The Dream Teacher Blog

What John Keating Taught Me About Teaching

August 12, 2014

For a woman who loves words more than most anything, I had NONE when I received the news of the death of Robin Williams. I tried to blog. Nothing. I considered writing a poem, but nothing made sense. I’m not sure if I had no words or too many. My brain was jumping from my favorite Mork episode (Mindy had painted her fingernails and was waving her hands to help them dry, and Mork ran over and yelled at her, “You can do it Mindy! You can fly!!!” I’ve said that line for thirty years, whenever I see someone waving …

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When Great Trees Fall…

May 28, 2014

I wasn’t in school yet when I used to ride with my mama to deliver my daddy to work, and then pick him up again, every day. We were a one car – one phone – one television – one bathroom family back in 1962. We were one family – Mommy, Daddy, child, child, child. Easy, breezy. So I guess I was pretty sheltered from the ugliness of the world. And, well, I was five. There was a great deal I didn’t understand.

Once on that daily trip through town I saw a man sitting on the curb, shoes …

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Letter to Twenty-one-year-old Me

April 15, 2014

This weekend I had the opportunity to return to my university for an alumni meeting. I think we can all agree that the most exciting time on a college campus is the beginning of spring…when the trees are blooming and the students are outside milling about, throwing Frisbees and sitting on blankets in the sun, and the crack of the bat hitting a ball echoes off the dorm walls.

As I walked from the parking lot to the Alumni Center, I was thrown back to the early 80’s when I walked on that same brick path, headed to the education …

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Country Girl

February 23, 2014

About eight years ago, I started writing the story of me. It was a simple concept: I wanted my children to understand their roots, to know about their history. I called my new project Country Girl and set out to find out what I could about people who came and went before I got here. To do that, I interviewed my great aunt Hazel, a spunky country lady who is more like a sister to my mother than an aunt, being only six years older. I’ve known her – my grandmother’s sister, my great-grandmother Maggie’s baby girl – of course, …

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Remembering Donna

January 4, 2014

I recently heard wailing in my middle school, not just crying, but weeping coming from a nearby room. I walked toward the alarming sound to find a seventh grader telling her woeful story to a teacher: “But she was my BEST FRIEND!!!” she wailed. I walked away understanding the scenario. I’ve seen it a million times over my teaching career: inseparable girls now separated due to something one of them said or did, a girl-on-girl style broken heart that will never be forgotten and may never be forgiven. Yes, I’ve seen it before. And this particular scenario?

I’ve actually lived…

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Teaching along the Edge

December 8, 2013

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to serve as a discussant after a group of panelists, all teachers in the “spring” of their careers (even one first year teacher), spoke on transforming classrooms and schools. The panel discussion was part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education’s symposium called “Education for a New Era.” This particular session was entitled “Teaching Along the Edge,” and the moderator, Dr. Jocelyn Glazier (a former high school English teacher and current associate professor at UNC), shared that she wanted “to find the places where there is light” …

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An Open Letter to Young Ladies

October 7, 2013

During my adolescent years, my mother was a little vague when we had “the talk,” often deferring to my older brother who cracked open his high school biology book and explained things scientifically. But she was very clear about one thing, words of wisdom she shared over and over during my youth: “You have one thing that’s only yours. Don’t give it away until you are really ready, both physically and emotionally…because you can never get it back.”

I got it. I REALLY got it. I remember hearing it so many times that it’s probably number one on my list …

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Rethinking Classrooms

September 15, 2013

My granddaughter Baylee likes to run…I mean, she REALLY likes to RUN. Sometimes she’ll say to me, “Nana, I just want to RUN!” as she takes off across the yard. At three years old, she can’t always articulate what she wants, but she has made one thing clear: she’s happier when she’s moving…fast!

One night I watched her run around outside while her sister Taylor was inside her cheer gym at practice. The entire time I was there, Baylee was running outside that gym – a 50 yard dash to the fence, a moment to turn around and yell, “Don’t …

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Learning from Everly

August 17, 2013

My previous post about my friend Everly was written while she was still with us, still that “force to be reckoned with” that everyone prayed would beat the odds she’d been given and be a winner in that evil cancer game that she found herself playing. Today I attended her memorial service.

Everly. Memorial. Those two words refuse to sit together in my brain.

The service was full of celebration: story telling, preaching, singing…I even saw a little dancing…it was a party for her that was so full of HER that I fully expected at any moment to turn and …

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‘Til We Meet Again

July 13, 2013

I was at an education conference this past week, and I saw many teachers I know sitting in sessions, passing in the hallways, out at dinner. There were waves and hugs and nods nonstop.  I don’t always remember where or how we met, but we are members of a kindred group, educators I see here and there across the state and across the years.

Such it was with Dr. Everly Broadway.

I don’t remember the exact moment we met; she was just always there, an exceptionally talented teacher in my district. The next thing I knew she was our district …

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