The air on the pool deck at states always feels different. Thicker somehow. Chlorine and adrenaline mixed together. The sharp echo of whistles. The hollow slap of wet feet on tile. The metallic hum of the starting system. For forty years, that soundscape has meant one thing to me: responsibility. This year […]
Between Care and Overreach Read More »
I’m retiring again. Kelli and I have been coaching swimming and diving since 1987. That’s a long time to measure winters by practice schedules, bus rides, and the echo of whistles off tiled walls. This is our final season. Truly final this time. Every year, just before the state meet, we take the
When the Year Feels Long Read More »
There are books you write because you have something to say. And there are books you write because something has been quietly forming in you for years, and eventually you realize it needs language. The Inner Classroom belongs to the second kind. After decades in the classroom — teaching psychology, sociology, economics,
Why I Wrote The Inner Classroom Read More »
Series: This post is part of Policy in the Classroom. See the full series → There’s a particular kind of quiet that settles into a classroom long after the buses have pulled away. The chairs are crooked. The board is half-erased. The clock keeps moving. And somewhere, a teacher is still working. Not
What Policy Doesn’t Understand About Teacher Time Read More »
A few nights ago, I found myself at a retirement party for a teacher friend. The room was loud in that familiar way—overlapping conversations, bursts of laughter, coats piled near the door. Someone lifted a glass to tell a story and got interrupted twice before finishing the first sentence. Teachers everywhere. Some people had taught
A Valentine’s Message for Teachers Read More »
The other night, Kelli and I took a drive with no real destination in mind, the kind you take when the house starts to feel a little too small and the day has nowhere left to go. We ended up down by the river and sat there for a while, watching the light change. It
What It Means to Keep Showing Up in February Read More »
Series: This post is part of Policy in the Classroom. See the full series → Where instructional urgency meets human limits By late January, the building always carried a different weight. I’m remembering this from thirteen years out now, long retired, but the feel of it is still vivid. The halls were stripped
The Policy–Practice Chasm in Late January Read More »
Kelli and I attended the funeral of our sister-in-law’s mother earlier this week. It was solemn, as funerals are, but also quietly connective — a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with family we don’t see often, to remember, to mourn, to catch up in low voices between long pauses. The day itself was cold
The Middle of January and the Work of Carrying On Read More »
I want to share something I’ve been working on quietly. Over time, I’ve noticed how often teachers describe being tired in ways that don’t quite sound like burnout—and don’t quite lift with rest. It’s not always about workload alone. It’s often about accumulation. Attention. Emotional labor. The cost of caring deeply, day after
A Teacher’s Guide to Burnout, Boundaries, and Renewal Read More »
A Perspective Shifts reflection for early-career teachers That first morning back The first day back after a break always has its own kind of hush. I’ll tell you what I mean. I used to pull into the lot a little earlier than I needed to. It was still dark enough that the building
What Comes After the Quiet Read More »
