January 2009

  • Best Teacher Ever

    I got called “The Best Teacher Ever!” today, more than once. All it took was some chocolate cake. It was great to get this response from the kids. I’m glad they enjoyed my surprise for them. I started this practice two years ago and I find it works quite well. On a day when no […]


  • Mailbox Full of Bills

    I don’t mind paying my bills. I know that it is a regular part of life. The part I really hate is trying to read them. When I checked my mail today, it was full of bills and flyers. Both things demanding my money. I threw the flyers directly in the recycling bin. Even if […]


  • Why Do We Fall for 99 Cent Pricing?

    When 99 cent pricing was new, it was easy for us to fall for it. We see a price $599.99 and say, “Wow! It’s only five-hundred dollars. What a deal!” and then we buy it and tell all our friends that it was only $500.00. We rationalize our purchase several ways but this one always […]


  • Forever Plastic

    I caught this documentary Forever Plastic last week. It was really interesting to see how the world has changed because of plastic. It seems like plastic has always been around. Of course, this might be the problem. Plastic is always around. I was shocked to learn that the recyclable logo doesn’t mean what I thought […]


  • School’s Not Important

    At least that is the message that your kids get if you… – pull them out of school regularly.– can’t get them to school on time– never check to see if your child has homework– don’t come to parent-teacher interviews– haven’t been in the school at least once yet this school year I went to […]


  • Quotations of the Week

    I thought I’d share with you some of the quotes I’ve been posting this week from my commonplace blog. If you like what you read, check out Thoughtful Cacophony. Motivational Monday – I always start out the week with a motivational quote. “It is through cooperation, rather than conflict, from which your greatest successes be […]


  • What’s the Big Deal?

    There’s a television in my classroom but I rarely use it. I will occasionally show videos to enhance the curriculum, but most of the time, the television stays off to the corner of my room collecting dust. I didn’t even know that I could use it to tune in any stations until today. I wanted […]


  • Revision is Tough

    I don’t use outlines when I write. I just get an idea, let it cook in my head for a while, and then start writing. I then take a bit of a break before moving on to my next writing project. After I have given myself some distance from the story, I go back and […]


  • What’s He Look Like?

    Is it important what a character looks like? When reading fiction, we can’t really see the characters anyway. Some writers will write pages and pages filled with physical description but is this really necessary? As a reader, I build up a vision of the characters in my mind. I do this with my own imagination. […]


  • O My – Enough is Enough

    I am getting really tired of Obama-mania. Everywhere you turn there is some special Obama related product. Barack Obama’s image is ending up in the weirdest places. There are T-shirts, hats, scarves, cookies, mugs, and other not so typical pieces of merchandise. Earlier this week I saw a news story about special Obama Beaver Tails. […]