Writing With Abandon
Reflections and ramblings about life as an educator, writer, reader, knitter, and over-thinker. Trying to do the writing only I can do.
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In 2003, there was a study that showed “hugging for 20 seconds noticeably reduces blood pressure, heart rate, and stress” (source). This is what Joliette told me one day our first year at Samara. We hugged each other and our students often that year. We were founding the first 4th grade, and I’d go on…
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Soria, qué linda eres Con tus fiestas San Juaneras Con tu sinfín de haceres Y tus bonitas mujeres Que iluminan la verbena It was summer, and I was in my Spanish boyfriend at the time’s pueblo, Soria. I’d been living in Madrid for a year by then, and had visited Soria once before, but I’d…
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Today we’re taking the 5th graders to the Kennedy Space Center for an overnight trip. About 4 hours north on a charter bus with a stop on the way to stretch our legs and have a snack, check in by 3:30, explore the space center all afternoon and evening, lights out by 10:30, wake up…
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Yesterday, after I left early for a doctors appointment, J and E (who were sitting out during PE because of injuries) found a stray tennis ball, drew a face on it, and named it Benington. “They told the other kids that he was a new student,” Kim explained this morning. “And it was the perfect…
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My first two years of teaching, I worked at a public school in Washington Heights. Most days I packed a lunch, but when I was feeling lazy or had run out of groceries, I’d pick up pupusas from La Cabaña Salvadoreña just down the block. Two chicken and cheese pupusas for just $2 each, stacked…
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Almost every morning, without fail, I text with Ariel on WhatsApp as I get ready for my day. She lives 7 hours ahead in Tel Aviv, and has since fall 2019. We lived together for one singular, amazing year in an apartment in Washington Heights, which helped us add to the list of descriptors we…
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“Fall back, spring forward.” That’s the line that helps you remember what to do with your clocks on Daylight Savings. Luckily most of our internet-connected devices do it automatically, you just have to remember to change the others (stove, microwave, car, alarm clock, analog watch, am I missing any?). The clocks changed this morning at…
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We do the Connections every morning. 16 seemingly disparate words or phrases in a 4×4 grid, waiting for us to make the connection between them. We play Connections after we’ve already gotten the Wordle, and once we’ve solved the Mini Crossword. I play Spelling Bee most days too, though I’m not as obsessed as I…
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Hoy a la hora de la despedida, vi a la mamá de una de mis estudiantes. Le llamé para decirle algo sobre el paseo la semana que viene (su hija tiene diabetes, y el paseo es durante la noche, así que ella viene con nosotros). —Estás en nuestro grupo, —le dije. —Ay gracias, —me respondió,…
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I’m reading Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, and last night when I came across the following lines, I actually laughed out loud: Hannah was invited to a sleepover that night. Sleepovers, as far as Toby could tell, consisted of the girls in her class getting together and forming alliances and lobbing microaggressions at…
Writing With Abandon 