Don’t worry: this is not an angry rant or even a grumpy one. A little persnickety, perhaps. It might not even qualify as a rant. I would just like to ask that you wish me Happy Thanksgiving this year, instead of Happy Turkey Day. I know y’all are excited about your turkey. Some of you look forward to…
Category: Rants – Why I Don’t Love
When something bugs me, I need to vent.
Why Teacher Incentive Pay and Standardized Tests Don’t Help Kids
The Fraser Institute, a Canadian public-policy think tank, has just released a study recommending something called “teacher incentive pay”, based on student achievement. The idea is, teachers would be paid bonuses based on high scores in their students’ standardized test results. This, they say, is key to Canada staying competitive on the world stage….
Dear Five-Year-Old: I sure love you, even when I don’t like you much.
Beloved E, I started writing a blog post in your honour just over two weeks ago, when you turned five. Part of the reason it didn’t get done in a timely manner is because your birthday happened to fall between two disparate weeks of insanity. The other reason is that I wanted to write something…
A Li’l Rant About Tantrums
E is a pretty cool kid. He is also quite challenging at the moment. So far, we have not had any negative reports from his teachers in terms of his behaviour. Aside from that time in the fall when he didn’t want to participate in gym (it was understandably overwhelming, with 30 kids bouncing and…
Oh, Rob. *Sigh*
Dear Rob Ford, When you were elected as mayor of Canada’s largest city, all my Torontonian friends were aghast. They never thought you’d make it in. Having lived in Toronto for a couple years myself, I had to agree that you seemed pretty incongruous: Toronto is, after all, known for its diverse, savvy, cosmopolitan character,…
How Eating Smarties Can Light Your Tap Water on Fire
Do you ever have those times when you read or see something alarming and think, Shit, this is it. We are GOING DOWN FOR SURE THIS TIME. Humans are SCREWED. I have thought this many times. When I was a kid in the ’80s, raised (and homeschooled) by liberal activist parents, I was pretty well-versed…
Is “a bit of fresh air” really worth it?
Let’s take a walk! What could be more invigorating, more wholesome, more beneficial for body and soul? I can take the kids, we can all get some fresh air, and the baby can have a nice lung-cleansing nap. On Wednesday I took my children for a walk around the neighbourhood. We have been graciously handed…
Wrapping up NaBloPoMo! (…I cheated a little.)
It’s November 30th, the last day of National Blog Posting Month, 2012! Whew. What a relief. For real. Like last year at this time, I am proud to say that I did it! But with slightly less integrity than in 2011. 30 blog posts One per day (though this was where I cheated. I tweaked…
Why is parenting so effing hard?
I think I may have sounded, in yesterday’s post, like life with my kids is idyllic and wonderful and effortless. I was glad to have the writing to focus me on the parts I love about this parenting gig, because yesterday was actually a rather difficult parenting day. How is it okay that the most…
Those Greedy, Lazy Teachers
When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? When I was little, I wanted to be a ballerina. After that, I wanted to be a novelist. It didn’t occur to me to want to be a teacher until later. As a homeschooling kid, I didn’t even have teachers other…