Moving on is bittersweet.
Social Issues
Remarks, Cups for Caritas • January 14, 2018
Remarks by Ben, KP, and Tina Pagotto at the 2018 event.
Finding strengths
A reflection on teamwork, and on finding inspiration in each other.
Visiting the other side of the world
Reflections on learning from the experience of ten days in South Africa
Teaching Ben to throw
On the day I returned to teaching ceramics after almost leaving the studio for good, Ben arrived after school, eager to learn to throw a pot. When he departed a few hours later with clay on his shoes, he left me with much to consider about my approach to teaching. Ben...
Identity Shift
A week ago today, my identity changed.
On empathy and answers, 15 years later
The answer to whether 9/11 still matters to students is irrelevant if we use it to diminish our responsibility to teach that it does still matter, and why.
The blessings of unsolvable times
It’s a point of reflection to consider that things could always be worse. Yet some problems don’t seem solvable, no matter how much we care.
Ireland on Horseback, Summer 2016
That time when I did the most irresponsible thing.
Charging Station
Sometimes you just have to leave. At the start of this summer, many of the people in my circle of care were giving me high-fives and fist-bumps. When the school year ended, my first summer off in nine years loomed ahead. On paper it sounded like a wonderful idea,...
Democracy, distance and doubts
If my only reference point for teaching is a career spent teaching, that doesn’t feel like enough.
Reflection on the year’s last donut
It was March 2014, and I had just changed a student’s quote in a news story. In 2016, I would lose sleep over making a change like this. But a little over two years ago, I did not see the harm in adjusting a forceful statement to make it just a little less likely to...