In the last post, When Rest Finally Gets Quiet Enough to Speak, I wrote about the kind of quiet that does not arrive the moment the school year ends. It takes time for the mind to stop making lists, for the body to release its bracing, and for the inner noise of the year to […]
Remembering the Person Beneath the Teacher Read More »
I took the opportunity to fly down to Florida for four days at our second home in Vero Beach. The main reason for the trip was to spend time with my mother, Evelyn, who is ninety-five and recovering from her second broken hip. She is doing remarkably well, and I was grateful for the
The Small Joys Teachers Forget They Need Read More »
It is the Fourth of July weekend, and, as usual, Kelli and I are delegates to the National Education Association Representative Assembly. This is our twenty-sixth year. Thousands of educators are arriving from across the country and beyond, and there is always a certain energy in the air. We reconnect with fellow delegates, hear what
When Rest Finally Gets Quiet Enough to Speak Read More »
My niece, Ava, is graduated from eighth grade, and the other day she had her eighth-grade dance. Before the dance, a group of the kids gathered at the park for pictures. They were dressed up, laughing, posing, teasing one another a little, and standing in that strange and wonderful space between childhood and whatever
When Time Belongs to You Again Read More »
There is a particular kind of quiet that arrives after the school year ends, and if you have spent any time in a classroom, you probably know it well. It is not exactly silence. It is more like the sudden absence of all the sounds your body had been organizing itself around for
When Summer Begins, the Body Still Remembers the School Year Read More »
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 »
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 »
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 »
