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  • The Lights

    The lights I close my eyes and see the lights Twinkling reflections off the snow The cold air pressing against my body My breath visible in the sky Your arm wrapped in mine The sound of your laughter in my ear The warmth of your love Like a fire in a hearth The lights shining Continue reading

  • Winter Break Blues

    I am sure I have said this before, but I’m going to say it again. I hate breaks. There is just something about losing your sense of routine whenever breaks come around that make me struggle with my own mental health and sit at work for hours on end until I absolutely need to leave. Continue reading

  • The Things We Carry

    A long time ago, when I was a much younger man, I read a book called The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend doing so. But one of the things I took away from reading the text was as a reminder of the things that all veterans, Continue reading

  • Of Updates and Epiphanies

    Yesterday, I was frustrated. Today, I feel a bit better. I was able to connect with the student I was referencing and learned more information about the whole scenario. Then, I corroborated the information by talking with one of the trusted adults that the student talked with on the day when all of this occured. Continue reading

  • Disappointments

    Disappointments. Today was full of them. I’m usually not one to let issues marinate and linger for longer than they need to but today is different. I started my morning thinking that we were going to be holding our Equity meeting in spite of a conflicting meeting. That feel through because the presenters decided that Continue reading

  • Conferences

    It’s that time of year. Again. Conferences are here. Teachers are imbibing on massive quantity of caffeinated beverages. Parents are . . . nowhere to be found. I can count the number of parents I have seen in the last 3 conference nights on both hands. This is a gross waste of time and money. Continue reading

  • Item Analysis

    One thing that I have learned from doing this project on tracking student data for ELLs is that there are many layers to understanding data that is collected. I think that each of the layers are equally important and have been the cause of much of my confusion about how I wanted to track the Continue reading

  • Pop Quizzes

    I love giving pop quizzes. I know, you might be thinking to yourself, “You’re an A**hole!” But hear me out. First of all, when I give pop quizzes, I grade them on participation and personally track the official scores separately. There are a few reasons behind this. First, quizzing on a topic is good for your Continue reading

  • Data Validation (Student Data Update 1)

    I was able to complete a huge milestone in my project to document student data in more productive ways. I was going to try to use MS Onenote for data tracking, but this option proved to be ineffective in consolidating everything I wanted in one place. However, I think that option can still be explored at a Continue reading

  • Problem Solving Storing Data

    Storing student data is something that I have struggled with immensely in my career. Collecting data and examples is the easy part. All I have to do is give a test, ask a question, or tell them to write something. The real issue begins when trying to store examples for later use. For example, today Continue reading