I’m trying something different this year. A little experiment. I’m trying not to use the word “answers” this year. I will explain. You see what I have noticed in my seven years of teaching is that kids have an interesting view of the word “answer”. They have associated the word…

Wow. 2020 has been a strange year for sure. COVID-19 has definitely taken its toll on education — the teachers, the students, and families. Parents who have little to no experience teaching kids stepped up and made it happen. …

My girlfriend is the art teacher at the school I am currently at. She’s also a very talented artist. When she paints, I get to DJ. I try to keep the variety of music wide, but every now and then, I just get hung up on a band. Well one…

We are living in history. That’s exciting! I mean, when was the last time we had a major pandemic that shut down restaurants, schools, barber shops and hair salons, tattoo parlors, bars, and other “non-essential” businesses? Did you ever think that we would be living in a time where grocery…

I failed today. It was one of the first things I did today. I was excited to get started with our math lessons: fraction addition and subtraction and fraction equivalence. My kids played a game yesterday that they were so pumped up about that they asked to play it today…

A year ago my school in Aztec, NM had their first annual Learn Like a Pirate Day. It was an idea I had and that I took to my administration with the hope of having a day of extreme fun filled learning and excitement. Every teacher had the opportunity to…

I was having a bad day. If you’ve read my blog, “An Honest Conversation About Mental Health, Suicide, and Education” https://link.medium.com/nCXEKaXDU1, you’ll remember that I have depression and anxiety. Well I was having an “episode". I was upset about having to take medication, an internal conflict I wrestled with for…

Challenges are interesting. They frustrate us. They motivate us. Challenges dare us to rise up, to better ourselves and our practice. But they are also terrifying. …

Well, it’s that time of the year. I’m sipping hot coffee right now, relaxed in my classroom. I’m listening to August Burns Red — yeah I’m the weird elementary teacher who loves just about all metal genres as well as punk rock — as I plan out my first couple…