We left Chicago on Saturday, and as far as our bodies are concerned it is still Saturday night/Sunday morning. We have rented an apartment in the Salamanca barrio, just blocks from the Retiro and our friends Pamela and Tom. The Apartment is lovely in a 1950’s meets a bit of IKEA way, and all of…
Author: Kate Tabor
English teacher in a JK-12 school
Before the World Was Searchable
“Before there was Google, there was Joan’s vertical file.” This is still my favorite thing that I read in the many condolence cards after my mother’s death. It is so true. My mother had a vertical file to be envied. So much hard work was represented in that collection of clippings and images that it…
Tell Me About CMK
This is a reply to an email request that I received. Our grant administrator wants to send a group of teachers to Constructing Modern Knowledge but wanted to know a bit more about it. Could I tell her? she asked. Hi Faith, I really enjoyed Constructing Modern Knowledge last year. First – it’s tiny. There…
Make Peace With Imperfection
MAKE PEACE WITH IMPERFECTION This is something that I write on the board in my classroom when we are working on new forms of writing – like the analytic essay. I think that I will enshrine it permanently with my one classroom rule: Don’t be a jerk.** Last week a dear friend asked me what…
Almost March
It snows every day still. A little bit every night. I worry that I won’t be able to uncover enough dirt to plant peas on St. Patrick’s Day. I hope that the spinach and arugula overwintered; I think chances are good because we mulched with all the leaves from the maple tree and we’ve had…
Sparta and the Quik Trip
I am home earlier than intended. A blizzard was predicted (and it appeared, right on schedule) for parts of eastern SD and all across southern Minnesota for today, the main travel day for most of us. Reliable weather watchers recommended an early departure, so I changed my ticket to an early flight yesterday, and my…
Traveler (Hubris)
Like Odysseus, we really just wanted to get back to our hometown. My sister and I picked up her husband and we left their Oak Park home at 6:40 pm – not optimal time to begin a westward journey through parts of four states, but my sister and her husband drive through the night more…
Mom
My mother died early this morning. As my sister describes it, it’s been like walking off a cliff. Mom was with us over Christmas. She had a great Christmas, helping make cookies, eating penuche fudge, seeing her grandchildren. We had no idea that this was what the new year would bring. Here is what I…
Snow, as benediction
It snowed on Saturday. I woke to the quiet that snow provides, sounds that are normal parts of a Saturday morning are muffled by the blanket of wet snow. And it was perfect snowball snow. But the snowballs would have to wait. My eighth graders had to take the Explore test, a pre-pre ACT that…
Untangled
I’m trying to unpack this metaphor. We had another amazing Thanksgiving with 28 at the tables (three – all in the dining room) on Thursday and 25 at my sister’s on Friday. I have the most amazing extended family that a woman could ask for. On Sunday my uncle’s flight back to South Dakota was…
Mandolines and Mandolins
Sunday we celebrated what I would argue was the last day of summery fall. The threatened rain held off and the day was golden, crisp and cool. I went to the garden to dump the kitchen compost bucket and realized that it had been a while since I had been out there. The second planting…
Living on the Lip of Insanity 