I asked my students three things in a recent anonymous survey. First, describe brainrot in their own words. Next, describe an instance of brainrot observed in their own life, and finally describe an instance of brainrot they observed happen to someone else. 

Prior installments: Fall 2022 Spring 2023 Fall 2023

Last year I wrote about the most influential teacher in my life and how it was a pretty dysfunctional experience and the closest I’ve ever come to spending time in a cult.  This year for Teacher Appreciation Week, I’d like to offer a slightly more positive reflection on someone even more influential on who I am today: my mom.  

The word “yap” is all the rage with the youth at the moment. Yap yap yap. My mom was yapping at me. You wouldn’t stop yapping about that during lunch. Yap yap yap.  I will now yap about stuff I’ve had on my mind.  ***

PART I  Thursday, January 18 – Only day of school this week. Most of the morning spent rescheduling the event tomorrow in light of the forecast. Emailing students and judges and making sure everyone is aware. Trying to determine how many students we will lose to scheduling conflicts next week.  Monday, January 22 – Arrive at school early, refreshed and ready to start the week. Only at 9:00 do I start to realize that I’m the only soul in the English hallway. Where the hell is everyone? I check the schedule. End-of-the-quarter planning day. How do you like that?  

Prior installments: Zen Moments: Fall 2022 Zen Moments: Spring 2023   Met a student with a cool alliterative name. Student: “Yeah. All my siblings have these initials.” Me: “So your parents are…?” Student: “Weird? Yes. And divorced.” *

Tuesday, January 2 – First day back. Original oratory student stops by in the morning to discuss changes to her piece. She is excited and ready to start memorizing. A positive start to what is otherwise a dark day on the forensics front. Black Tuesday – numerous students withdrawing from their forensics commitments: 

A verbal river rock, worn smooth from use.  Today I have something to share with you. Where some people collect rocks, I collect and categorize the clichés specific to my job in education. I am not referring to clichés instructors use in the classroom – students already do a good enough job identifying these. I am referring to those that are heard amongst teachers/education professors/administrators.  Please gather round as we examine my collection (put together over the past semester with the help of a few friends in the biz). Some of them we will pass around and appreciate for their … Continue reading My Cliché Collection

I’ve been listening to different renditions of “My Favorite Things” —  the Coltrane version, the Julie Andrews version, a version I’m playing with science teacher Mr. Looney on mandolin, a version my wife recorded a few years ago. Given the lyrics, I started thinking of some soul-affirming places and objects at work I might reference in my own rendition of the song.

Glows This is some of the stuff that went well — skip if you’re here to revel in my failures. Journals: I compiled journal entries into a booklet that I kept in the classroom. Students took them more seriously than any prior journal system I had used, knowing that they had been prepared carefully and would be read with scrutiny. Q2 journals will refine skills from Q1.