Category Archives: Seniors

high stakes testing: stone walled vs. living stones

Posted on July 31, 2015 by bakrawiec

High-stakes testing really makes my blood boil. (If you’ve kindly read the past few posts: Can you tell?) More than that. It makes my stomach turn. A good student (summa cum laude graduate), I was a lousy test taker—a tried-and-true … Continue reading →

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tests and measurements–what’s valid?

Posted on July 28, 2015 by bakrawiec

No apologies. Certified psychology teacher that I am, this post, nevertheless, does not pretend to use “invalid” in its psychometric sense. No concern here with validity or reliability of test measurements, either. No. This post makes an argument about the … Continue reading →

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…”can never tell”…

Posted on July 27, 2015 by bakrawiec

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. From the first moments of my teaching career, I was challenged and affirmed by those words of Henry Adams’ spoken to me by my undergraduate methods professor in … Continue reading →

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generativity self-check à la Erikson

Posted on July 26, 2015 by bakrawiec

In pursuit of psychology teaching certification, I was introduced to the idea of “generativity” from reading the work of noted psychologist Erik Erikson, whose generativity stage is contained within his theory of psychosocial development. According to Erikson, one way of … Continue reading →

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give-and-take compliments

Posted on July 24, 2015 by bakrawiec

It’s one thing to think complimentary thoughts about someone; it’s quite another thing to verbalize the compliment to that person. I hadn’t really considered the difficulty inherent in verbalizing compliments—maybe because I didn’t give many?—until a reading supervisor raised my … Continue reading →

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thanks for understanding

Posted on July 23, 2015 by bakrawiec

One of the interesting dynamics of being an elementary school librarian is the number of daily thank you’s received from students, with this clarification. Invariably at the end of each library session, as part of the lining-up departure protocol, classroom … Continue reading →

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congratulations…for what?

Posted on July 22, 2015 by bakrawiec

Them: “Congratulations!” Me: …knee jerk: “Thank you!” As you might imagine, I’ve heard my fair share of “Congratulations!” since I shared my retirement decision on June 30th. Now, three weeks later, the more resigned, comfortable, and grateful I continue to … Continue reading →

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role reversal

Posted on July 21, 2015 by bakrawiec

As unimaginably sad as it is when a teacher loses a current or former students, so unimaginably joyful it is for a teacher to encounter a former student who validates time spent in the classroom. I had that unexpected joy … Continue reading →

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retirement downer: outliving one’s children

Posted on July 20, 2015 by bakrawiec

Just as popular wisdom says that parents shouldn’t outlive their children, it strikes me that teachers shouldn’t outlive their classroom-children, either. (As an adult school GED teacher, as well as university adjunct, I have had students older than I, including … Continue reading →

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finally, ultimately (re)tired

Posted on July 19, 2015 by bakrawiec

Continuing the previous conversation… The only other time I ever heard the big “T” (as in Tired) word spoken filled with that much unspoken meaning, as I referred to in the previous post, the word was spoken by my mother, … Continue reading →

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