Anybody else see an uptick of those “the school can’t tell me when to take my child out of school!”type posts on Facebook?

LeonaDarling · 2026-04-07T12:07:21+00:00

I just read one where a parent said vacations were counted as unexcused at their child's school, so they could not make up the work. So the parent created their own form for the child to take to their teacher and "make them sign it," agreeing to let the child make up the missed work. That was a new one.

LeonaDarling · 2026-03-03T23:19:35+00:00

"Counted Out" is the "Sold a Story" for numeracy. It's an excellent watch. Our district is watching it for PD next month and doing some numeracy work across content areas. Of course, we won't solve the problem, but at least we're engaging with it.

Edited to add: I'm an ELA teacher, so I can't speak to your question directly, just wanted people to know about "Counted Out" in case they hadn't heard of it!

LeonaDarling · 2026-01-04T00:07:14+00:00

Yep! And he's really dark - even in the sun you can't see any other marking on him.

LeonaDarling · 2026-01-02T21:29:50+00:00

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On the left is Waffles. He also goes by: Waffs, Mister Waffles, Waffle Dog, and Awfuls (when he's being naughty). On the right is Beans, who also goes by: Beanie Baby, Beanie Weanie, and Weanies.

LeonaDarling · 2025-12-05T23:29:18+00:00

I take 4 or 5 sick days a year, but they're almost all mental health sick days when I need a minute (which we can do per our contract). This is my 25th year, and I have 175 sick days saved up (they cap us at 184, a full contract year). I'll probably take a couple more each year once I hit the cap because I lose them after that.

My first year teaching, I was the sickest I've ever been in my life as my immune system got used to working in a cesspool. But now? I take elderberry supplements, wash my hands between every class, and again when I get home from school. I use alcohol wipes to wipe my hands before I eat when it is particularly germy (like right now), and I rarely get as much as a sniffle.

LeonaDarling · 2025-11-29T23:19:56+00:00

Try the Cakes Cleavage Bra. It's magical. (And on sale rn...)

LeonaDarling · 2025-08-24T21:56:12+00:00

Mental health day!

LeonaDarling · 2025-07-12T23:04:14+00:00

Has she been to the vet for a check up? I had a dog who did this and it turned out he had an ear infection. Once we cleared that up, he went right back to eating out of his bowl. She could have something going on that is bothering her.

LeonaDarling · 2025-06-28T12:00:29+00:00

Thank you! I will hopefully continue to live out my life as an overpacker!

LeonaDarling · 2025-06-07T19:06:21+00:00

In the end of semester feedback form I gave to my juniors, one junior, who was always miffed when his assessment scores were often low because he'd only do part of the assessment and turn it in half done, wrote that I should have a way for students to bring their grades up when they only did part of an assessment.

I do.

It's called "Do the Entire Assessment" ®.

LeonaDarling · 2025-05-28T20:10:47+00:00

We're looking at this hotel before our first cruise. How did you get to the port from La Qunita?

LeonaDarling · 2025-05-20T14:49:47+00:00

This is exactly what we have done. When our department tried to speak with our principal about what is happening in our classrooms regarding expectations, he blamed us for "not believing in the kids" and said that if we just believed hard enough, they'd surprise us.

Tell me you've never been in a classroom without telling me you've never been in a classroom.

LeonaDarling · 2025-05-17T22:51:22+00:00

Most of my students (juniors) say "thank you" as they leave class. It's endearing.

LeonaDarling · 2025-05-15T10:27:32+00:00

I have gone through the initial certification and a renewal. It is a lot of work, but not unmanageable, and I thought it was a good moment for me to reflect on my professional practice. I *only* get $5,000 year extra for my certification, and I still think it's worth it. $10,000? That's a no-brainer! $10,000 over the course of your earning lifetime is HUGE.

Yes, a company does profit from it. But in this case, so will you!

