Here is a great Truth I’ve learned: Mental health days are utterly necessary every now and then to prevent sickness, to get yourself back on track, and to fend off a lingering case of the blues. Here’s another great Truth I’ve learned: To truly have the fullest potential for restoring mental sanity, mental health days …
Can reading ever be as good as it was when you were a kid?
Photo taken in 2005 One positive thing that I’ll occasionally have the pleasure of seeing as a teacher is a kid who finally “gets” that reading can be enjoyable—there is something truly magical about matching up the right book with the right kid, and in that lucky moment, that child’s reading life is [hopefully] changed …
January Reading
Although I started last month with such high hopes for what kind of reading I’d get done, I pretty much failed miserably on my January goal to read two books off my lists (mostly because I totally read the wrong book, which kind of killed the motivation I would have needed to finish up the …
Who Invented Dodgeball Anyway?
It’s finally come, friends—my Thanksgiving break! By far the best part about being a teacher is getting all these vacation days, and I am thoroughly planning on living it up by catching up on all my unread magazines, going running in the mornings (finally!), finding some time during the day to actually see the sunlight, …
Collared Shirts & I Have a Complicated Relationship
There was one year of my life (in 7th or 8th grade) where I went through this phase where I couldn’t STAND to wear anything long-sleeved. No matter how cold it was, I would refuse to wear long-sleeved shirts, and even my coats had to be loose so that my arms (especially my forearms) didn’t …
September & October Reading
Since I only finished one book in September, I decided to combine all my reading for the last two months together. I think this smattering of books is the perfect example of how totally random my interests are–I’m basically all over the place, which is actually kind of helpful considering that I’m usually in the …
Deadlines and Stress Sickness
When I was still in college, I would get “stress sick” literally almost every single finals week (or just before). Normally, I could easily (well, relatively) handle my 18-credit-hour load and two part-time jobs, but during finals week, I can count on maybe two fingers the semesters I DIDN’T get sick and/or have nervous breakdowns. Apparently, …
Be Careful What You Wish For
Yesterday, during one of the rare lunch breaks I actually take in the faculty room near other humans, we were griping about how little time we have to get in our grades for this first trimester, and I said something like the following: “I kind of just want to take a sick day so I …