Donate Now Today after work was our annual end-of-year staff happy hour. It was nice to hang out with other teachers outside of school, but the best part by far was getting to interact with the first grade teachers whose classroom I am in every morning without being surrounded by six-year-olds. I always get a…

Donate Now I had Ramses in my class in the fall, and he was a classic example of what I’ve heard referred to as “invisible children.” Because he didn’t stand out in any way, good or bad, he just sort of faded into the background. Eventually it became clear that he did have one unique…

The trip to MIT on Saturday was amazing, but it was also pretty exhausting. As a result, I had a hard time getting up for work this morning, and was pretty fuzzy for most of the day. I’ve been staying after school to grade the NY State 8th Grade Science Exams, which has been interesting.…

I had trouble sleeping Friday night because I was so excited about our MIT trip, so it was no problem getting up ungodly early to head into school by 6:30 am Saturday morning. It was fun standing outside the school doors watching the kids arrive – some came running up the street grinning, some seemed…

I saw two movies today! First was an incentive field trip to the new Karate Kid, which was quite enjoyable – minus the fact that the last two weeks of school will now be filled with kids karate-chopping each other in attempts to recreate their favorite scenes. But more excitingly, after school I finally got…

Today was one of those days that you love when you’re a kid, because you don’t have to go to school even though the teachers do. As a teacher, it’s a bummer that you still have to go to work, but at least it’s a lot less stressful than when the kids are there. After…

Today one of my crazier students noticed that I was growing increasingly exasperated with him, and asked why I didn’t put him in a box. I asked for clarification, and was told “last year my teacher* put me in a box in the back of the classroom when I couldn’t calm down. One time I…

Today a kid flipped out at me for giving him a zero on a quiz (a gross injustice, considering that he had gone through all the effort of leaving the entire thing blank). He informed me of many lovely things, including the fact that he’s going to “pee” on my grave after I die and…

Overheard while walking past the principal’s office: “THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PLAYING AROUND AND STICKING YOUR FINGERS UP SOMEONE’S BUTT, AND THE LATTER IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!” Summer vacation can’t come soon enough.

Today was field day! Field day is the best day of the whole year because we take the kids to Central Park and sit on benches while they run around for six hours and exhaust themselves. Some of them (like my beloved Miranda) choose to spend the day hanging out with the teachers instead, which…