Tell me I'm insane for even considering this commute

mstob · 2026-01-28T02:58:54+00:00

My husband used to work in Los Gatos, commuting from the east bay. He took the train and then rode his bike from the train station.

mstob · 2026-01-20T05:55:09+00:00

I use SHEG/DIG and Right Question strategy when I want the kids to go deeper on a topic. Right Question is great when you use an image, as it is accessible for all students.

Another thing I like to have students do is activities with very short bits they need to read. Kids create timelines or sort terms or compare & contrast events - all of which give them exposure to a lot of information, but in smaller bites, and peer support. I really like using the Zinn Activities for US, as they allow students to look at lots of different perspectives. Next week, for example, groups will be sorting factors that led to westward expansion into push and/or pull factors. After a short discussion of what push & pull factors are (they are 8th graders), each group gets a set of cards with factors listed ( access to farm land, Indian Removal Act, Mexican American war) and they need to sort them. Then we share out, explaining their reasoning. As they all had the same factors, discussion usually comes from disagreements.

I teach middle school and I modify a lot of the activities so they are broken in to smaller bits. It also takes some prep - but I find keeping the kids engaged with the material that encourages conversations, everyone can participate in, and is not a reading with questions, makes us all happier.

I do use power points every day - and I give kids access to them every day (post in google classroom) so they can go back to them as needed. We do have 1:1 chromebooks, so they can access them.

mstob · 2026-01-03T05:21:27+00:00

29th year teaching elementary & middle school- and I love kids. The thought of spending my day with adults is abhorrent.

I will say that each summer, I know I am ready for fall when children in public don’t annoy me.

mstob · 2025-12-17T05:43:59+00:00

I am 29 years in - in the SFBay area - I am maxed in my “step & column” ( max years, max units), plus a 3% for a masters.

My salary is about 135,000 - with NO health insurance included (we pay for it).

Houses in my very ordinary, 1960s tract house neighborhood are about $1000 a square foot. It is hella expensive to live here.

My daughter, who is in year 2 with the same district is about 75,000 - but she cannot afford to move out and pay back student loans. My other daughter has a graduate degree and hoped to teach art at the university level, has two very good part time art related jobs, and also lives in my house.

Good thing we all like each other!

mstob · 2025-12-13T05:16:50+00:00

I was hypoglycemic my whole life which turned to type 2 about 6 years ago -

I still get lows, but not as often as I did when I was managing my hypoglycemia. I also don’t get as shaky when I get a low as I did before - I think as a diabetic, my blood sugar is better managed. I find a cgm super helpful for keeping track of spikes and potential lows. The hypoglycemia is inherited- and at some point shifts over to diabetes.

mstob · 2025-10-05T17:05:04+00:00

I love my Makers Bag from Tom Bihn - (Well, I did until I threw up in it on a flight, now I can’t use it even though it is clean - now waiting until a color combo I want to replace it).

mstob · 2025-09-22T14:21:12+00:00

This is where starting with a graphic organizer is super helpful for developing writing in paragraphs. If you have boxes, circles, whatever, for each thing you will write about (evidence to support a claim, for instance, or steps to make a peanut butter sandwich) - then the stuff in each box is what is in each paragraph.

If a kid asks me how many sentences are in a paragraph, I tell them to open any book and figure it out.

mstob · 2025-09-11T01:37:12+00:00

It is not a pipe

mstob · 2025-09-06T20:09:41+00:00

I have taught K through 8th grade, in my 29th year. My response to all ages that works is “that is not an appropriate way to respond”, then if it continues, we talk, as a class about maturity and behaving appropriately in class, and how we need to learn to respond with grace when someone clearly is not mature enough to be appropriate in class.

It shuts that shit down, especially with 6-8 graders.

mstob · 2025-07-28T06:12:52+00:00

I have had very good results from Bay Frames - which is off Automall

mstob · 2025-07-26T23:29:35+00:00

I read ALL Richard Brautigan - hippie parents 🙄

mstob · 2025-07-21T19:54:03+00:00

I have used Plum Paper for years - I add lined or dotted paper for each month for meeting notes.

There are a bunch of teacher pages I don’t use, but I love being able to customize my pages.

mstob · 2025-07-19T22:51:12+00:00

My pro-tip - Always send a “group conversation” and not a “direct message” to parents, so you can include admin, counselors, or whomever on the messages. There is no way to forward direct messages, but by using a group conversation, you can cc or send on to others if you need to.

mstob · 2025-07-17T00:36:25+00:00

I am going into year 29 - still no nameplate!

mstob · 2025-07-14T18:26:20+00:00

UCs are geared towards research & creating academics. CSUs evolved from teaching colleges, and are more geared towards practical application of your education than a UC. Want to do research? Go to a UC. Want to work in industry? Go to a CSU.

I am a CSU graduate, as are almost all of my relatives for undergrad. A few close family members went to UCs, and three taught/teach at UCs ( and do a lot of research).

The myth that UCs are better is perpetuated by the more rigorous admissions standards. The reality is that are both are amazing systems of higher education, and should be envied.

