A student entered the classroom of my colleague with a rat. Really. The rat was traveling visibly underneath the boy’s clothing, around the stomach and the chest, up and down the sleeves and nestling in the wide birth of his hoodie hood. It made a girl scream. The lesson, whatever it was, is inevitably interrupted.Continue reading “#58: Classroom Management”
Author Archives: michaeljarmer
#57: This Is Happening
This Is Happening: Today, in my first official act as reverend, I will officiate the wedding of two former students of mine. I have written some words for, rehearsed and supped with these two bright stars from some deep place earlier in my career some 15 years back. And I wonder at this turn ofContinue reading “#57: This Is Happening”
#56: For Seamus Heaney
Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it. from “Digging” by Seamus Heaney For Seamus Heaney Many years ago now I wrote a poem about my father inspired by Seamus Heaney’s “Digging,” the first Heaney poem I ever read. In the same way the poet continues his father’s workContinue reading “#56: For Seamus Heaney”
#55: Ode to the Handyman
I can barely hammer a nail into a piece of wood, but this guy comes over to repair glass, wire things up, lay tile, fix the plumbing, pour pavement, measure twice, cut once, hang finish carpentry and restore old lamp fixtures to their original glory. I never developed these skills or had the inclination toContinue reading “#55: Ode to the Handyman”
#54: The School Year Begins with a Crash of the Hard Drive
The School Year Begins with a Crash of the Hard Drive on which my entire life’s work as a teacher was “saved.” My technology guy, bless him, was able to retrieve nearly every last god-forsaken item– except any kind of organizational feature previously attached. So all perhaps one thousand assorted folders, documents, presentations, audio files,Continue reading “#54: The School Year Begins with a Crash of the Hard Drive”
#53: On the Last Day of Summer Break
On the Last Day of Summer Break I’m home alone, cleaning house, sweeping, dusting, mopping, emptying the trash, doing small errands that have been waiting a long time, like those framed drawings of France that needed hanging, and that boat painting; now they’re up. I put away all the piles of rags and brushes andContinue reading “#53: On the Last Day of Summer Break”
The Going-Back-To-Work Blues Is A Real Thing
20 blog entries later, and the summer break comes to a close. Teachers report back to their schools in my district on Monday. Time to take stock. Time to look ahead. It’s been a strong summer. I blogged, I wrote fiction, became an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church, agreed to marry a coupleContinue reading “The Going-Back-To-Work Blues Is A Real Thing”
#52: Stupid Human Facebook Tricks
(with apologies to all my friends guilty of the following) I think one has to earn the right to post pictures of one’s food. First, it must be good food, carefully prepared, photogenic food, artfully arranged, economically described. Otherwise, I don’t want to see anybody’s food. And I refuse to respond to posts that testContinue reading “#52: Stupid Human Facebook Tricks”
#28: Did You See The Moon?
Originally posted on michael jarmer:
Did You See The Moon? More luminous than your computer screen, shining in through the window of your study, full, full of fury, brightening the night sky like nobody’s business. Landing on the moon was not nearly as special as it was to look at the Earth from that vantage…
A Talk at the 30 Year High School Reunion
Note: I include this as a post on my blogsite mostly for those classmates of mine who would like to see it. Don’t know if it will make sense for other readers–parts of it will, perhaps, others not so much. For example, to get the opening gag, you’d have to know that I now teachContinue reading “A Talk at the 30 Year High School Reunion”
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