Mrs. Williams was a great first-grade teacher. She was kind, cheerful and honest.She always encouraged us with phrases like, “You’re cookin’ with gas!”She regaled us with stories of her little girl.She used Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies as prizes when she REALLY wanted to motivate us.Heck, she put up with ME as a first grader.Continue reading “Sunday Sitdown #5: First Lesson”
Author Archives: Lainie Levin
Swinging For The Fences
I’m not going to lie. This year, I have had some SPECTACULAR fails in the classroom. And I mean, not just the oh-man-this-is-tricky-how-am-I-going-to-figure-a-different-way-of-teaching-this-to-the-kids fail. That’s just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill, cost-of-doing-business, everyday type of fail. No. I’m talking about the holy-cow-this-lesson-is-crashing-and-burning-and-I-have-absolutely-no-way-of-backing-out-of-this-and-no-way-to-figure-out-in-the-moment-how-to-make-it-better-and-why-did-I-even-bother-getting-out-of-bed-today fail. I’ve thought a lot about these fails. They haunt me. In the moment, failuresContinue reading “Swinging For The Fences”
Sunday Sit-Down #4: On the Bus
At Old Bonhomme School there was always a range of faces different from mine. I took for granted the mix of kids in my classes. As far as I knew, I went to a neighborhood school with neighborhood kids, and we all learned and played and together as one community. What I didn’t know, andContinue reading “Sunday Sit-Down #4: On the Bus”
Slice of Life Tuesday: Lessons from the Chocolate Stash
Upstairs, at one of my two schools, in the copy room, there sits a green plastic basket under a sticker on the wall that reads, “Chocolate doesn’t ask silly questions. Chocolate UNDERSTANDS.” There are a few of us who tend to be the chocolate fairies of this particular basket. For my part, I like toContinue reading “Slice of Life Tuesday: Lessons from the Chocolate Stash”
Sunday Sit-down #3: The Neighborhood
Olivette was good to me growing up. So was Stoneyside Lane. I knew that I could always go wandering around, exploring my neighborhood or the streets around me. I knew how much fun it was to walk into town and visit the stores up there. I knew that there was always a mix of blackContinue reading “Sunday Sit-down #3: The Neighborhood”
Slice of Life: Pre-Emptive Gratitude
We don’t have a snow day today, and I’m about as happy as a wet cat. Something deep within me ached for a day back at home, even if it still involved a full day of classes and meetings. The thought of getting up early, bundling up, clearing off the car, of navigating barely passableContinue reading “Slice of Life: Pre-Emptive Gratitude”
Sunday Sitdown #2: And So It Begins
Where does my racial story begin? At my own birth?At the first moments I can remember?The very first time I noticed people were different? Or with Parents andGrandparents,With the many ways they interacted withWithoutAboveOthers who were different?(All while they tried hardSo very hardTo become the not-different themselves) How can I evenStartTo explain my own upbringingContinue reading “Sunday Sitdown #2: And So It Begins”
A Teacher’s Guide to Inauguration in 36 Easy Steps
or, Reflections from the Evening of January 19, 2021: How to Manage to Stay Afloat for the Next Eighteen Hours and Hold up the Walls of the World While it Watches, Waits, Breathless Pull yourself away from noise. Pet your dog. If you don’t have a dog, pretend to have a dog. Drink something warm.Continue reading “A Teacher’s Guide to Inauguration in 36 Easy Steps”
Sunday Sitdown #1: Here I Go
I’m a member of my school district’s newfound committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.* For our last meeting, we were asked to compose a racial autobiography, to craft a reckoning of our experiences with race and identity. (Check out the Pacific Educational Group to learn about their work!) There were a LOT of questions. AndContinue reading “Sunday Sitdown #1: Here I Go”
Why I’m in the Living Room
watching the British Bake Showand not in the family roomwatching TVat the end of a long dayright by my husbandis because after enough timestanding on my feetrubbing my eyestaking a breathshaking my head as Istare at the world about me I have decidedthat I am donewatchingfictional shows about the real world
Soapbox: The Way I see Things 