I’ve had the distinct honor and pleasure of teaching next door to Mr. Richard Baker, Rick to some, but Mr. Baker to most, for the last 15 years of his 38 years as a math educator here at Lin-Wood Public School. I’ve heard the clickety clack of his chalk on his chalkboard as he is… Continue reading The Man, the Myth, the Math Legend: Richard Baker Retires This Spring
This morning, in front of my first period English class, one of my female students innocently asks if I was wearing a new shirt. “Sure am,” and I’m thinking she will tell me she likes it. And she does tell me, but not immediately. Instead she casually points out, “You still have the M sticker… Continue reading Dearest March: Please Send April
The snow fell steadily. Plows made loud noises around us. Yet, amid the noise, amid the shuffle of life, 70-something middle and high school students standing in a circle held 7 minutes of silence and then shared bios of the people who were lost in Parkland, Florida during a school shooting. This was a non-sanctioned,… Continue reading Why We Walked Out Today…
Today is International Women’s Day 2018, and I felt compelled to write something. Anything. However, nothing inspired me because, since Parkland happened, my brain has been cycling in this school safety- gun violence- rut. I couldn’t think of a specific person or angle or clever hook that would suck in my audience with a positive… Continue reading Channeling Mother Teresa for Character and Barbara Washburn for Adventure on This International Women’s Day 2018
Regardless of whatever Super Bowl team you hoped would win, the commercials took home the biggest trophy as far as the Krill family was concerned.Let’s be clear; Toyota is not paying me to cheer on their choice to NOT feature automobiles, although they could and I would be ok highlighting their awesome commercials surrounding mobility… Continue reading Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Blog, February 27, 2018: “Why We Should Watch the Paralympics”
Dear President Trump, If I wanted to carry a gun, pistol, rifle, firearm of any kind, I would have joined a different profession. I would have pursued a military career or that of a policeman, security guard, or secret service agent. I could have been many things, but I chose to be a teacher. The… Continue reading President Trump: This is What I Will be Armed With in my Classroom
Don’t get me wrong; we love to celebrate our children’s friendships at school. We LOVE our teachers– been damn lucky every year since birth so far! We LOVE the growing friendships in their classrooms, through our neighborhood, on our mountain. We LOVE the big kids our own look up to. There is so much LOVE… Continue reading Here’s the Problem with Valentine’s Day…
Since I started writing a blog a little over two years ago, this is the longest amount of time I’ve gone without publishing. It’s not that I didn’t have ideas I wanted to write down; I did, but they felt mundane and unlikely to attract many readers. Then I got a cold and blew… Continue reading Understanding Choice, Risk, and Courage: Especially in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
There once was a boy named Peter who left our school when his mom moved his family to Maine. Here only a short time, he impacted our staff and school community in ways he will never be able to understand even if we could explain it to him in person. I’ve changed his name along… Continue reading Thinking of Peter Pan and Johnny Cash
Dear Sophomores, I may or may not have called some of you annoying yesterday in class, and I’m sorry. I should not have done that even if you were being annoying; I am 43, and you are chronologically 15 or 16, but really ranging anywhere between 5 and 25. I let you get the better… Continue reading A Public Apology to Sophomores
Heather Ehrman Krill: The "Write" Kind of Coach 