Every semester I’m faced with a troubling question: do I fail this student? Unfortunately, it’s not actually a question. I can’t lie and say a student did work they didn’t, and there are only so many extensions that I can give before the semester is just over. Still, it feels like a question because I’m …
Moping at the End of the Semester
I really need to start preparing for the end of the semester, but not in the sense of lesson plans and already have styrofoam cups so I don’t have to rush to the store to buy them because I promised my students tea. I need to start preparing for the sudden collapse of such a …
Emotional Warfare with Children
I didn’t realize I was at war with my high school students. I didn’t realize that, even as I was deliberating over what to get them to thank them for all their hard work, they were also planning their move. I did not anticipate an equal or even capable opponent, but clearly these children have …
New Reputation: Selling Ducks
Apparently, it takes about a week in my class before my students stop being surprised when I ask them to do something like picking a rubber duck from a basket and writing a detailed presentation and sales pitch advertising their duck to an audience of robots who have just learned to love. It takes about …
Students are Pizzas
I’ve been thinking about pizza and how it relates to teaching, mostly because they are both things that are constantly on my mind. My metabolism is as disappointing to me as my eating habits are to the rest of my body. I want to be able to perfectly transform a 4,000 calorie pizza into two …
