#silentsunday
Yearly Archives: 2024
Flight School
Wed, 20 Mar 2024, 12:08 PM (-06:00)
She used to be a student of mine. She struggled with the class. A few times she came in for tutorials, but the amount of material she hoped to make up was just too much. She had a really hard time. Still, every day she would smile when she came in. But it must have […]
First Day Back
Mon, 18 Mar 2024, 08:50 AM (-06:00)
First day after Spring Break. They have a test on Wednesday, so they’re reviewing today and tomorrow. The room is quiet with a murmur of some of them working together, leaning over the worksheet, sharing the Desmos graphs of the functions they’re studying. There’s a picture of our campsite at Ratcliff Lake in the Davy […]
Spiderwort
Sat, 16 Mar 2024, 09:03 AM (-06:00)
Years ago the fair and industrious Trudy gave me a Giant Spiderwort on my birthday. “How long ago was that?” I periodically ask her. “Oh. I don’t know, a long time ago,” she says, drawing out the word long. We find ourselves reflecting on time this way frequently. Fugit irreparabile tempus. In March each year, […]
A Near Miss
Fri, 8 Mar 2024, 11:14 AM (-06:00)
First period on Friday before Spring Break. As usual students are trickling in late. I mean what’s going on that the same kids are so consistently this late — for a math class even. I know, I know. Teenage brains. Early in the morning. I’ve was there once. But every day? Francis gets up from […]
Teacher Appreciation Night
Wed, 6 Mar 2024, 03:38 PM (-06:00)
Last night was teacher appreciation night for the girls soccer teams. One varsity and two JV girls evidently appreciate Algebra 2 despite the challenges. They invited me to the pre-game ceremonies after school — JV at 5:00, varsity at 7:30. I typically leave home at 7:00am. And so with the 30 minute drive home included, […]
Contrition
Wed, 6 Mar 2024, 02:47 PM (-06:00)
1. Uttered Words In the excitement of a moment — Getting a problem right? Getting a good test score? I don’t remember precisely what the moment involved. In that moment, Joe uttered a profanity. The class looked at him and then looked up in unison at the Be Nice poster on the wall, bullet six […]
Narnia Solaces
Thu, 8 Feb 2024, 08:15 PM (-06:00)
We devoured the Narnia books, my brother and I, when we were young. My aunt had given them to all four cousins. My brother read them faster than the rest of us. That was years ago. Of all the wonder in those books, two images remain strikingly vivid. 1. Lily Pads At the end of The […]
A Cartoon Exchange
Sun, 4 Feb 2024, 05:51 PM (-06:00)
A few years ago, I briefly taught Calculus. It was a small class of seniors. They all had different things going on, and they all had senioritis badly. It was an adventure teaching them — seems like ancient history, now. This afternoon, one of them sent a note from college saying how much this cartoon […]