In the future, how we educate our children may prove to be more important than how much we educate them
--Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat

this is my third school year at the front of the class & you'd think the transition from lazy summer days to the hectic, unpredictable pace of a middle school classroom would be second nature by now, but it's not. each year i've been unbelievably tired and drained each day i get home. each day i feel as though there is something i missed, something else i wanted to say, something i REALLY wanted them to know, but just forgot to touch upon. the pace and the task of educating our kids is an arduous task.

in our department meeting today we looked at our test scores from last year. our API shot up 48 points. we made gains in every subgroup, and our kids are improving, but we STILL have so far to go. we are not in the 700 club. we still have far too many students deemed "far below basic." and we still need to find a way to motivate our kids to do the work.

once again, i am teaching an intervention class. of the 10 kids in the class, 5 have IEPs and have some type of learning/emotional disability. through our conversations i learned at least 2 of the 10 have lost their mothers, and 1 has lost both parents. yet another has a mother is 32 (i teach 7th grade) and has five daughters. my students' home lives are certainly not ideal, but none of that really matters to me. when they step into my room they are a blank slate i am looking to fill...but it's so damn hard.

i say all of this to explain why i've been absent. i've been dealing with LIFE, ya know? i ache to write more, but sleep seems like a better option. i have been following the political scene and would love to talk to you about it, but damn if it isn't easier to just relax after work instead of coming on here. but here i am. and i will continue to come here & write because i need this. my life cannot be consumed by 7th graders (or almost 3-year olds!). i need our interactions, and your thoughts, and your opinions. i miss that. & i miss y'all.

peace