I’ve been an unreliable journaler in 2012. Here’s some photo documentation of my life which consists mostly of Englishy things and my hedgehog. Jeremy and I need to take more pictures, but I think we both agree that our hedgehog is cuter than both of us, so she gets the most screen time.
Author: Sierra
Screen Fast, Thoreau Style
Posted onIn an effort to get my students in the spirit of Transcendentalism and to “Simplify, simplify, simplify!” I have asked my students to create their own personal “Walden” of sorts.
The Power of Nice
Posted onI used to think that “niceness” was a soft attribute. I was heartily convinced that the way to be in life was like Christina Yang–calloused, driven, exceptional and seldom nice. Nice was a boring quality. Nice felt like Comic Sans and an exclamation point. Nice was a pastel butterfly on top of a crib. Nice meant weak.
That’s not to say I was always mean. I liked to call myself “driven” instead. I was capable of being nice, but usually and especially in high school, nice was not inherent; nice served a purpose.
The Case of the Petrified Weasley
Posted onWhen I was a little girl, and people told me, “Oh, you look just like Emma Watson!” or “You look just like that girl that plays Hermione,” they might as well have slapped me across the face with anvil fingers.
I Care So Little About Football
Posted onI care so little about football. I learn the bare minimum so that when my students try to engage me in a conversation about football (which is hourly) I can reply with something like: “mumble mumble, oh yeah backup refs mumble mumble.”
Giving Hufflepuffs a new reputation.
Posted onAdmittedly, my Facebook and Instagram coverage has been thorough, I thought blog world might find joy in our new bundle of joy.
Teaching: I am a Moose in the Headlights.
Posted onI’m a talker. I’m a sharer, as previously acknowledged. I’m an “experience the world through reliving it verbally” kind of person.
So it’s very strange, but I just haven’t really wanted to talk about my new job as a teacher very much.
My Exhaustion is Thorough, but Not Expended.
Posted onDear Blog,
You’ve never been less important to me. Did you know I have a million other priorities? Did you know that I feel guilty for even clicking into blogger at times like these?
Did you know that my exhaustion has never been so completely thorough?
Did you know that I feel like every ounce of extroversion I have ever felt has been sucked from me as though I have been strapped up to “The Machine” in The Princess Bride?
Did you know that there are students that aren’t very nice? Did you know that there are some students who argue with teachers? Did you know that students don’t believe that reading is important or even relevant to them?
I have a suspicion that you did know these things, Blog. You sat with your wry smile thinking about my silly optimism, knowing I’d fall of the grid, knowing that teaching would consume me, knowing that there was a cruel world out there that I was refusing to see.
But guess what, blog? I bet you didn’t know about Thompson* (name changed), who stayed after class too tell me that he was a mute, and only talked to nice people, but felt like he could talk to me because I was a nice person?
I bet you didn’t know about Marissa* with her piercings and her teeth decals and her earnest desire to succeed at English, even though it was her second language.
I bet you didn’t know about Brad*, who told me I was a good teacher at my deepest moment of secret need.
To the Thomspons and the Marissas and the Brads out there, you are the reasons I teach this week. Thank you.
I’m a Sharer.
Posted onI’m a sharer. When I say that, I don’t mean like, “Hey, here’s a bite of my sandwich;” more like, I tend to share personal details a little too readily with an slight dose of hyperbole. I can’t help it. It’s in my blood. My sister’s blog is titled, “And Then Some” for Heaven’s sake.
A Nap About High School
Posted onToday was a special day, and here’s how I know it: I napped for an hour. A Whole Hour.
I am a frequent napper but usually only for five-ten minute bursts. I call these “synapses,” because they are short like a synapse and help me get something working again. But today, I had a genuine nap, though it was nothing special in and of itself. In fact, it gave me a headache afterwards.