Category: teaching

Keeping Up with the Culture

Posted in best, culture, daughter, ethnicity, firsts, grad school, humor, last, memoir, Midwestern, Omaha, racist, Redbull, relationships, Roots, slavery, son, student, student teaching, Study abroad, teaching, TV, University of Nebraska at Omaha, water cooler, worstLeave a comment

Yesterday my son told me what click bait means. I am woefully out of the loop on many things computer. But I think I have a good handle on pop culture, for the most part. The first time I heard an eighth grade student say awesome, it sounded out of place. But that was 35… Continue reading Keeping Up with the Culture

More Machu Picchu

Posted in best, California, firsts, grandma, grandpa, hiking, humor, Incas, last, Machu Picchu, memoir, nature, outdoors, Peru, relationships, son, Study abroad, teaching, travel, vacationLeave a comment

(part two) Christy and I finished our breakfast at the hotel up at the top and looked into the fog. The buses wouldn’t start arriving until noon. “Let’s hike up the big mountain,” she said. “Okay,” I said. My lost and found tennis shoes were too small, but I had cut out the toes so… Continue reading More Machu Picchu

Machu – whatchu?

Posted in best, Caracas, Cuzco, Ecuador, firsts, flirting, friends, girl friends, hiking, hotel, humor, Iowa, Machu Picchu, memoir, Peru, relationships, roommate, student teaching, teaching, travel, vacation, Venezuela2 Comments

It was 1977. I was finishing up ten weeks of student teaching in an American oil school in Caracas, Venezuela. My roommate, Christy, wanted to travel for two weeks before we went home to the states. She wanted to visit Machu Picchu in Peru. I’d never heard of it. “It’s the lost city of the… Continue reading Machu – whatchu?

Introvert or Extrovert?

Posted in best, California, dancing, divorce, extrovert, Facebook, family, friends, humor, husband, introvert, joiner, memoir, ocean, relationships, teacher, teaching1 Comment

Most people don’t know it they are an introvert or an extrovert for the first ten or so years of their lives. By the time they get to college, they have figured it out. Is your ideal weekend spent with or without people? Are you an introvert or an extrovert or a combination of both?… Continue reading Introvert or Extrovert?

First Dog, Lost Dog

Posted in animal rescue, best, dogs, farm, high school, holidays, humor, memoir, Midwestern, Nebraska, Omaha, outdoors, puppy, relationships, roommate, small town, SPCA, student, teaching, worstLeave a comment

After moving to farm country to teach high school Spanish, I watched my roommate Kristy come home one day with a German Shephard puppy. “Meet Shane!” she said. She hadn’t asked me. She hadn’t asked the landlord. When she did ask him, his response was, “Not in the house.” Kristy made Shane a bed of… Continue reading First Dog, Lost Dog

Sneaking into the Pool

Posted in airport, Angel Falls, beach, Canaima, dysentery, hotel pool, humor, Iowa State University, memoir, microbes, relationships, teaching, travel, Venezuela, worst2 Comments

While student teaching in Venezuela, we learned how to have fun with not much money. One of the American teachers had stolen a couple of striped beach towels from an upscale hotel, and she had been sneaking into the hotel pool for years. “Just carry the towel and act like you belong,” Linda said. Christy… Continue reading Sneaking into the Pool

Scariest Student Ever

Posted in children, firsts, high school, humor, Iowa, junior high school, memoir, middle school, Midwestern, relationships, teacher, teaching, worst1 Comment

During my ten years of teaching public school, I had many a student that caused me grief.  The 8th grader transfer student who called me a bitch in front of the whole class on his first day.  The brilliant 7th grade boy who lit matches in the hallway and dropped them on the… Continue reading Scariest Student Ever