Author Archives: Lainie Levin

Eraser shavings covering the carpet My desk, littered with student work A student (the same one telling me two weeks ago that she was “bad at math”) asking for more math homework — pretty please?

…complete with smiling faces and all. So where does that put me now? Once again, I am re-energized by the eager young kids in front of me. I stood today out on the playground and again in the hallway as the students entered school today. The mood was positively electric and completely contagious. Maybe itContinue reading “And a New Year Begins…”

Okay, so usually? Each August? When you ask me about the start of school? I start getting goosebumps. Literally. Just get me started talking about new school supplies, about seeing happy faces that first day of school, of going back to that wonderful structure of learning rules and routines, of thinking about the incredible senseContinue reading “On Returning to my Classroom”

So THIS would be why I didn’t have kids come down to my room today: Even though the water itself was gone within a couple of hours, I was not sure whether or not I would make it back into my classroom to TEACH. I’m still not sure. So, I tried to grab whatever IContinue reading “A Long, Long, Day”

Actually, if you had asked me at about 7:30 this morning, I couldn’t have told you. I was tired. Crabby. Feeling overworked, overweight, over-scheduled, and under-appreciated. In need of that last hug from my boys, hoping that extra squeeze could set me on the right path for the day. Close, but not quite. On toContinue reading “Why I Got Up Today”

So…how do I exactly know that I’m working with gifted kids? Well, let’s start with the kindergarten and first-grade students I’m working with, shall we? (For the uninitiated, that puts them at ages 6 and 7.) I gave them the following premise: “If you could spend all day studying about anything you wanted, what wouldContinue reading “Exhibit A”

Here I am, grading the latest round of tests. This time, it’s geometry. Last time, it was decimal multiplication and division, and I don’t know who wanted to cry more – the kids or me. Those of you who read of my dream know I told myself that I’d put together a checklist (buzz-speakophiles willContinue reading “New Way of Business, Part 2”

Maybe it was the barbecue talking. Maybe I just had a lot on my brain. But I woke up last night at 12:30 after the most puzzling nightmare. It was at school. There I was, in the teachers’ lounge, and there were a couple of moms sitting down at the table. Of course I knewContinue reading “A New Way of Doing Business?”

…so get this. There was a story on the news today about a Florida school where kids run the place. No teachers, no curriculum – just a center of discovery. But that’s not the point here.   The point is that they asked Meline Kevorkian, who’s written several books about education, for a quote aboutContinue reading “Why I Seldom Watch the News”

…is also the one that I never got asked before I had kids. For that matter, I never got it before my kids started school. But here goes: “You’re a parent. What would you do if you were me?” Granted, I’ve been able to call on being a parent in so many ways as aContinue reading “The Question I Just Can’t Answer…”