School years are starting around the country. How do I know? I’ve been witnessing the two defining seasonal phenomena: One: I can’t go to Target without seeing a parent buying thousands of dollars of dorm materials while their child shouts at them for being, I think, a parent? Two: I…

Claim: I’ve got more rhymes than the Bible has Psalms Source: House of Pain (Everlast) “Jump Around” 1992 Quantity of Rhymes: > 150 Notes: This line is often misheard as any number of things (I personally thought it was “than a bottle’s got sauce”). The most common mishearing seems to be “I’ve got more rhymes than Nirvana’s got songs,” and…

Can I ask you to do something today? Can you ask three people who their favorite teacher was? Can you ask them what that teacher did for them? I don’t know, but I can guess what will happen, because I’ve asked a few hundred people this question probably, and though…

In my first few years of teaching I kept a word document of other jobs I could do. …

I said goodbye to my students forever, again. I’ve been doing so four or five times a week for the last few months as my decision to stop teaching became more and more final. My dreams are full of students from eighteen years, as 8th or 10th graders again, usually…

I drive my kid to school every morning. We pass a house that has, for years, flown various political flags. The red MAGA standard gave way to TRUMP 2020 — Make Liberal’s Cry Again, then a TRUMP 2024 — Make Votes Count Again. …

Since releasing Raising Ollie, I’ve gotten many messages and emails from adults looking for advice on how best to support the young people in their lives. The book is a memoir about parenting and teaching and trying to do both in a way that does more good than harm. It’s…

I don’t have answers. There may not be answers from anywhere yet about how to help schools this year, but I know for sure they aren’t coming from me. I might be starting to ask some good questions though, and that’s not so bad. A good question can be a…

I’m giving them everything I have, but it doesn’t feel like what they need most right now — I hate being bad at this. I hate being bad at this, but I’m doing it often enough that I have my own “losing my shit” checklist. It goes like this: Snap at the little stuff, stuff I would normally laugh off or coach through. Threaten to teach from textbooks…