The Teacher’s Life

Mrs. Henderson, my sixth grade teacher, had sensible lace up heels, salt-n-pepper hair and permanently embedded chalk in her torn and ragged cuticles. I remember studying them when I would be summoned to her confused desk for a conference. We repeatedly conferred about how messy my desk was, we didn’t do any writing to confer about. It was the height of the baby boom and she had 35 of us at Berkley Elementary School; Mrs. Henderson stuck to worksheets. The school is gone now, replaced by a parking lot for the high school. Along with the building went the worksheets, the ditto machine and (in all probability) Mrs. Henderson. RIP

I wonder what she did for peer support? Surely she didn’t turn to Sherk the Jerk, (the fifth grade teacher). I can’t imagine Sherk being any more supportive to her peers than she was to us. Zero.

I wonder if she could have even imagined a world in which she could pop in ear buds and get professionally juiced through a podcast? How about an international Teacher Life nation? She probably only had one electrical outlet in the room so she could occasionally use the film strip machine — how could she have even have dreamed of what Bobby Norman, (second grade teacher, AZ) is so skillfully putting together?

Follow these links to some really cool teacher connections!
The Teacher’s Life Blog
The Teacher’s Life Nation

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Now, look at all the kids in your classroom as the school year begins and try to imagine the communities and communication systems they are likely to create after — after — well, you know.