On Thursday, my first period class had a special guest visit us via Sypke, the online telephone-video service. Ira David Socol, currently a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University, is the author of two works of fiction, A Certain Place of Dreams and The Drool Room. He told the students about growing up moving back [...]

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Yesterday Mr. Bryden, our head custodian, came into my first period math class with a real problem. He had a bag of fertilizer and he was looking out the window at the peace garden planted in the lawn below. He was trying to determine how many bags of fertilizer he would need to fertilize the [...]

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After a few days of adjusting to new teachers and new routines, 8th Grade is off and running. The “newness” is not just something the students are experiencing. I have a new Promethean board in my classroom (way cool!), a new class (Resource Math), a new curriculum in Foundations in Algebra 2 (which means a [...]

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I am looking forward to meeting all of my new students! This is always an exciting (and sometimes a touch stressful) time of year. We’ll get back into the routine quickly. Let’s have a great year together.

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I recently passed a book entitled The Uncommon Reader on to Mrs. Kline, with the understanding that she will pass it on to Mrs. Paprocki, who will pass it on to Mrs. Pagakis. After that, we’ll decide where it goes next. It’s not a book I’d recommend for students, only because the allusions would be [...]

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I am finding myself immersed in planning for our students to attend New Trier. I am making arrangements for the placement tests and scheduling and attending multiple meetings in preparation for articulations (the Marie Murphy-New Trier transition meetings). It’s surprising how early this preparation starts and students experience it, too. All this attention to the future [...]

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With a half day on Thursday and a full day Friday, our school year is off and running. Students learned the focus of each class, classroom expectations, and supplies needed for each class. We began to assess students’ current levels of performance and their learning styles so that we can help them maximize their unique [...]

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Welcome to 8th grade. I am looking forward to a school year full of learning, exploration and fun.

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