Starr Sackstein, MJE, NBCT

An inspirational book filled with quotable advice for living a success and fulfilled life

“Once you find your red rubber ball, may the source of your play become your life’s work so much so that on one – not even  you – will be able to tell the difference between the two.”

Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” and Kevin Carroll likened life to The Rules of the Red Rubber Ball.  This powerful, little book inspires in its presentation and conviction, encouraging us all to expect the unexpected just as we would chase rubber ball.

When a special person recommended this book to me, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as I opened to page one, I knew it would be a quick read worth having on my desk or night table for easy reference. Read more »

Students in newspaper class, engage in peer review and conferencing to produce a completely student run publication

After another inspirational #sunchat, my brain is alight with possibilities that the end of the year possesses. Too often we allow the malaise and fatique to get the better of us and we pull out the movies and BS assignments once the high stakes exams are over. “The kids need a break,” we tell ourselves. It’s a misleading notion.

The kids do need a break, but not from learning – from boredom. Too often we put the emphasis on the wrong things taking the wonder and curiousity out of the learning experience. I challenge all of us to change that NOW.

As we move into the end of May and the final breaths of the school year, allow students to decide what goes on in their learning spaces. I’m finding the more I relinquish control to them, the more engaged they are. It’s not rocket science to realize that no one likes to be controlled and it antithetical to inquiry learning to tell students what to ask about. Read more »

My son diligently works on his homework at his desk in his bedroom. Sometimes he even asks for more math.

“Get into your grade level teams so we can discuss what modifications are in place for your bottom third.” The chorus of a great many of our PD sessions every year. So much time is spent trying to engage and promote the educational welfare of students who aren’t successful. Ironically, since we’ve developed inclusion classes and began to do away with traditional tracking, it seems that the honor students are the ones that fall through the cracks.

My son is a gifted math student. He works swiftly and often in his head. I watch him figure problems out and it never ceases to amaze me his capacity to take in the new and simplify it quickly.

There are no gifted and talented programs until the 4th grade in our district and Logan is only in 2nd. So often, he asks the teacher proudly for more math work. Enrichment in his school has so far just been more of the same, no extention work that provides more challenging versions of what is there already. Instead, it is busy work so that he isn’t disruptive in class once he finishes an assignment. As a teacher, this disappoints me. Read more »

AP students work together to modernize and interpret scenes from Hamlet

Headache. Personal drama. An impending vacation. Let’s call it the perfect storm. Saying I was having a bad day would be the understatement of the century; I just wasn’t seeing clearly.

My AP students (whom for the record, always amaze me with their commitment and passion for learning) were presenting their Hamlet comic strips and there seemed to be a discrepancy with their interpretation of what they read and put on the sheet.  As the ladies shared their beautifully depicted poster, something didn’t seem right.

I asked a question – Can you point to where in the text you got that information from? All the ladies of the group were adamant that it was accurate. I briefly perused the text (admittedly not as closely as I should have) and proclaimed it incorrect… Read more »