Taylor the Teacher

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Here’s a great thing about my job:
I get to talk about Pink Floyd ~and other cool stuff~ with people who are still enthusiastic about it. Every year at least one student asks me if I’ve seen Dark Side of […]

[Read more →]

Ken tells of a student who drew vaginas on his standardized test booklet:

 …one of the students used his test book to draw an extremely large image of female genitalia.
Then, he was all work, all business; like he needed to draw a really big vagina before he could settle down to the task of testing.

I’m […]

[Read more →]

When I was writing To a Little Boy, my original title ~handwritten in my spiral notebook~ was To a Little Black Boy. I debated whether or not to mention his race in that post. Does it matter that the boy is black? He was a sad, tiny boy. He was a sad, tiny, black boy.
Knowing […]

[Read more →]

Elton is my old pal. ~who’d have thought i could overlook the name “elton”~ I used to make my mom set a place at the table for him when I was very young. ~mommieee, where’s elton john gonna sit? we weren’t on a first-name basis back then~ That’s because, as my most favored imaginary […]

[Read more →]

… I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look, but it was gone.
       Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb

My classroom walls are white now. Like an insane asylum.
Here’s what it used to look like:

[Read more →]

I cried in my classroom today. This wasn’t like the angry, stressed-out, frustrated cries I’ve had so many times before in that room. This was more like the breakdown you finally reach over a casket or grave site.
I stood over the blue action packer I’ve had on top of my cabinet since day one as […]

[Read more →]

Always turned off by violence, I put off watching Kill Bill until this weekend. ~that and my disorder that keeps me from watching something everyone tells me to watch~ I generally do not enjoy violent movies. It’s not a holier-than-thou thing if you watch them. Not saying they’re the decline of civilization. I’m just turned off […]

[Read more →]

 photo by oskay
When was a student teacher I vowed to myself I would have nothing to do with sports. I am not hateful of sports. ~just intensely annoyed~  But, learning is fun. So I would rather be associated with something academic.
But of course, sports are the only things our society is willing to pay for. I […]

[Read more →]

My friend Ken wrote my resignation letter for me today. It’s hilarious. Read the whole letter here.
This is my favorite part, although choosing my very favorite part was tough:

… I flee from the scene with a greater sense of dignity and self-worth than you ever attempted to instill in your staff. My initial trepidation about an […]

[Read more →]

Wrote this Saturday before going back to school after spring break.

I’m tearing up a little right now beause I have really enjoyed writing the last few days, and I know it will stop soon. The writing won’t stop completely, but the time to really think and do my very best at it just won’t be […]

[Read more →]