Just a CLASSic

As you may know, my first year of teaching was rough. So rough that now, two full years later, I am still dealing with the scars.  Every day that I have a rough day in the classroom, I think of some of the harsh words spoken to me my first year about my capabilities as a teacher. This is something I combat constantly.  It's a mind shift.  A choice to not let those words define me as a teacher. First year of teaching is so crucial and so difficult. In case you missed it, I would encourage you to check out " Advice to 1st Year Teachers " that I wrote last year. Someone asked me if I was going to do a blog like this every year and build on the information that I learn. Sure!  Why not! So here it goes.  Round 2. I love seeing the excitement of first year teachers.  You are finally getting into the classroom!  It is a dream come true.  Having been there, I want to share advice from my first year so that you can have a much better first year than I did. 1. Whil

Recently, I finished reading The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg.   I absolutely loved it, and I would highly recommend it for upper elementary and above .  When I finished it, I sighed partly because I had enjoyed traveling with Homer and partly because the book was over.  Homer P. Figg lives in Maine during the Civil War.  His adventures begin when he discovers that his older brother was sold into the army on a lie that he was twenty instead of seventeen.  Homer determines that he is going to save his brother from having to fight in the war.  As he ventures forth on his should-be-his horse, he admits that he often stretches the truth.  For example, he tells people that his father was killed by a tree a mile tall; yes, it was a tree, but no it was not a mile tall.  These embellishments add the humor and the personality to his otherwise quite serious and sensitive story.  On his adventures, he meets an abolitionist, an underground conductor, a "medicine&quo