Megan's Blue

Friends tell me I look great post pregnancy. "Thank you." I say  I think "Its just because my boobs got huge." 

Seriously, grate the cheese and mix it in by hand at the end after whirring the rest in the food processor. The texture is markedly better and much easier to coat pasta with. Marcella also says to add a little softened butter at the end. Again, not wrong. Mercy she was the best. Here is a great clip of her bossing around April Bloomfield.

I was going to write chronologically. Forget that. Memory is not chronological and to make it so would require me getting paid to do this. Also today I put on a shirt that is a loaded gun of memories about one student in particular. When he was placed I was told he was a major behavior. He didn't like female teachers, in part due to his own mother's erratic behavior. In fourth grade he practically lived in the office. I had a strategy with kids like this that worked about half the time, give them space. I figured if a student was having a hard time in me class it was my responsibility. With potentially explosive students I would make it my goal to be as non-reactive as possible. Sometimes this worked, but took so much emotional energy I ended up being super reactive with other students in the class. I would learn later how to be a non-reactive teacher in general, but this year was really a teaching class for me. This child taught me the most. I will call him Frank for the

Teachers have fantastic taste in books. Connecting with s difficult student will save a day's worth of arguing. Colleagues genuinely want to help. You all spend too much money on your classrooms. Case in point I remember subbing in a portable where the teacher had brought in table lamps, a few comfy chairs, and lots of cushions. It made the place glow with roomy warmth.  Field trips are insanely stressful. Teacher's aides are the most valuable ally, and really underpaid. So are teachers. Dismissal time is like a brief daily vacation. PE should be done every day.  There are many ways to format a discipline system, but without student buy-in the implementation of it is a waste of time.  This is also true when there is not consistency.  Kids want to learn. I once taught in a first grade room where the students knew how to sing every poem in the book "Ride a Purple Pelican". I thought this pure cheese until I saw the enraptur

Dear Teachers who worked in the IE from 2002-2004 that I may have subbed for, I apologize. I was not a great sub, but I really liked the hours, those were fantastic. I liked being able to walk away at three in the afternoon, neglecting to grade your papers and often lying in the note that your students were great. I never stole school supplies, but almost always took candy. I  changed the radio station presets if I knew I was coming back the next day. Which I didn't like to do. I apologize. I checked out a lot. Reading the books in your library was the best and most immediate way to avoid processing the full immensity of classroom work or connect with students. I could get a book read in a day if I was good, and I usually just read on my breaks but I do recall a few times reading while students worked. I apologize. I didn't follow your lesson plans, and sometimes couldn't find them. I once taught a Junior High math class just by borrowing a student's book, aski

I taught for twelve years and now I am taking a break. I had a baby. Teaching full time and raising this baby feel incompatible. One or the other could get done. I did one for so long I may as well try the other. Also I wanted this baby, and waited for this baby. So, So. Twelve years is a long time and I want to spend some time and space reflecting on those years. They made up the bulk of my adult life. Most pieces of what transpired don't fit into any easy narrative structure, but that is how my mind is wired to process information. Life is narrative, in my mind I am the hero of that narrative, or at least the main character. I want to sort out what 25 to 36 was for, whys and hows, so I can put this time to some sort of rest. I have a new season to begin and there is finally some space for me to consider all of what passed. Let's begin.