I'm listening to a soft, subdued version of ''Chicago,'' but Sufjan Stevens.  It's a life studio set taped on an indie station, KCRW, in Los Angeles.  Somehow, with the lone guitar and trumpet, I can hear the words echoing the sentiments of this school year.  At the beginning of the year, everything was going really ...

On Friday, during first hour, I yelled at the students.  I mean, I really screamed at them.  By the end of the period, I was calm and told them honestly, ''I'm sorry for yelling.  Anger has been a struggle for me my whole life.  When I was your age, I was getting in fights at school.  At this point in my life, I am just ...

For the last two weeks, students in my class have explored multiple facets of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.  They have analyzed sources for bias, posed intelligent questions, created metaphors for the conflict and developed solutions.  I admit that it is idealistic to assume that 8th graders can solve the world's problems in two ...

''It's a sun,'' a girl explains without offering even a concise explanation for her metaphor of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. ''I'm not sure I'm seeing the connection,'' I prod carefully, placing the blame on myself rather than suggesting that she might not understand the concept of metaphor. ''It's like this. The sun devours everything. It ...

I walk down the hall with a large stack of test booklets and mentally rehearse the rules.  I am an alter boy - a mere pawn who, if all goes well, can fly under the radar. Here in Arizona, AIMS testing is the Holy Week of Arizona’s education, where students spend a total of eight hours taking a grueling standardized test. ...

I recieved an e-mail this morning telling me that I need to send a list of ''bubble kids.'' (not in the John Travolta, Boy in the Bubble way, but rather the ones who are close to reaching a higher level on the standardized tests.) I don't mind offering tutoring.  Our team regularly gives up our prep period three days a week to tutor students ...

Our district is spending millions of dollars on PLC.  It might sound like a drug (which might be nice, because we could turn it into a quick profit and actually spend more on things like books and technology) but it actually means Professional Learning Community. It's not surprising that we are embracing the notion of community.  After ...

A small crowd of ten students gather in my classroom for our monthly movie night.  The name is a bit of a misnomer.  The movie actually runs from 4:45-5:15, but ''Monthly Movie Late-Afternoon/Early Evening'' sounds convoluted.  I guess most lies are borne of convenience more than anything.  We watch ''Salt of the Earth,'' a ...

In the last year and a half, administration has been offering me new opportunities to develop programs that change how our school operates.  At first this seems exciting.  I worked with some students and teachers to create the IMPACT program.  Then, this year, they have entrusted me with helping to develop a plan for restructuring ...

For me, the term ''professional development'' conjures up images of sitting in a stale library, watching PowerPoint slides as I perfect the art of cartoon-making.  I hate spending an hour and a half every week listening to things that feel irrelevant to my vocation as a teacher.  With that in mind, I approached my principal and asked if ...