The other night Kelli and I had the chance to attend the Mount Pleasant High School production of Mamma Mia. It was one of those evenings that leaves you smiling long after the curtain falls. The energy in the room was contagious—students singing, dancing, and clearly enjoying every minute of it. By the time the […]
What Teachers Need to Receive Read More »
The Difference Between Burnout and Being Worn There’s a particular kind of light that arrives in March. It doesn’t announce itself. It simply lingers a little longer in the morning and stays a little later in the evening. It slips through classroom windows and stretches across student desks as if to say, We’re still
What Reawakens in March Read More »
Series: This post is part of Policy in the Classroom. See the full series → Not long ago I happened to drive past my old high school around 4:30 in the afternoon. The student parking lot was empty, but the faculty lot still held a surprising number of cars. Seeing them there pulled me back
When the Extra Mile Became the Starting Line Read More »
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 »
