Prologue:This isn’t some sort of five-year recap. Or things I learned over the first four years of teaching. Maybe I’ll write something about that in another post. Instead, I’m realizing what they mean when you hit year 5. Year 5 — is the average year a teacher burns out. Now that I’m here, I getContinue reading “5 years of teaching 9/24/22”
Tag Archives: Curriculum
Classroom Upgrade
Prologue: When I got hired, my site had just gone through WASC and a part of the expectations were PLCs or Professional Learning Communities. I’m not sure why, but they said it was “…imperative that the site explore [PLCs]”. I wasn’t here before WASC, but it could be that the site was not growing asContinue reading “Classroom Upgrade”
I created three videos a week for 31 weeks
Prologue: To be honest, I wrote my frustrations during Summer 2021 somewhere. Probably in a draft I never posted. That or the pandemic is just blurring together. I ended the 2020-2021 SY doing all this crazy tech stuff. I earned a level 1 Nearpod Educator certificate. I got promoted to the head of the EnglishContinue reading “I created three videos a week for 31 weeks “
Department Head dealing with entitlement and side-deals pt. 3
Prologue: It’s May 12th, 2022. And I am tired. Emotionally drained. I don’t remember the last time I took a beer out of the fridge as a way to detox, which is what I did last night. I made some graduation leis on stream to do something mind-numbing. Today we’re revisiting pt. 1 of thisContinue reading “Department Head dealing with entitlement and side-deals pt. 3”
Department Head dealing with entitlement and side-deals pt. 2
Prologue: This past month has been hell. And not because of the students. I don’t know what it is with teachers not knowing how to write emails or communicate in a professional manner. But it’s hella annoying that teachers do not understand how to act in an office/company setting. The last time I wrote, IContinue reading “Department Head dealing with entitlement and side-deals pt. 2”
Department Head dealing with entitlement and side-deals
Prologue: I’ve already made it very clear to my department that the direction of the master schedule will be based on the data from the Spring student course selection. This is not my decision, but instructions from the admin and counseling team. Makes sense, that’s a student-centered approach. Depending on the courses applied to willContinue reading “Department Head dealing with entitlement and side-deals”
Breakthrough San Francisco
I started my career in education with a non-profit organization known as Breakthrough. This nationwide organization believes that all young people should have access to quality education and a clear path to college. They provide support for students from 5th-12th grade. And the location I joined was at the SF Day School, just down theContinue reading “Breakthrough San Francisco”
It’s been a long week
Prologue: I only intended to write once this week. And make a post about it. But this week was hell. I know there has been worse. Especially in January. But I think there was so much going on. I think this reflected the epitome of what normalizing work within a pandemic is like. It’s aContinue reading “It’s been a long week”
Common Essay Mistakes 2019 v. 2020
These are common essay mistakes after the first semester of the respective school year. In 2019, I taught 9th & 10th grade and noticed that they more or less had the same types of mistakes. If they were not a high achieving student, their essay was missing a lot of components. It was really clearContinue reading “Common Essay Mistakes 2019 v. 2020”
10 Guiding Precepts
Prologue: I’m here revisiting an old draft. Like many of the things I write, they got lost or never shared. Whether that’s because of my own insecurity or it remains locked away in my notes, a journal, or the drafts. It’s been over two years since I started this space. I think it’s become lessContinue reading “10 Guiding Precepts”
Balasbas Says 