Pula, Croatia

Croatia does dark like West Virginia does dark. Real dark. Mountainous dark. Winding two lane roads through total blackness. Dark. So when we finally reached the outskirts of Pula after passing countless exclamation point signs and 20 (you read that right) tunnels en route from the airport in Zagreb, we really felt like we’d accomplished

“The bags never leave Paris”

That little figure in the purple fleece is me standing in front of our hotel in Franfurt, which was not intended to be a stop on our way. This was not the easy part of the trip to Croatia. This was the smelly, expensive part. In fact, Michael wanted to burn that fleece. This

yesterday, today, and tomorrow

Tomorrow we leave for Croatia. I haven’t been obsessing about it until today. The clothes are in the bag, housesitting arrangements in place, meeting plans and reservations confirmed. The only variable is the weather. Nothing to be done about that, so no use worrying. Right? But as I hear the

What a difference a syllable makes

“Mankind will need to venture far beyond planet Earth to ensure the long-term survival of our species, according to the world’s best known scientist, Professor Stephen Hawking. ” And how did he say this, exactly? He hasn’t been able to speak for years. He said it by twitching the muscle under his right eye and

Saluda Trail Middle School, Rock Hill SC

I had the best time visiting Saluda Trail Middle School. Please Please if you read this click on the school name above and hyperlink to the site where the kids have posted their poems. I don’t even want to think about how long it took to put up this grand site, but I can tell

Sara Kelly Lufkin

Born November 11, 2006 at 4:59 pm. Weight: 4 lbs. 9 oz. (tiny baby!). She joins mom and dad (Katie and Doug) and her big sister Steph and brother Scott (aka Scooter).
She was anxious to make her arrival and check-in several weeks early, but Sara Kelly is eating and breathing at the same time

Warm Up Joy

You have to give respect to get it!Be the best you can be!Fairness!Play by the rules, be a winner!Giraffe heroes stick their necks out for the common good!
The gymnasium at Rockcave Elementary School is papered with inspiring banners, all ending in ballooning exclamation points. I was particularly drawn to the talking giraffe urging kids

Why Education is Useless

“Tradition encourages us to think that those who are book smart are lacking in street smarts. We are inclined to think that even if [intellectuals] hearts[s] are in the right place, their heads are in the clouds.” Daniel Cottom
I was researching and wandering the aisles at the library downtown Cleveland Public Library Branch on

Keystone State Reading Association

Lots of old friends at this meeting — but not as many new faces. I have no hard numbers to back this up, but like many reading conferences lately, this one seemed smaller and more sparsely attended. Is it the economy? Is it that schools are too tied in knots over NCLB that there is

DIBELS

I thought this test was a joke when I first heard about it — but it is far from funny. Dr. Goodman has approved this article for sharing — seen here in part. Since the article’s first publication, the investigation of the committee that sanctioned this test has concluded that those who were to profit