To my students: This is a compilation of the photographs I took of all of you during the first week of school, set to music. Some of you look a lot different; some of you look more or less the same. But I think all of you have grown a lot as people this year. … Continue reading Hello, and Goodbye (For Now)
LOCATION: Old Saybrook, Connecticut, is located in Middlesex County, where the Connecticut River meets Long Island Sound. The town is small: 15 square miles and only about 10,000 people live there year round, though many more people live or spend time there in the summer. CULTURE: In the summer, the town bustles with activity. Families … Continue reading A Week in . . . Old Saybrook (teacher model)
I must have looked like a murderer, walking out of the local forest, toward my parked car, pulling a blue plastic glove off my right hand. But, I was only an accomplice in this affair. The murderer was home, probably smiling, so content with herself, wagging her tail. It was a nice summer morning. My … Continue reading Clean Hands
It’s Friday. I meant to write this yesterday. But better late than never. Thursdays can be difficult for me. As some if not most of you know, I play soccer, indoors in Woodbridge, on Wednesday nights. Sometimes the matches begin at 10:30 p.m. This means sometimes I get home at or past midnight, and, adrenaline … Continue reading Thank You
My goal for the second trimester was to read at least five young adult novels, two nonfiction books and to continue my plan to finish reading a very old book (well, it’s actually a collection of books), the Bible, by the end of the year. I also wanted to read some of the books my … Continue reading Mr. Jockers’s Trimester Reading Reflection
Dear Students, I just finished reading Lynn Joseph’s “The Color of My Words,” a slim (138 pages) novel about a girl growing up on the Caribbean Island of the Dominican Republic, during a time when the government is desperate (and corrupt) enough to engage in a scheme to attract more tourists that at the same … Continue reading Letter-Essay Model
Dear Students, So, I asked you to write me a letter and now I am writing you a letter. I try to always do the thing I ask my students to do. So, how am I feeling right now, at the end of the first day of school? Tired, and hot. After eight weeks of … Continue reading Letter to Students
The whir of an oscillating fan. That is the only sound in the classroom, now. I’ve been in my classroom for a few hours the past two days, taking stuff out of boxes, moving things around, thinking of doing things differently but in most cases doing things pretty much the same. Still, it always feels … Continue reading The Calm Before the Storm
“I can’t believe they didn’t include the part when they go to court at the end.” “It didn’t even start with Ponyboy getting jumped.” “It cut out the whole ending!” These were just some of the comments I heard at the conclusion of watching the film version of “The Outsiders” on Friday in class. Because, yes, … Continue reading Monday Musings #8: Books vs. Movies
Envision the most disruptive student you know (if you are that person, I’m happy you are reading this). Now, envision a class of 30 students (Period 7: that is 11 more than our current situation). Now, populate that class of 30 with 25 versions of the Most Disruptive Student You Know. That is a bit … Continue reading Monday Musings #7: MVP Mea Culpa
“There’s no such thing as coincidence.” Whether you believe in this or not, it is likely that you have, at some point in your life, experienced a “seemingly planned sequence of accidentally occurring events” (that’s Webster’s definition). I have – with some being more faith-affirming than others – and have been musing about a few … Continue reading Monday Musings #6: Coincidence?
My five-year-old son started playing baseball this spring. Not tee ball. Baseball. The coaches pitch to the kids. There are no strikes. No outs. Everyone hits. Everyone scores. And that is all well and good. Except when a kid can’t hit the ball. Because the league is adamant about not using a tee, and sometimes … Continue reading Monday Musings #5
I don’t get the Pun of the Day. Either the answer is too simple or it’s too hard or it’s too corny, or . . . But, yet, it is still wanted. This is my eighth year of teaching, and I’d never offered the figuring out of puns as a way to start class. (I prefer … Continue reading Monday Musings: A Punny Thing Happened . . .
When you become a teacher in the state of Connecticut, you have 10 years from the time at which you get hired to obtain a master’s degree. In education, guessing your future profession correctly in college gives you a head start; many people I know who have been teaching for 10 or more years had … Continue reading Monday Musings: Relief, at Last
Having completed today such an extended, in-depth project, I am, of course, contemplating your ELF essays and presentations. First off, congratulations to the students in Periods 2 and 7 whose projects received the most points in today’s voting. In Period 2, the winning idea is to create a school store, which, while it is a good idea, … Continue reading ELFish Musing
A student in Sixth Period today asked a great question. He asked, in response to hearing the details of this assignment, what my muse was. I had to think about that. What inspires or, to a lesser degree, compels me to write? The unfortunate truth, nowadays, is deadlines. I have always enjoyed writing. I don’t … Continue reading Monday Musings: What’s My Muse?
There is an old, family-run hardware store on Main Street in my town. The owners – a mother, father and their son – know nearly everyone who walks in. They remember the last thing you bought there. They know exactly what you need. I go there whenever I can. But, there’s also a Home Depot … Continue reading Teacher Essay #3: Opening a New Store
In the Disney movie “101 Dalmations,” the Radcliffes ultimately save Pongo and Perdita from Cruella De Vil and adopt the puppies and 99 others and live, happily ever after, on their estate in London. This storyline would have a much dissimilar ending if it were set in, say, Los Angeles, where residents are not allowed … Continue reading Teacher Essay #2: How Many Dogs Are Too Many?
PROMPT: Your school is considering revising the academic requirements for its student athletes. A proposal has been presented requiring students to maintain a minimum grade of “C” or “Average” in all subjects in order to participate in a sport. Write an essay that takes a position for or against this proposal. Be sure to provide … Continue reading WPP Teacher Essay #1: Academics for Athletes