Donate Now “I heard a certain seventh grader smoked weed in Spanish class last week.” “WELL, I heard five students were pregnant!” “I once had a student who was a prostitute…” This was the conversation that dominated our faculty meeting today. Middle School is full of drama, way more drama than you might imagine. I…

Donate Now Did you know that in a nest of termites, the eggs all hatch at the same time? It’s this crazy natural phenomenon. How do I know? Hundreds of termites hatched at the same time, in my friend’s classroom across the hall. In the middle of my lesson on the rock cycle, she came…

Here’s a funny way to teach 2-step equations. My kids loved it today and it was pretty hilarious. See below: 3x + 4=16 Class, do you see that problem on the board? Well, I have a secret to tell you. I think that X is looking mighty fine today and I want to take him…

The TAKS test is in about 10 weeks. TAKS, or the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, is our state’s high stakes test (according to No Child Left Behind all states have them). The test haunts my dreams, and I swear its name is whispered by the air vents in my classroom. Everywhere I turn,…

In the last few days I used my talents as a teacher to break up not one, but multiple fights in my classroom. I can understand why so many people are hesitant to go into a career in education–they fail to tell you on the job description you’re also a baby sitter and a police…

Are there any corps members out there who are excited for school to begin this week? If so, I would like to meet you and ask you for some of that inspiration…I don’t want to go!!!! It’s almost cruel to get two weeks off, I got used to it. That, coupled with a severe case…

I wonder if there are any other science teachers out there, who are teaching units on space, and who now have to come up with PC answers to questions about aliens, God and the end of the world. Samples of things I heard today: “MISS! My aunt told me she saw aliens last night, and…

I was really able to reflect over Thanksgiving break, about how lucky I am to have this opportunity right now. I’ve been a full-fledged teacher for about three months now, and I can’t imagine a job harder than this one. I also can’t imagine what my life would be like if I hadn’t met my…

I wish I could spend several weeks telling the kids all I’d learned from my time interning with an environmental advocacy organization so that they could apply the things from science to the real world (and maybe impress them enough so they’d finish their homework…). Alas, I had half an hour to introduce and wrap…

“MISS, who are you voting for?” has been the question plaguing me for the last few weeks. Maintaining the mystery of who I’m voting for (or really who I voted for, today is November 5th) , coupled with the fact that HISD forbids teachers from sharing their political beliefs (or face serious consequences) obviously prevented…