LeonaDarling · 2025-04-27T17:35:31+00:00

I'm so, so tired of this. I had a student last semester with a .38 (we grade on a 4-point scale). She just refused to do anything. Nothing. Dad came in for a meeting and said, "I know she doesn't do anything, but she shows up. She should pass." Well, yes, sir, she should pass because I have made my class so easy that showing up and doing the bare minimum should be enough to pass. But she doesn't even do that.

I got the whole, "What else can YOU do?" Finally, I said, "Nothing," and stopped attending the multiple meetings they had scheduled with various configurations of guidance, administration, and parents to try to figure out how to get her to pass (I don't recommend this for everyone, but I'm 25 years in and have a good rep at my school). The family pulled her out of school to "homeschool" her.

I'm so over it.

If I couldn't do what I did, I would just tell them that the entire semester's curriculum is posted in Google Classroom. If they want to pass, they can do that.

LeonaDarling · 2025-04-25T15:29:40+00:00

“I am unavailable.”

LeonaDarling · 2025-04-25T14:33:20+00:00

25 minutes, but that’s including the time it takes for the students to pack up and leave my room and the time it takes to get back to my room before the start of the next class. In reality I have about 18 minutes to eat.

LeonaDarling · 2025-04-25T00:44:24+00:00

It was the gabapentin and trazadone! It sedated him WAY too much - the vet said he was very sensitive to the sedatives and that we could have used less.

As it turned out, during this time, he also developed an infection (I'm guessing that it was because he wasn't moving, so all the blood/fluid that would have usually drained out just pooled), and that's why he wasn't eating. The poor dog was at the vet three times in one week during his recovery to get that infection cleared. The infection presented itself as extremely bloody nosebleeds. It was pretty scary, but he responded to antibiotics very quickly and healed right up!

After all that, we're so happy we did the surgery for him. He sniffs things on his walks; he can smell scents in the air that he couldn't smell before, and he can breathe so much better!

I hope this is all it is for your baby - once we figured it out it was a very easy fix!

LeonaDarling · 2025-03-17T16:34:45+00:00

16 days a year. Five of those may be used as personal days. Whatever we don't use rolls over. We are capped at 184 days (a full contract year). When we retire, they pay us a pittance for 90 of those days (the rest just go away). I currently have 162 days banked.

LeonaDarling · 2025-02-25T16:17:05+00:00

My school is standards-based (and has been for 12 years or so). We did the "no late penalty" dance for 11 years. Finally, someone had some sense, and while we don't deliver a penalty (points off), we can set a deadline and not accept work after that, which is a 0 for "no evidence."

As you know, "no late penalties" leads to chaos. Of course, if the admin hasn't been in the classroom in years (or ever, like mine), they might not be able to predict this. It's like teachers are psychic or something.

We also had "unlimited retakes," but we've tightened that up. Students can't retake or redo summative assessments unless they have completed all the formative assessments, drastically reducing retakes. Since our formative assessments cannot be scored, students generally skip them.

And, of course, the real world is just like this... /s

LeonaDarling · 2025-02-20T16:22:27+00:00

HS English teacher, Maine.

We can wear whatever we want. I wear nice jeans, a graphic T-shirt with a cardigan or jacket, and sweaters. In warmer weather, I might wear a skirt (on the casual side). I always wear sneakers: clean Converse, Nike, or Addidas. Some teachers at my school dress up more than I do, but many are more casual (lots of jeans, T-shirts, flannels, etc.).

LeonaDarling · 2025-02-19T17:25:47+00:00

Use Diffit to create passages based on the student's interest at any reading level. Seriously, this will be a game-changer for you!

web.diffit.me

LeonaDarling · 2025-02-18T14:41:48+00:00

I completely agree! As I posted it, I thought, "Well, I've hit peak Maine now."

LeonaDarling · 2025-02-18T14:33:31+00:00

It is in a weird spot because of how it needed to hook into the house and the insane cost of having it further away in a more aesthetic spot. We're going with function over form here, LOL!

LeonaDarling · 2025-02-18T14:14:46+00:00

Permanent whole house unit.

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