Nothing makes washing dishes more pleasant than an appropriate beverage and a Frank Sinatra CD. Those dishes got washed with a smile. My husband wants to talk about the arrangements. I said, “Oh, those are all Nelson Riddle, I’m sure.” (Close, two were not.) I just want to imagine that I’m dancing with a tall,…
Author: Kate Tabor
English teacher in a JK-12 school
The Beckoning of Lovely
Last night we did something that others may think was silly. We joined a whole bunch of people at the Bean ( public art, Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate in Millennium Park) for a moment of something Lovely on 10/10/10 at 10:10 pm. Organized by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, this was the third moment at the Bean…
Clearing Out
Usually I wait until February recess or April break to do my closet purging, but yesterday I started in the cupboard in the kitchen that has all those bit of herbs and spices and bags of dried and dessicated star anise and chilies that will never be used and have lost any of their flavor…
Camping With the 7th Grade
We have returned from our three day camping trip with the 7th grade. Here is what I know: Seventh graders are fun to spend time with. Nothing beats a wood fire for hours of entertainment – building, stoking, cooking, toasting, poking, watching A grill basket may be a camping/teacher’s best friend Kids think that just…
Three Ms
So I’ve started the project, hoping to get my classes to think about working together in new ways and to have new problem solving strategies. (Thank you, CMK10)! Yesterday I put on the board the three M’s that, along with Gary Stager‘s one classroom rule (Don’t be a jerk.) will be the centerpiece of how…
I Want Three Things
First rule of production: everyone wants three things – make it fast, make it cheap, make it great. Pick two. For this speech, I pick fast and cheap – I’ll work on great. For my class, I’ll stick with just great. Here are my opening remarks to the Faculty Association at our fall plenary meeting….
Everybody’s Got A Hungry Heart
We feed so many good things in our lives: minds souls hearts bodies spirits And so many negative things: hatred resentment anger sadness This was an eventful week. I participated in the feeding of so many aspects of my world, and I hope the positive energy outweighs the negative that swirls around us. My girls…
Fair Use – did I get this right?
Okay – there are days that I THINK I understand copyright law in educational settings. A former student of mine asked if she could use images that she found using the Google image search if she labeled where they were from. The images would be used in a magazine she wants to produce with school…
You Never Can Tell With Bees…
When I prepared to spend the week at Mansfield College talking about Shakespeare in history, I hadn’t really thought too much about Edward Bear, also known as Winnie the Pooh. I love Pooh. The A. A. Milne stories have been favorites of mine as a child, as a parent and as a teacher. Milne’s poetry…
What’s cookin’
Over the past few days a new way of thinking about my classroom has emerged for me. I have been thinking about how to be a co-student in my classroom, mentoring and learning along side the rest of the people in the room. After my week at Constructing Modern Knowledge (CMK10) I want so much…
Worcester College Library – Can I Stay?
By far the greatest geek pleasure afforded to me in Oxford was our field trip to the Worcester College Library. The Worcester library is not huge like the Bodleian but it has a treasures, real treasures. We we not allowed to take photos, but let me explain what we were able to see. Drawings After…
Living on the Lip of Insanity 