THIS Is What GITG is about: People Over Numbers

Thanks to TomesAwayFromHome for spontaneously summing up what Grit In The Gap wants to do--listen to kids and teachers in public schools over numbers and[...]

Story Feature: The Struggle Of An English Language Learner And His Teacher

Grit In The Gap is about moments in public schools, yes, but it is also about how those moments build into or are indicative of[...]

LolKids: Signs of Life In Budding Public School Brains!

The last LolKids was about funny things that come out of the mouths of our babes in public schools from seemingly nowhere. This week's LolKids[...]

Can A Teacher Get Some Love? This week's sad stuff

Teaching is hard. It is also hilarious and rewarding, yes. But sometimes, it can just get you down, whether it's because technology fails or students[...]

Weekly Roundup: LolKids

Welcome to LOLKids, a weekly roundup of what I think are the funniest things kids say each week. I think (I hope) that I can speak[...]

Godless Man Doing God's Work

It’s difficult for me to talk about my oppression in the environment in which I teach. I’m a Mexican male from an area much wealthier compared to where I teach. Compared to my students, I’ve got it made. However, there is one aspect of my identity that has been a constant sourc[...]

Young Scientist: Determination

He moved here from Pakistan just before school started. His English is impressive, but it's not yet advanced enough to do justice to his intellect. For now, he is right where he needs to be--in small, supported classes with ESOL professionals. In my inclusion science class, I work with ESOL students[...]

a book and a movie

This is not the easy way out. On the screen, a young native woman is putting a stranger’s body to rest. It’s a key scene in the story, the first time her accidental companion, a cocky Canadian pilot, shows any glimmer of respect for her culture. In my classroom, that boy gig[...]

I'm a teacher who hates "data"

And by "data" I mean any information collected from a group of students in an inorganic and inauthentic manner that is then used to obfuscate and declarify (as the Car Talk guys like to say) the progress and assumed learning of those students. The observations I make as I grade a stack of e[...]

a step

Days later, a test on my turf.  Much of the hour is devoted to the final, summative assessment of the book we've been reading for months. Around the conference table I inherited and can't seem to evict from my small classroom, a handful of students are working to demonstrate what [...]

Optimism

Me: Ok, so I'm going to give you- W: CANDY?!? Me: ...five more minutes to finish this assignment.[...]

Grant!!

OUR CLASS' GRANT GOT FUNDED!!! We are getting 6 Kindle Fire Tablets for our room! Our counselor also got her grant funded to get an iPad! (I am also personally celebrating because my fiancé got the job he applied for!) In response one of my kids said: "You're like a [...]

Nicknames

Reading Holes has inspired my students to contemplate what nickname to give the various people in their lives. M: Ms. Ship, your nickname would be Casper. Class: Oooh, yeah! Me: Really guys? Wow. M: Because you're friendly and nice and helpful! And white. Ha! You thought it was just gonna be the white thing. Later: Me:[...]

There should be a book police...

Me: Before we start reading, I want to apologize in advance. My book is a page or two off of your copies so I might turn the page before you. Pay close attention so we don't get confused. Brandon: OMG! You have a different book? Call the book police![...]

Utopia

I asked my students for another word for Utopia, trying to spur them into saying "paradise" or "heaven" or something similar. One student's earnest response: "New Zealand!" Meanwhile, their choice for the opposite of Utopia? "Oakland!" After this, I enjoyed looking at their illustrated maps of their personal utopias, which included[...]

Turns out, I missed them after all

It always seems like my students know when I am close to giving up. They launch into incredibly mature and/or adorable behavior just when I think they are determined to be difficult for the rest of the year. After a particularly harrowing exam week, my students were back to being[...]

Confused

"I am Hitler. Wait, no, I'm am 'Assain Hubama! -a dear 8th grader of mine Wait, WHAT?![...]

Finals Week

I was standing at the water cooler, wild-eyed and fairly bewildered after a tense meeting. One of our assistant principals walked in, looked at me, laughed, and said "Ms. Ship, you look like you just spent the last 10 years wandering through the desert and that's the first water you've[...]

Ticking time bomb

New student talking about a time he got mad and in trouble at his old school: "Well, then, I exploded. But they taped me back together." I laughed, and then he said... "Oh, good. You got that joke?"[...]

Origin Stories

I was excitedly and animatedly telling my students about the old show Wishbone and how amazing and inspiring I found it as a kid, and how it led me to read lots of books and love English. I may have even started singing the theme song. When the conversation was[...]

Well, it has been a week.  In short, I had to create this: One of my students, who I will call [...]

Lesson from the Lab: Small Wonders

I like using microscopes. It's an art that requires complete attention to the task at hand; you can't be worrying[...]

Essence

Anyone who knows Essence knows that she runs the room: When she’s on, the whole class is on; when she’s off[...]

Young Scientist: Obstacles

He came in on the second day of school, with no excuse note for his absence from the first day.[...]

What exactly is a bilingual, self-contained, special education classroom?

Hello everyone!  I am MonaSeQueda and I teach primary, self-contained, bilingual, special education in a large urban/suburban school district. In addition t[...]