A version of this essay originally appeared in Middle Ground magazine in October, 2008. Don’t smile until after Christmas. I’ve always been puzzled when I overhear talk of this informal… Read more Don’t Smile Until After Christmas? Nonsense! →
“A student urinated on my floor when I was out in the hallway. On a day I was absent, students jettisoned textbooks and graded papers out my second-story classroom window. A computer monitor was smashed on my floor after a rage-filled overhead toss. I witnessed a basketball player punch another student in the face before school, stay in class all day, and then suit up for the afternoon’s game. No consequences.” When I reread the following essay I wrote over eight years ago about my first-year teaching in 2004-2005, I’m… Read more Nothing Compares to Being a First-Year Teacher →
I’ve decided to post narrative e-mails from my first few years of teaching middle school. It was my way of journaling and reflecting on my craft, student behaviors, and experiences–both… Read more A Seventh Grader Said “Poetry is Gay” →
Paul Barnwell 