by Trevor Barton | Oct 5, 2012 | Opinion
Bralyan loves bugs. I met him during the first week of school as I conducted the standard assessment of how many words he could read per minute from a second-grade story. After the assessment, I gave him the customary caterpillar sticker to put on his shirt to show...
by Trevor Barton | Sep 17, 2012 | Opinion
I hear it now and then. It invariably comes after a long day in an elementary school classroom, a day that seems like a year. “If I didn’t have [student’s name], I could teach my class!” You know the children who fill in the blank....
by Trevor Barton | Sep 14, 2012 | Opinion
Billy was 7 years old when he walked through the door of my second-grade classroom. The cowlick in his hair wouldn’t stay down. His shirt and shorts didn’t match. He wore dark socks with his sneakers. He was clumsy, stumbling over table legs and chairs....
by Trevor Barton | Sep 11, 2012 | Opinion
Imani walked down the hall with a paper cup in her hands. She stopped and held up the cup to me. Inside its paper walls were soil, water and seeds – all those humble and elemental things that build a third-grader’s scientific knowledge. Imani was growing...
by Trevor Barton | Sep 4, 2012 | Opinion
I love to receive letters. When I was a little boy, I lived on a long, straight street and could see the mail truck coming from a long way off. After the mailman stopped in front of our house, I ran down our front walkway with hope in my heart, between our two giant...
