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Bureaucracy and red tape fill every profession. My first encounter with it in education was as a candidate for a teaching license. I thought it would be pretty straightforward. That was my first mistake. I was toiling away at my classes, weekly observations, and working Read more
I have been blessed in my career to know some amazing and influential people. But as with anything, I also learned about the worst people can bring to our society. The most frustrating occurrence was surrounding science and getting students the tools we needed. In Read more
You may be looking askance at the graphic accompanying this post. Believe me that by time that I am finished you will understand why it is so important for me to tell this story. When I started teaching in the early 90s, it was still Read more
Working on 9/11 in a school was a difficult undertaking. All of the obvious questions swirled in our heads. Do we tell the children? Do you interrupt teaching to view it? Not every classroom had a projector or TV so do we show them anything? Read more
This is a message I wish I could get across to all students. It does speak about teachers and school at the beginning but the full message is in the chorus. [su_youtube url="https://youtu.be/w5F8wG4tUgA"] Read more
Teaching has given me opportunities that others might not have. One of my favorite was serving as an exhibit interpreter for the Imperial Tombs of China at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in the mid 1990s. It seized on my desire to learn Read more
Recently I did a post about the cafeteria manager who got teddy bears for students. I want to now tell the story of the "Book Lady" that kids loved. Mrs. Truman lived down the block from Montview and had lived there for many years. She Read more
Facing blatant racism was a new experience. I had witnessed racism daily as a kid but I never expected to see it when I was teaching. I now know that I had a very naive outlook. I believed people had enough class to keep some Read more
I have had good luck with serendipity during my career. The first example was how I started working in Aurora. I had an interview with Montview and with Rock Ridge in Castle Rock. Rock Ridge was the school where I student taught. A sixth grade Read more
This is a perfect description of the turnover that happens in school administration I have been through five superintendents and seven principals. The lines around 7:45 of the song are particularly poignant. [su_youtube url="https://youtu.be/SHhrZgojY1Q"] Read more
I have had the opportunity to work with some people that worked tirelessly for students. I was always impressed with those that could find a unique way but touched every student's heart. Montview had a couple of folks that changed lives for a tough demographic. Read more
Teaching during the start of this current information and internet age was a blessing and a curse. We often had the freedom do what we wanted to do because nobody was sure of what it was we were doing. Networking equipment was one of the Read more