Education
In Human Parts. More on Medium.
Lived Through This
Because I wish someone had warned me
Content warning: Graphic descriptions of injury
If you ever need hand surgery, you should try to get it done in Japan.
At least that’s what the hand surgeon at Mass General Hospital told us right before he spent 10 hours trying to reattach my husband’s severed left index finger.
The surgeon’s tone was cheerful and matter-of-fact as he talked with us. We were sitting on a cot in the emergency room on a Friday night. Jared had been working on a project at our house when his hand got sucked into the blade of a table saw by a loose…
This Is Us
Social distance means we can no longer create shared memories by smelling the world — and each other
What’s the worst smell you can think of? Skunk? Brussels sprouts? Sour milk?
For me, it was a mixture of Coca-Cola, coffee, Gatorade, and rotting bones. The smell was so pungent it clung to my hair and clothes for hours after the air had cleared. I was a student teacher in a regional high school in Vermont, and I had asked my students to do an experiment on bone density. They each chose a liquid to soak a chicken bone in for a week.
I knew the acidic liquids would leach the calcium out of the bones and make them…
This Is Us
The pursuit of a PhD from my urban vantage point
what they don’t tell you
about getting your PhD
is that your childhood memories
of growing up
on the Westside of Detroit
and sitting inside of
overcrowded
public school
classrooms
with more students than desks
will be etched across
the pages
of your mandated
course readings
they don’t tell you
that your carefree moments
of sharing textbooks
with your classmates
and bike riding
up
and
down
pothole-ridden side streets
past boarded up homes
with caved-in roofs
hidden behind
tall dense grass
will be placed inside of a frame
they will
hang it on a wall
and gaze at it
and their faces will…
This Is Us
My conscience wouldn’t let me quit. But then the choice was made for me.
Let me get this out of the way: I didn’t want to go back.
I didn’t want to return to in-person school for myriad reasons, but the first few are what I consider “personal.” I have asthma and suffer from ear, nose, and throat allergies year-round. I am partnered to a Black man who is much more likely to receive substandard medical care and, as a result, takes more precautions around social distancing and limits time outside the house.
I would not only be exposing myself to a classroom full of children (and by default their parents, their grandparents, and…
Past Is Prologue
Even before the pandemic, schools weren’t really doing their job
Even when school existed, it felt impossible. As a principal, I was expected to ensure all students tested well in English and math; to produce winning sports teams and an applause-worthy play, with a role for every kid who wanted one; to prevent drug use, sexual harassment, and scientific illiteracy; to add more time for world languages but not take away time from recess.
On Facebook, a viral post asked high schools to teach how to “balance a checkbook, sew on a button, hem pants, change a car tire, change your oil, drive a stick shift, do your taxes, basic…
Past Is Prologue
And how to undo decades of linguistic carnage
Knowing or learning another language can be both a blessing and a curse. Don’t get me wrong — I think everyone should learn a foreign language, simply for the way it expands and enhances our perspective on the world, so don’t use the “curse” part as an excuse to avoid the challenge. Nevertheless, let me explain.
Express Yourself
A simple drawing exercise to help you rediscover the meaning of perspective
Everything is closed. Schools are closed. Stores are closed. Parks are closed. Museums are closed. But you know what’s easy to keep open for you and your kids? Your eyes.
Let me show you an easy way to open things up. But I want you to wait until your kids have gone to bed. I know you’ll be exhausted. (We’re all exhausted!) But this will be relaxing; this will be fun. No one is keeping score.
All you need is a pencil and a piece of paper. First, freehand a square in the center of the page. Small or big…
Fiction
All we had were rumors — and most of them had been started by me
When Ava Shapiro limped back into AP European History the day before prom, she’d been gone for almost two months, or 34.333 school days.
In that lifetime of a spring, everything went wrong. Cliques tightened, mutated, and dissolved. Mismatched couples flirted, exchanged bodily fluids, and parted. Even lunch sucked. …
Our teens need us right now. And we need them.
Remember your senior year? The very real feelings of excitement and possibility and nerves? Now, throw a pandemic on that.
Imagine: No prom. No senior trip. No graduation. These are just a few of the things the class of 2020 is facing with the onset of Covid-19.
There are a lot of horrible aspects to coronavirus, from the loss of life to the suffering of those with the illness, from the stresses of quarantine to the economic impact we’re all facing. But this one’s for the kids. Specifically, the young adults who make up the class of 2020. These are…
What it really means when you tell yourself your students are ‘lazy’
I get a lot of emails and private messages from people who have read my essay, “Laziness Does Not Exist,” and want to ask me for advice. Usually, I answer the questions in private, if I have the time, but I thought I’d share this one because it’s particularly unique, yet also cuts to the core of a problem that many readers and commenters have raised: How do you motivate an ineffective student or employee without judging them for being lazy?
This question came from a neurologist who supervises medical residents. She’s struggling with how to handle her mentee’s mistakes…
Human Parts
A publication from Medium about humanity: yours, mine, and ours.
