Cool Cat Teacher Blog is at coolcatteacher.com

The holidays arrive and I wonder how I'll survive. So many things to do how will I every get through? Grading period ending and holidays are pending. Red rover, red rover, send her right over right over the top pushing up clover! Mom of three teacher of many I'll take some holiday cheer if you've got any. But, I must stand back and look these times are too short. Life is so fleeting and life's not a sport. In three years, I'll have two off at school my house will seem empty and the car will be cool. I will take time to enjoy the time where life is just nuts the joy's in the busyness and there are no ruts. Though I often long for a moment to breathe and be me it is best if I take the time to see the joy under my tree. Christmas started with a Person and it continues with four more my biggest present is their presence coming through my door. Family is the present their laughter is my bow I'll rejoice they are with me ...

Room in My Classroom When frowns are down and people are milling around... It's time to hide in your room. When people are tired and with caffeine over-wired It's time to hide in your room. When no one has slept and some negativity has crept It's time to hide in your room. You see, doom and gloom may loom but not in your room. Your classroom is your room, your creation, your loom, you can do a lot in your room. The most important attitude that walks in your door is the one you bring into your room. Protect your attitude with a shield of stone, keep the negative out don't let it in your room. Schools go up, schools go down, but insulate the learning in your room. Students must learn every day, it cannot fluctuate with ebb and sway keep things consistently positive in your room. My mom was a teacher and she taught me true one of the only places in this world that is yours is your classroom. Own it. Love it. Nourish it. Protect it, even from...

Last Tuesday was my husband's birthday. I always write a post to dedicate to him. I found this old poem in my journal penned on the last day of Spring break this year that really fits with what I'm feeling these days and I dedicate it to the most amazing man on this planet (in my eyes), Kip Davis!  It is an appropriate Thanksgiving post. Wake Disheveled hair. Tossed by swirling wind off the bay. Destiny. The first boat out of the harbor today. Surely destiny brought me here this moment to inhale the dawn. Quiet spray kicked off the street below- washing away last night's goings on. Fresh air. Fresh water. A fresh wind in my mind. Wiping away the busy crests of thoughts a white wake drifting behind. Erase the days and moments sitting grading at my desk worries and hearts of exhaustion wondering if what I do is best. So much. So much. I can check email anywhere. But I won't. I can't. This day won't last and my email will keep. It will sti...

Where, Oh Where, Has Cool Cat Teacher Gone? I'm still here working away leaving my blogging for another day. Expanding horizons, blogging my mind , Making senior slide shows and graduation movies till I go blind. Checking efolios and grading some blogs , so much work, my mind is in a fog. I love it when some casually say "I'd love to be a teacher & relax one day!" Little do they know the joy and the pain the loss of sleep and frustration of gain (weight gain that is!) Tis not a profession for the weak of heart nor puffed up of mind stuffed shirts wouldn't make it a day in my class, I find. Debates swirl about this and that, what will work and what's old hat . While others debate teachers have jobs to do, until the final bell rings, we're never through. Perhaps you'll remain and be here when I return with a burst but for me, as always, my classroom comes first! (I miss blogging and somewhere in the back of my mind, I hope I won't "lose...

a simulpost with TechLearning This day whilst the songbird doth sing dreams twhirl amidst the smothering of incessant feeding which twould make the glutton pale the socialite face his ale and the nymphomanical digg for protection. Oh, the little peeps twitter sliding their share of patience with the clatter. Sweet delicious sleep, shall I find thee in this fog? Hit my no b log ! Make me esche w iki traps that take my time! For to control the ha rss ing barrage of mud and not let it drown me in the flood To extract meaning in the mire is truly my sole desire. I will find the answers with my friends like a refreshing wind helping stem the tide that would inundate and make sense of what would frustrate. To take the torrent alone would make fools of us all. I wrote this silly poem today while thinking about how unmanageable all of the torrential RSS streams are and how much I depend upon my friends to teach me, help me focus, and determine what is important. I also thought it woul...