Shannon Costello

Unlike City of God write-ups, I can do this briefly.
 I think I more than met my goals for the year, which were to do a really great job keeping in touch with the parents of my students and to get better at using games in the classroom.  However, I ran into the unexpected, and it [...]

Teachers, along with students, naturally welcome the end of the academic year. But I find that I have a hard time prying myself away from my classes. “But wait! They must learn about–” This reluctance to stop teaching helps explain why my students are still doing actual graded work as opposed [...]

From a BBC news article, quoting one striker talking to another:
“I knew I’d find you here, because the crowd’s alphabetical.”

Sometimes I get frustrated because I request (ok, demand) silence two or three times before the class gets quiet.
This week I accidentally discovered I sometimes wasn’t waiting long enough. It was really strange to ask for silence, wait, wonder if it was going to work, and be astonished as the silence spread [...]

By the time I ordered the sixth person to put their gum in the trash I was getting irritated. Somebody said, “Man, she’s catching everyone” and I started ranting, dishing out vague threats in order to vent my frustration without actually promising punishment.
Gum is gross. I passed a great glistening glob [...]

There are two audiences in the room on this day, and I have specific things I want to communicate to both. I am limited by rather exact time constraints. My first block class ends at 9:59. My second block class, on the other side of the building, begins at 10:02.
Delay is fatal [...]

“Teachers don’t control me- my medication does.”

Tomorrow is the first day of the third quarter.
Tomorrow also begins my turn at lunch duty. I have it for the rest of the year, so now is the time to put aside thoughts of freedom and adjust my attitude. Every job has its down side and if one is going to maintain any [...]