Category Archives: teaching

More voices: reflecting on harkness discusison

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Now that my grades are turned in, my classroom has been cleaned, and my office packed, I can finally reflect upon the school year that has ended. At some point this year, it was enough to teach each day, come … Continue reading →

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Shake it off, and get right back on the bike

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

One of the new buzz words in education is “resilience,” and even though this notion of helping students build inner strength to deal with the obstacles, failures, and disappointments of life seems like a good idea, I wonder why it … Continue reading →

Posted in biking, children, class, coaching, education, experience, growth, teaching | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Life in the middle

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

You might be tempted to think that this post will be about surviving one’s middle age, but at the moment, life in the middle is all about the woes of middle school.  This year, I have grown to be quite … Continue reading →

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“A Teacher’s Lament” by Kalli Dakos

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Don’t tell me the cat ate your math sheet, And your spelling words went down the drain, And you couldn’t decipher your homework, Because it was soaked in the rain. Don’t tell me you slaved for hours On the project … Continue reading →

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Exploration — Lewisandclark style

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Wintery and chilly, with blustery winds, cloud cover, and even sprinkles of rain, today was the perfect day for my class to take its annual “Lewis and Clark” expedition to Washington Park.  In the couple of days leading up to … Continue reading →

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“Một con vịt”: what “sisters” teach

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

When Monkey Man and Gorilla Girl were three, we visited an older Vietnamese woman, Nu, who taught them a little Vietnamese–counting from one to ten, the words for airplane, dog and duck. Nu also was a surrogate grandmother who fed … Continue reading →

Posted in adoption, connection, corn, family, food, identity, language, lessons, teaching, Tet, tradition | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why 7th graders are awesome

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

On the way to my classroom yesterday, my eager, energetic, and curious 7th grade student came rushing up to me, exclaiming, “Ms. D, I need to borrow a book from your class!  I was annotating my book so hard (her … Continue reading →

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Miss communication

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

My students are studying “Encounters” between Columbus and the Taino, between the Aztecs and Cortes, between the English at Jamestown and the Powhatan. We’ve spent quite a bit of time investigating the miscommunication between the groups founded upon each group’s … Continue reading →

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Five on friday

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

I wrote this post on Friday, but here it is Sunday and I still haven’t posted it. Okay, so a couple of weeks are in the books for school.  We made it through two Open House nights, one night of … Continue reading →

Posted in autumn, education, family, food, friends, motherhood, paris, stories, teaching | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Class matters

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Necessity is the Mother of Invention

School has started and with all the excitement of the new school year also comes some anxiety — from kids about homework, getting good grades, preparing for high school (and some of them for college).  Parents, too, have anxieties about … Continue reading →

Posted in affluence, class, community, connection, education, identity, lessons, race, teaching | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments