What Crosses My Mind

  • name and faces

    I walked into my classroom today, and the kids were being themselves, I was thinking about their welfare, wondering how many wondered themselves. When I glanced into their faces, I’d seen them already, splashed across the television screen hanging in the living room of everyone’s home. I wonder if it’s possible to tell each other…

  • I Looked In Their Hearts Today

    I didn’t tell them as much, you never can, well you might, I might occasionally want to shout, I want them to know I love them, we love them, there’s a lot of love when each one of them walks inside my classroom.   I wanted to reach them today, they couldn’t really feel the…

  • Why School Shooting Awareness Matters

    Recently, our high school (not Kentucky) went through a serious protocol called A.L.I.C.E. as a national preventative for school shootings. The word is an acronym for the following: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate (ALICE). While as a teacher I have gone through many safety initiatives over the last twenty years that evolved from the Columbine…

  • The Problem with Guns, Pranks & Kids

    Recently, the school district I work in experienced a social media crisis when kids posted pictures of themselves with the message — ‘Don’t come to school’ as we prepare to return to the classroom after the winer break. The problem is the students are holding what appear to be weapons — automatic rifles and revolvers — all of which have since…

  • Recognizing Who We Are Today! (a draft)

    We experienced a tragedy in (our community) last week. We lost a young man as the result of a traffic accident. He touched many hearts. The city, the district, the students were all impacted by the loss of (student), a student known by many for his affectionate and charming persona, an infectious personality. I listened…

  • The White Out

    In a sudden state of conclusion, a confusion, an interruption of our ultimatum, we were in a stirring rendition, of love, of fun, of childhood, when simply in the notice of our soul catcher, we were told it is time to go home.   Now in the quiet of the day, when laying back in…

  • Why “13 Reasons Why” Is Important

    In the fine arts we are encouraged to go big with our ideas, to allow emphasis on the issue, the illusion, the piece of art being presented on the stage. The purpose is designed to get the point across to the audience, or keep them engaged. The true compliment to an artwork, no matter the…

  • In High School We Believed

    Everything mattered, occurred, became known, whether we wanted notoriety or a simple life as a student.   Remember walking the halls, feeling the eyes, wondering about thinking that could expose your own state of mind.   I remember they told me otherwise, so I trusted their ideal, and when the walls caved in they were…

  • Wanting Discovery

    I am that person you see every day, in a coffee shop – caprice with friends, at the prom, nervous, in every crowd shot of each rite of passage, walking to school, waiting nearby, the one that popped out of a crowd with a smile, genuine and as easily drawn to cry as allow laughter.  …

  • A Silent Decision

    Sat in a room tonight, listened to the wonder, of the world we live in today. Hard topics, sad outcomes, hopeful realities, the horrific turmoil in the lives of young women and boys.   Earlier this afternoon, I took a student apart, confronting their need to focus on their academics, made sure the rest of…