A law was passed in Oregon that students’ absences due to mental health issues can be excused. But until I looked it up and read about it, all I knew was that “mental health days” are now excused. Having a legit mental health issue and “taking a mental health day” are two very different things, … Read more
I have a student who has been playing an instrument for a week. He came to class completely disheartened and said, “My uncle said I’m never going to be able to play this.” Don’t be that uncle. Of course the kid is struggling and sounds terrible right now. He’s been playing for a week. Instruments … Read more
Most parents I know lament the amount of stuff their kids have. (Some lament their own as well.) Most parents I know specifically say that there’s no need to bring a gift to their kid’s birthday party. (This is extra nice when we don’t really know the birthday kid very well and aren’t sure what … Read more
After going through a handful of ideas, I put up the display shown in the picture in both of my classrooms. In case you can’t see the photo, there’s a poster in the middle that says “take what you need,” surrounded by sticky-notes with messages. You got this! I can do it! Mistakes are opportunities … Read more
A while back, I read a few articles about complaining and how it rewires your brain. Not in a good way. Also a while back, I used to run 30-day challenges on Facebook. Two of those challenges have been “life-changing” as per feedback from people in the group. One was no added sugars (which we … Read more
One in three children in the US can’t read at grade level. For many people, that means that schools aren’t doing their jobs and we need more accountability and more testing. What if we redefined “at grade level”? I got into this a bit the other day, but we have completely redefined “at grade level” … Read more
If we spent as much energy teaching our sons as we do worrying about our daughters, we wouldn’t need to worry so much about our daughters. “Boys will be boys” is a cop-out. It does a disservice to all people. To girls and women, obviously, because it leads to a society where we live in … Read more
We have too much physical stuff, too much emotional stuff, too much junk to eat, not enough exercise or sleep or meaningful connections with people. Because— Society values and promotes being busy being stressed being underslept fast food large portions cheap everything convenient (to accommodate busy) sitting reactive medicine over preventative pills over natural social … Read more
I taught a hip hop class second semester last year. Damien was one of the kids in it. He was a neat kid. At the end of the year, 6th grade promoted, and he moved on to junior high. Except he only went to two days (and that’s only because my district started already). As … Read more
Growing up, the first day of school was always so exciting. I always had a new outfit. Often a new backpack or lunch box. I had friends at school. I got along well with most of my teachers, so that was never a worry for me. I wasn’t a wiggly kid and had no trouble … Read more