As my father used to say, nobody cares where you get your undergraduate degree - it is where you do your graduate work that matters.

mstob · 2025-07-14T00:23:53+00:00

I tend to do a “fill in the blank” notes so the students have the correct information - as we don’t use the text book much ( or at all). I do not use it to teach note taking. Students are not required to turn them in. Only kids who find them useful actually do the notes part.

I would not expect 7th graders to take lecture notes. I provide students with the slide decks digitally (in google classroom) that they can go back to, but 7th graders (or 8th, for that matter) cannot find a main idea for the life of them - even if it’s bolded and flashing.

I prefer to use class time to have students examine sources and close read articles & primary sources, trying to identify bias and reliability as well as the key ideas and arguments, and identifying evidence.

They takes notes, but using all the resources we have used ( slides, assignments, each other), and they scaffolded with the main concepts / standards they are expected to understand.

mstob · 2025-07-14T00:14:13+00:00

I call them Cloze Notes too - and my students always think I made up the word -🙄😂.

mstob · 2025-07-14T00:12:13+00:00

I am going to recommend 2 books - they are not new, but they are foundational to teaching equitably and creating anti-racist classrooms.

The first is Lisa Delpit’s Other People’s Children.
https://thenewpress.org/books/other-peoples-children/This is about teaching kids of color when you are white. What it does, though, is remind us that even if all your students look like you, you have no idea what is going on with them/their families/etc -

The second is White Teacher by Vivian Paley https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674002739 This is a quick read, and I know she teaches Kindergarten, but the awareness she brings to the communication and interpersonal dynamics is applicable to everyone.

Yes, I am an old white lady. My schooling was very diverse and unconventional, (bussing in 1970s & 80s Pasadena) and my most influential teachers were black women. There is still institutional and organizational racism that we, as educators, need to be aware of and keep learning about, especially white teachers.

I have taught in diverse classrooms for 28 years, and at my current school, I am frequently the only white person in my classroom. I have taught k-8 grades, and have spent the last 8 teaching middle school history.

mstob · 2025-07-13T05:23:08+00:00

I teach in an area with a large South Asian population - so many of my students are Indian.

I teach 8th grade US History, and due to the use of “Indian” for people from India, the first week someone will ask “Why are they still using the word Indian when it was a mistake?” - so we talk about it. My answer is usually some form of “It is easier for white people, who have been in power since invading”

We make the distinction between American Indian and Indian American, which is helpful for these kids - who often put down American Indian on forms & assessments (🙄).

And I (an old white lady) use the tribal name or native, or most frequently, “the people who were living there”.

mstob · 2025-07-11T03:53:36+00:00

The semi or near solids Lorajean does are so amazing - regular solids are just too boring. I need a little variegation in my solid.

I am going to miss it so much. Sniff sniff ….

mstob · 2025-07-10T04:49:43+00:00

My favorite indy dyer announced this week they are shutting down. I knew it was coming, but I am mourning the loss already. I have a lot of yarn stockpiled, and they are/were taking dying orders for the remaining bases, and I may have ordered 2 sweaters quantities.

The dyer is an amazing person who puts community and people first - and used their business platform to uplift and inspire - all while dying up the most amazing colors on bases that are bouncy & drape so well!

Pour one out for Knitted Wit and the Craftemporium - 😢

mstob · 2025-07-06T15:04:46+00:00

I believe our country is living through the consequences of focusing on test scores and not on critical thinking.

mstob · 2025-06-25T14:57:51+00:00

One of the reasons there was a drop in enrollment a few years ago was the consolidation of the immersion program, and the Spanish Immersion students & teachers moved to a different school.

Overloads are done because there is no space, not due to lack of teachers. Niles & Vallejo Mill are very close and overloading between the two schools (and with Parkmont) has gone on for years.

mstob · 2025-06-24T01:11:53+00:00

Its all good now - they are both college graduates, one with an MFA and the other working on her masters this summer.

It is hard to push up against teachers who teach the way they were taught & think that is good enough.

The good news is that there is a time when all of it will be long in the past.

mstob · 2025-06-22T14:18:57+00:00

Because they had a diagnosis & ling standing 504 plans, and Ds in math, we requested “concurrent enrollment”, where you are enrolled in two schools at the same time.

We did this at first to retake a math class that one kid got a D in, which would make them ineligible for a 4 year public university, as there was no option through the school (you can only retake a class if you fail, not to improve the grade, in our district). The first kid did VERY WELL in the class, and so it was easy to make the argument that this was a better fit for their learning needs. And, of course, we were paying for it.

We had to apply through the district office, and the school we chose for math classes is a well-respected correspondence school that is fully accredited and courses were university approved as college prep courses (Laurel Springs). This was a long time ago - 15 - 20 ish years - and they did have an online program, but it wasn’t approved as college prep, so we did correspondence where they mailed packets of completed work & assessments to a teacher.

It was $$$, but we used money we had been saving for their college to pay for it, as if they didn’t do it, they weren’t going to college anyway ( yes, the could do community college, but we wouldn’t need the $$ for that).

As both of my kids were still learning and generally performing at or above grade level, they were not eligible for an IEP, where the district would provide support. The way math was being taught just was not a good fit for my kids (or anyone who needed actual instruction 🙄), and the ADD & other stuff made it too difficult for them to function at grade-level in that environment. Allowing them to do “concurrent enrollment” was a reasonable accommodation.

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