Ummm. . .

There are many reasons for why I've been absent from this blog for over a year.  Many of them have to do with having a Senior in high school, now Freshman in college--changes to my job and getting myself established in a new class with creating curriculum and managing over 400 students per year for …

2016: Perspective

I am sitting at the breakfast table across from my son.  He is 14 1/2, and has a set of glowing blue headphones on his ears.  We both have laptops in front of us.  He asked what I was looking at.  I told him my blog, then said, "I haven't written anything in 7 months." …

The Same

Romans 8:11 "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." Long time ago when Thad was barely 3, and I first went back to work, …

Chopped Poetry: The results

This is an actual letter that I sent to three administrators and the P.A.S.S. teacher (a different take on adaptive behavior programs--kids who have very specific acting out tendencies) regarding one of the most surprising results from Chopped Poetry.  This came from an 8th grade student that I teach. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I did an experimental lesson …

Chopped Poetry

So, in 8th grade Language Arts, we are talking about figurative language and how the graphical elements and word choice in poetry creates meaning and how we can use those elements to infer and draw conclusion blah, blah, blah. . . . .BLAH.  I have a FEW teenagers who are interested in the mechanics of …

A Word on Words

Back in March, I sent the following e-mail to Stephanie. "I am trying out some new fonts for the luncheon invite, so I typed up my typical alphabet line Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz …

Just do it.

I love to write. It's not that hard for me. I am able to fire off 500 words in nothing flat. So how come I'm not blogging? I have all manner of stories and thoughts and things practically running laps in my brain. Hmmm. . .that will be something to ponder later. Tonight, I read …

The Importance of Punctuation: Lesser Known Edition

I have written before about my love of lesser known punctuation: the ellipsis, the dash. And we have all, of course, seen this little gem. Woman, without her man, is nothing. Woman: without her, man is nothing. or He eats shoots and leaves. He eats, shoots, and leaves. And if you've not seen this as …

A High Compliment, Indeed

Thad struggles with writing. He is a great story teller. He gives a plethora of details that become tedious at times. He has a vocabulary bigger than he can spell. And there-in lies the problem. Thad also has dysgraphia, a tracking issue, and Irlen Syndrome. I haven't told the Irlen Syndrome story yet--but will. All …

Thwarted by the CONSTRAINT of 24 hours

We've had a lovely, lovely weekend. LOVELY because there was NOWHERE that most of us had to go. Tony DID have to go somewhere for a bit on Saturday, but the kids and I never left the house OR our pajamas until it was time for church this morning. After church we came home and …