Donate Now I thought Madison was Halloween-crazy, but in retrospect, that was just the UW-Madison campus…  In Chicago, everywhere I go, there is talk and decoration in preparation for the upcoming holiday.  It is strange to me, the way that some of the shop windows have cute, cuddly-looking pumpkins and scarecrows, while others look like…

Donate Now Chicago Public Schools has a day off today, for teacher inservices.  We’re here.  So far, though, my classes have been less than half full today…  Wow.  My students’ attendance overall has been pretty good; out of my classes of 25-30 students, usually 20-25 are in class.  (The same is not true for the…

First off, suggestions on how to find the silver lining… Between sometimes negative staff departments, frustrated students, very long hours, not enough desks for my students, and a host of other daily distractions, it has been getting harder and harder to stay positive. Normally that’s not an issue for me, but lately it has been…