clinic” the other day—one of those gatherings where the coffee is strong, the chairs are unforgiving, and the words learning standards are spoken with near-religious reverence. The agenda was precise. The slides were aligned. Everything, apparently, was measurable. My mind, however, was not. This is usually the part where one…

  • Coffee First. Then People.

    Coffee first. Then people. This isn’t a lifestyle choice. It’s a safety protocol.  Somewhere between waking up, getting ready for work, unlocking the classroom door, and logging into email, caffeine must be introduced into the system. Without it, words come out wrong, patience becomes theoretical, and facial expressions betray thoughts better left unspoken. Teachers aren’t…

  • I’m in No Hurry

    The day has come.We all knew it was coming.Nothing we could do to stop it. It was… inevitable. No amount of coffee was going to make a difference. Returning to work after a long break is a lot like waking up in a foreign country where you technically speak the language, but everything feels aggressive…

  • Not Typical, But It Works

    I was asked recently about my experience writing a book. It was one of those casual questions that slowly opens a door you didn’t expect. As the conversation unfolded, it inevitably turned to students—specifically, what it takes to get kids to write. That question lingered with me longer than I expected, probably because it pulled…

  • Shelved Dreams

    Shelved Dreams

    Writing a book was a long-held dream of mine—one I carried quietly for years. Not the kind of dream I announced out loud or chased with urgency, but one that lived in the background, tucked away between lesson plans, staff meetings, and stacks of papers waiting to be graded. It was always there, patient and…

  • The Hierarchy of Everyday Life (According to an Overcaffeinated Educator)

    Or: A Day in the Life of Someone Who Wakes Up Already Tired Let’s be honest: adulthood is basically a group project where nobody knows what’s going on, and the teacher—ironically—is you. And before any of that noble, inspiring educator stuff starts, there’s coffee. Always coffee. The alarm rings. You open one eye. The world…

  • The Curiosity of Curiosity

    Curiosity is one of the first languages children learn. Long before they master full sentences, they’re pointing, tugging, and asking questions in a hundred different ways—“What’s that?” “Why?” “How come?” A child doesn’t just accept the world as it is; they poke at it, twist it, and try to make sense of it through their…

  • A Writer’s Manifesto

    (Or Am I Just Rambling?) I remember, when I was still a teacher, how I answered the question: What makes a good writer? I always said, “Just write every day. Practice it.” Now, with many years of surviving life on this rock, I see how naïve that answer was. And honestly, a bit lazy. Writing…

  • Why We’re Holding the Line on Phones and Dress Code

    As both a parent and a school administrator, I often stand at the intersection of two worlds. At home, I want my own kids to laugh with their friends, make mistakes, learn from them, and discover who they’re meant to be. I remember what it felt like to be young, testing limits, eager for freedom.…

  • Homework: An Epic in Four Pencils

    (A Poem in Slightly Crooked Lines) I sat at my table at quarter to four, With four little pencils (I might need one more). A worksheet of fractions stared back at my face, Like a dragon who’d swallowed my free-time whole place. I sharpened my pencils until they were knights, Polished their helmets, prepared for…

  • Between Covers, Beyond Pages — From Reader to Writer and Back

    Awaiting the publication of my first book has changed something I never expected: the way I hold a book in my hands. I’ve always loved books. As a kid, I devoured them. In college, I would lose hours wandering the library aisles, pulling random titles off the shelves and skimming their pages for knowledge. The…

  • First Days Without Cell Phones in School

    Over the past few years, it’s become obvious: our students were living in two worlds at once—the real world, and the endless scroll. Heads down, thumbs flying, eyes glued to screens; friendships measured in likes, self-esteem dictated by notifications. Social media had them hooked, and let’s be honest—a digital addiction had quietly taken over hallways,…

  • The Glorious Absurdity of the First Day

    Ahhhh… the first day of school. The crown jewel of the academic year. And this time, it comes after professional learning. Two glorious, soul-crushing days where you learned… well, you’re still not entirely sure what you learned. Icebreakers, slide decks, team-building exercises so awkward you briefly considered faking your own death. Somehow, someone convinced you…