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One of my friends came to school yesterday, limping heavily. She explained, “I was bad, so Daddy punched me in the leg.” My assistant teacher, who was the one who greeted our friend off the bus, said later that she nearly threw up, right then and there.
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Today was our first day learning about our February theme, Families. We talked about different people who are in a family — mommies (I said, “some families have a mommy, but not all”) and daddies (I said the same thing), and sisters, and babies, and brothers,
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So that mom, that sad mom I talked about in my last post, has a lot of problems. She’s got a major illness. One that can be life-threatening, and — she is refusing treatment. She’s annoyed that the doctors keep calling her and trying to get her to keep
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I had a very bleak parent conference this morning, with a mother whose life is in shambles. Major medical issues, mental illness (anxiety and severe depression), and an emotionally — possibly physically — abusive relationship. She told me she doesn’t
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If you teach in an affluent community — or at least, a stable, middle-class one — then as the summer approaches, your students probably behave in predictable ways. They get restless, they start to slack off, they become lively and happy and loud, and
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I haven’t posted much lately, perhaps because I am still reeling from a large piece of bad news. Near the end of the year, the Prince came in and asked me to step out in the hall. He told me that Miss Slinger is being let go by the district, because of
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I’m back. I have been gone because my migraines went haywire again, and I started to feel exhausted all the time. I went to the doctor about the exhaustion and she said…..”mild depression.” I was shocked at first, but then a lot of things started to make
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So we got the notes from the most recent union meeting. Apparently the district administration decided that the way they are going to add 15 minutes to the day at several schools (including mine) for this fall is that they will just have us come in 15
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The cold isn’t bothering me. The ice, however, is. I find it frustrating to drive on icy, rutted roads, and I’m particularly tired of walking gingerly on icy sidewalks. It occurs to me that walking on the ice is a metaphor for how I’m feeling right now:
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I have had some really great weekends lately. In fact, they have been so nice that I have found myself clinging to them desperately and dreading Monday morning. And that worries me. Work is going well — at least, the teaching preschool part of it is.
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I have a kid in my class — let’s call him Kid — who is one of several children at his home. He’s got some issues. He also has had green goo coming out of his nose for months, his breath is stunningly bad, and his adenoids are swollen and slimy. If I were
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So Titch kicked a little boy with Down’s Syndrome in the face and knocked out his tooth. Apparently there was blood everywhere. We were on the playground, and I was trying to gather my goslings to line up and get ready to go home, and Titch — the line
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I arrived at work today and a friend said to me, with a dazed look on her face, “my husband just got laid off.” “I’m so sorry!” I said. “How awful.” “We’re just numb,” she said, and then we had to go in to our meeting and I couldn’t say anything else.
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I’m not posting much right now, as I’ve had migraines every day for a week. I got desperate and tried acupuncture today. I’ll go again every week for three more weeks, and I am very hopeful that it will help. I’ll be back to posting soon.
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I’ve been hit with a horrible cold. Started with pinkeye on Friday (thanks, kids!) and turned into a vicious, energy-draining cold the next day. I’ve mostly been in bed all week. Anyway, back to posting in a day or two when I go back to work and have
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