What gets you up and going in the morning? Routine? A special project? Work? A commitment? Something else? This morning my youngest was up and out before 6 a.m.! He was going to see visit his girlfriend at college. His motivation to go was obvious. He wanted to see her. When I looked at my…
When I started Evergreen Garden Club in the fall of 2004, its main purpose was to provide student enrichment through hands-on activities using an outdoor environment such as the school grounds. The first group, now adults in their mid-twenties, researched local butterfly species and host plants to enable a well thought out conversion of an…
Today, the school year kicks off in our local communities here in the Coulee Region of Wisconsin. Most, not all, are entering this year on a virtual platform as opposed to in-person, classroom learning. While the majority of students were exposed to an online learning environment last spring, it was brief if you consider how…
Do you have perfect grammar and conventions? No, and no. Do you write every day? Yes. Do you feel you write well? Yes. I am writing today’s blog after taking a simple grammar test online. I knew I missed a few correct answers and still, the results gave me a 25/25. Even though the test…
I am no stranger to committee work. When we moved to Wisconsin, over twenty years ago now, I immersed myself in our local school system. I had a boy entering kindergarten within a year and was expecting my second son. Getting involved in our school district was one of the most fulfilling and important jobs…
What is transparency? Throughout my involvement in different educational systems, institutions of higher learning, and other types of business ventures such as health care or non-profit entities, I have learned that transparency is something I highly value and look for when involved in a system. It is also something I aim to be part of…
When I was little, I remember hand carrying my report card in a sealed manila envelope home for my parents to open. Since I was a compliant and eager student, I waited with anticipation and pride to share my grades with them. Aside from graded work coming home and the twice a year parent teacher…
Over the weekend I arrived home from a brief vacation in Southern California. My sister was a DNP conference with her students. I tagged along with her, and was able to visit one of our American deserts for the first time ever! It was something on my Bucket List! If you’d like to see photos…
Just over a year ago, my husband bought a 3D printer for our house. Really, it was bought for my 18-year-old who will graduate from HS in a few months. He’s our inventor, our experimenter, our dreamer. Over the course of the last year, he’s put the 3D printer to good use. He played with…
A post by a fellow teacher-blogger the other day reminded me of something I have been thinking about but couldn’t really put into words until after I read her post. She will be taking a National Certification Exam for Teaching soon but will not get the results until December. She was anticipating a long notification…