And another apology

Well, after my moaning and groaning about the fact that we still don't have internet access at home 3 months after the storm -- I came home to find out that the cable company finally got here today to solve our problem! So we are back in business again! So this time I must apologize to Charter Communications for not believing them when they told us, yet again, that they would be out to take care of it. And I apologize to you all for taking up your time with this drivel!

An apology

Actually, I have no excuse for having been so negligent with this blog. I truly consider it a casualty of Katrina. I can only hope that I someday get regular Internet access at home again and get over this funk that I have been in. I am ready for normalcy again!

Thanks to any of you who are still willing to drop by or look at my feed. I appreciate it!

A blog you might like to read...

I just stumbled across a blog called After the Storm. It is written by a teacher from New Orleans who has been displaced to South Carolina. It is a wonderful read, and I encourage you to stop by and take a look at it.

Teaching in a Lower Gear

If you haven't read this article on the NEA website, I recommend that you do. It reminds us of the value of slowing down our classes, taking time to really explore topics.

For me, I know that sometimes I allow myself to worry about my students not finishing the textbook or not writing as many essays as I had originally planned. Then I think about what we did instead. Maybe we had wonderful discussions about the topic being studied. Maybe we finally grasped some concept that had evaded us. Almost always there has been something of equal or greater value that has transpired.

I am lucky. I wrote the curriculum. My students don't have to take highstakes tests (except the TOEFL, but that is different). We have the luxury of taking or time and doing a good job rather than rushing through. Sometimes, though, I need to remind myself of that. This article helped to do that.