I am so excited to see this book out in the wild! And I hope (like desperately and with all fingers and toes crossed) that it helps new (and new-ish) teachers in any small way. Thank you for making available for those people, @msommerville.bsky.social!

When you teach outside DC your 4th graders share: Saturday I went to a camp at the Vice President’s house. My sister tie dyed shirts. I went on the bouncy house. Q: Why did you go to a camp at the VP’s house? A: They invited people they know. JD knows my dad. We went in my dad’s motorcade.

This. It's true for K-12 as well.

They’re here! The process of writing a book is a long one and, at this point, it’s been a bit since I’ve actively been doing anything on this one. So this feels a bit surreal.

Our district math unit assessments often have a question or two that are open ended and that I have to score. This is my favorite. And yes, it’s a correct answer.

I had fourth graders talking about seeing this movie and I flashed back to reading the book because of Tressie and Bluesky.

Having walked past the White House today to (with great disappointment) confirm the existence of this construction, I agree with Shana. It would not be happening. And the anger I feel that this is where we are as a country is beyond words.

About a year and a half ago I tried glass flame work. One of the things I have been struggling to do as well as I want is implosions (pushing colored glass into clear glass). Last night I made some that I’m super proud of. These photos are before and after the kiln.

Can MAGA Survive Without Its Moms? www.nytimes.com/2026/05/23/o...

If you are curious what it is like to be a female, Black intellectual online these days, these replies make it very clear. Also, if people run Tressie off this site again I am going to be quite irate. There are not enough good things online these days, and AI is making that so much worse, so stop.

Hey @thetattooedprof.bsky.social, I’m presenting at a conference in Charlotte August 3-5. Any chance you’ll be in town? I’d love to see you.

I work with amazing colleagues. One got this Venus flytrap for us to share with our fourth graders as we study plants.

Trump is DEFUNDING EDUCATION. (I have been saying that Dems need to say this over and over)

Evergreen.

It's been quite a day. And I'm exhausted, but also unable to go to bed until I wrote about it. It's been quite some time since I've written a blog post but today it was needed.

I have so many thoughts about this but mostly I appreciate Shana saying it. It means a lot to know people see this reality.

I'm going to aim for both of these things because we could all use some help these days. I appreciate the nudge in the right direction.

There are so many fewer people writing publicly (blogging, really, is what I mean) and I still enjoy those who do. Right now I'm feeling much gratitude to @edifiedlistener.bsky.social for the fact that she keeps writing and for how much her writing resonates with me.

College admissions (like so many other things in our society) are based, mostly, on very specific things that not everyone is good at. We miss a lot of awesome folks as a result. (My college GPA was under 3.0. My professional career in education is not, I think, what that would have predicted.)

Late last year, the US experienced the longest government shutdown in the country's history over GOP efforts to cut $70 billion in annual ACA subsidies. The US is now fighting a war, launched with zero public debate, that costs roughly $11 billion dollars per week. www.csis.org/analysis/ira...

I am not a sports person (I have many issues with competitive sports at various levels in our country) but my alma mater just won the DIII Men's Championship Basketball game and I have to admit it feels good.

📢 EDUCATOR GIVEAWAY! Don’t miss your chance to win a two-book picture book bundle containing UNBREAKABLE by Minoru Tonai and Jolene Gutiérrez and THREE PIECES OF BROKEN GLASS by Emily Barth Isler! 🍎 bit.ly/PB-bundle

Can we skip the April fools jokes tomorrow since this country is a joke?

I talk about their grown ups with my elementary students. Not every kid lives with their mom or dad. This piece is, not surprisingly, fabulous. I'm disappointed in Edutopia for the title.

In year 28 of elementary classroom teaching I have some rules I think should be adopted: - no school on April 1st, ever - Halloween is celebrated on the last Friday in October - June 7th should be a holiday until this 6-7 nonsense is over I'm sure I have more but I need spring break now!

And we have indoor recess...

It is our last day before spring break and it is obvious (we are all struggling). It's pajama day and we had a whole school assembly this morning and a fire drill. I can't decide if it's brilliant to throw things off on this day because it's something of a wash anyway or if it's just mean.

I am so grateful Shana posted this. I think it all the time but wouldn't have thought to share it. Yes. This. It's not a given that this is the road we will travel. We don't have to opt in.

"This war is so dumb," Sadly, yes. This sums up so much about 2026 (and 2025, sadly).

I wrote a book! It is amazing to see the final cover, spine, and back cover of the book that should be out in late June.

My hands were bright blue yesterday due to a science experiment. Then there’s a burn from me foolishly picking up a hot mandrel (the metal rod used to make glass beads) when it fell out of the kiln. I dropped it quickly! But any touch after metal has been in a 1,500 degree kiln is not good.

Oh man, I have so many thoughts about how we use technology in schools. (And I won an award for doing so from ISTE.) Technology has lowered the bar for strong instruction and distracted kids. It can be so good, but it mostly isn't.

As I've had more opportunities to write professionally (articles, three books) I have come to respect and be in awe of all kinds of editors. They are amazing and working with them has made my writing better and made me a better writer.

I’m reviewing page proofs for my new book and just read a bit I wrote about interruptions you can’t control that includes this parenthetical: fire drills, announcements, students unexpectedly, vomiting, etc. Have I ever, in nearly 30 years, had a student expectedly vomit?!! Why would I write that?

I am so tired today that I have been near tears multiple times. (My exhaustion is mostly my own fault, but the world is a disaster so that adds to it.) This news has made my brief social media scrolling during lunch a total win.

As usual, @christienold.bsky.social gets me thinking. This short thread is a great reminder to me to be more thoughtful about the environment I'm creating and my expectations.

My latest column 💯 www.ascd.org/el/articles/...

She's not wrong. Glad I took a few minutes of my lunch to enjoy this.

I am so grateful to @samjshah.bsky.social for continuing to post on One Good Thing. It helps me think about my one good thing each day, even if I am not managing to write about it!

The world is a dumpster fire and there are so many things to be worked up about and I’m still able to feel unreasonable rage at so many driver’s inabilities to handle a four way stop.

All of it.

@jonbecker.bsky.social I’ve got a few hours mid-day tomorrow in RVA. Any advice on how I should spend them?

As the "good guy with a gun" hasn't helped in school shootings, we've now moved on to this. But we can't possibly restrict gun ownership.

As one who pays little to no attention to sports, today is quite the day to be on social media.

One of my goals at #Educon was to get remember to take pictures with people and I did a terrible job. That said, I’m glad I remembered when @clehmann.bsky.social and @mattrkay.bsky.social. I am grateful for a snow day tomorrow for the time to sit with my learning from this amazing weekend.

On our way to #Educon as a family! Psyched to see @clehmann.bsky.social, @dlaufenberg.bsky.social, @mattrkay.bsky.social, and everyone else! Seriously, y’all, I need time and communion with these folks right now.

This afternoon I mentioned that this date is not accurate, to the student who sets our schedule for each day. He fixed it. But my oldest noted that actually that date felt appropriate. I had to agree

I got to walk in the parade for Abigail Spanberger’s inauguration today with other members of the Virginia Education Association. It was a thrill to be a part of the inauguration of the fist female governor of Virginia.

My school district is adopting new math resources. Our core curriculum will be one of the following: STEMscopes, Kiddom, or Bridges. Anyone have thoughts on those? I believe we will also choose one digital resource: ST Math, IXL, Magma, or DreamBox.