“Let me tell you how my day started, Mr. Hasan,” Matt said. He was fidgeting in his chair, something he doesn’t usually do. He was particularly animated, waving his hands around with a huge smile on his face. And he wasn’t waiting for me to ask him how it started. “My dad and I went […]
Yearly Archives: 2025
Classroom Music
Mon, 10 Nov 2025, 10:34 AM (-06:00)
Is there music coming from the classroom next door? I can barely hear it. Wait. Can I? A high voice that periodically gets drowned out by the chit-chat in class (some of which is related to the test review they’re supposed to be doing, some of which is … not). There it is again. I […]
Corn Snake
Sat, 8 Nov 2025, 08:05 AM (-06:00)
It was first period. It’s a luxuriously small class. The kids all get along well. For the most part, they get their work done. Emma, who a master at math, sometimes brings in a snake. Today she had a corn snake. As we derived the quadratic formula, Cornelius slithered around her arms and neck. Yesss, […]
Complex Highlighting
Sat, 1 Nov 2025, 05:57 PM (-06:00)
On Wednesday, they learned how to complete the square, a long-ish process that generally makes the kids’ eyes roll back in their heads. In a few days, we’ll use that to derive the quadratic formula. But first, we need to discuss taking the square root of a negative number. (Quelle horreur!) For this, they’ll need […]
Roadrunner
Tue, 28 Oct 2025, 10:51 PM (-06:00)
There was that Whip-Poor-Will singing outside at dusk the other night. And there were those Monarchs turning circles in the front yard among the blooming wonders in the yard yesterday. And a few days ago, there were the Stag Beetle grubs slowly turning in the compose pile as I buried the kitchen scraps. They’ve returned […]
Monarchs
Mon, 27 Oct 2025, 10:00 PM (-06:00)
With the long-overdue rain we had over the weekend, the front yard is abloom. Fall Asters, Purple Trailing Lantana, Russian Sage, and even Mealy Blue Sage have exploded in purples that complement the yellow and oranges of the rest of the yard. And those yellows and oranges have found new vigor, evidently casting aside the […]