My Thoughts

“One thing we know from psychology about the learning process is that the act of reaching into your brain, grabbing some knowledge, pulling it out, chewing on it, talking about it, and putting it back helps you learn. Psychologists call this elaborative encoding…. We’re trying to get math teachers to help students engage in that process of elaborative encoding.” Jon R. Star, a psychologist and professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. (“One way is the wrong way to do math. Here’s the right way,” The Harvard Gazette, 2021). ...

To my friend who encouraged me to buy the untethered soul and to my son who encouraged me to read it. When I went to take this photo, I grabbed books off the shelf. Ones that caught my attention, ones that touched my heart. ...

An end of the year gift from a kindergarten class I have been on Spring Break; I return to work on Monday. I am supposed to return to work on Monday. Monday is a planning day. I woke up with that pain in my chest, the anxiety I have felt my whole life when it is time to return to school, the noise, the chaos… ...

This is my grandma. In the first photo, she is with my 6-year-old son, and in the second photo, she is with my newborn daughter. These are her handwritten kindergarten lesson plans from 1955, kept in a binder. ...

The minute I heard about Netflix’s Tidying Up, I knew I had to watch. Nobody loves to tidy up more than I do. And the more I watched. The more I understood. “Her effortless tidying and careful, considerate regard for her home inspired Marie to cherish what you own and to live with intention and care.” ...

I wake up with these thoughts They just pop in my head Tuesday’s math groups were bleh So we’ll do this instead. They’ll get three paper squares Writing numbers on each I’ll tape them together After that I will teach. I’ll cut long paper strips Fold them into a stack They will use them today To count forward and back. Drinking coffee with cream Is my self-given perk I jump into my car Heading straight off to work. ...

Being a teacher these last two years has not been easy. This year, I accepted a new position. Each morning, I am supposed to meet with five reading groups. Each week, I am supposed to go into eight classrooms to run a writing workshop. Each afternoon, I am supposed to provide an extra dose of number sense. This week, I did none of these. Instead, I was a substitute teacher — again. ...

When students arrive early, they can choose a book from the bin of previously read aloud picture books. This student chose Stella’s Stellar Hair by Yesenia Moises. “The purpose of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER Fund) is to address the impact that COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools across the nation.” ...

I CANNOT READ. Of course you can read. You are reading right now…. Tell me what the story is about. I would love to listen…. Yes. That does say bear…. I can help you with other words you may not know. I know more words than you because I have been reading for a long time, but even though I read a lot, I don’t always know all the words…. Picture books are great. I wish I could draw like that…. I love graphic novels too…. That looks like a great choice. May I read with you? ...

This is the path I walk down each day to get to my portable. With “more than 75% of school principals and district leaders having trouble finding enough substitutes to cover teacher absences this year,” I wasn’t surprised when ,on the first day back after Winter Break, I received an email stating that instead of meeting with my usual groups, I would be a second grade substitute teacher for the next five days. ...

My friend Anne made me Hanukkah Harry when we taught together in the 1990s. I woke up this morning to find a text from Hannah. A TikTok of a current trend. A girl her age lip-synching to, “I know something you don’t. I know something you will never know.” The caption read, “My Jewish ass when the other kids in class would talk about Santa.” ...

This photo of Hannah was taken on July 15, 2012. Charlie and I were also reading The Hunger Games. Hannah decided on Colleen Hoover’s, It Ends with Us, for our two-person book club, and when she returned from college, home for Winter Break, a copy of the book was on her bedroom dresser, patiently awaiting her arrival. ...

I took this photograph of second graders who come to my classroom in the afternoon for math. Every afternoon, I welcome two groups of second graders, at two different times. They come with high expectations; when they leave, thirty minutes later, they assume that they will understand math more than they did the day before, and that is on me. ...

Sitting on My Classroom Carpet, Waiting to Be Read Aloud Since reading the picture book Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham, I have wanted to sing its praises to the world. Now I am thinking that a Picture Book Club for grownups might just be the answer. On Wednesday, while reading it aloud to my students for the very first time, my chest tightened and an unrequested silence filled the air. ...

Ready to Write Each week, I walk to the second-grade classrooms, with a pep in my step, eager to sit in my designated chair ready to welcome any young author wanting to talk with me about their writing. On my first visits, I came with folded sheets of construction paper, each prewritten with a student’s name. Inside each folder was a twice-folded piece of notebook paper with pencil- traced folds that created four boxes. I had numbered each box: one, two, three, and four. Box 1 included WHO, and WHERE. Box 4, a heart. There was also a folder for me. ...

Books I Received From Donor’s Choose It was August 18 of 2021. I felt the hope and excitement of so many parents, children and educators. Our schools were opening their doors, without the option of remote learning, for the first time in over a year. As much as I hoped for the best, it took just a few weeks to see that Covid19 had wreaked academic havoc on our youngest students. ...

Alison Levine teaches Creative Writing at a public elementary school in Coconut Creek, Florida. She has been a gifted resource teacher, an elementary school classroom teacher and a middle school language arts teacher. She is passionate about reading current research on education and implementing new strategies in her classroom. Alison loves taking long walks and spending time with family and friends. She especially loves being a mom to her two children, Charlie and Hannah. ...