I've been a teacher my whole life. Just ask my cousins and my poor little sister about the days when I forced them to play school with m...

So, that was weird. 2021, I mean.  Time is always weird, of course. But it's gotten weirder lately.  I was looking at a family picture t...

They probably meant well.  It seems flattering at first blush, being called a superhero.  It implies that I'm special, someone who handl...

I began my dual career path as a teacher-who-writes twenty-six years ago, give or take.  Honestly, trying to do both meant I didn't writ...

 In my day job, I teach middle school Spanish. My school, like many in the United States, closed its doors in March 2020, expecting that we...

Note: This post first appeared on my teaching blog a week ago, but I felt strongly enough to seek a wider audience for these thoughts. Apol...

  The Practical Pedagogue: Things I Learned Today: Starting the Schoolyear di... :  1. It's easier with the students I already know than...

Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's th...

Summer is here! As I write this, I've been on summer vacation for (checks watch--remembers I don't have one and checks phone) 1....

This month I'm writing one post for each letter of the alphabet, all on the theme of "Letters to Dead Writers." You can see...

Hi! I'm Samantha, and I'm an introvert. In fact, I'm really happy that we're having this little talk here on the Internet,...

Ah, another year over and what have you done? Well, I completed my twenty-first year as a teacher, and, is often the case when I'm finis...