Listen to the podcast version of this post here. As I shared my Haunting Comforts of Teaching podcast to my friends, I was asked, why "Haunting Comforts"? Another friend even made a comment about how the word "haunting" evokes a creepy vibe like sharing ghost stories, which seems a little disconnected to the current content... Continue Reading →
Hi there! Thank you for visiting and checking out my writing. I am Jennk, a middle school English teacher and an aspiring writer. This is my official blog where I will be exhibiting my creative, reflective and academic writing and thoughts on life. I find comfort in digging into the haunting crevices of the human... Continue Reading →
"Ms. I've never seen you take a day off," Josh, one of my top, and most outgoing students, commented to me last Tuesday, October 18. Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels.com At this, I smirked and responded, "Not yet." (At this moment, I was not thinking of taking any day offs soon, but realized that... Continue Reading →
"You were right Ms. I was wrong. I'm sorry," he called out from the back, as I was talking to another student about our assignment. Confused, I asked him, "About?" Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com He kept apologizing, and I kept asking him to clarify about two to three more times, while I simultaneously jump... Continue Reading →
It was a broad sunny day. Photo by George Becker on Pexels.com A former coworker and her sister walked past wearing a matching green and white outfit...similar to mine. Everything seemed calm until I suddenly jumped. Before I knew it, I was hanging onto two glass panels, right in the middle of a busy mall.... Continue Reading →
It's Writing Prompt Wednesday! This week, I chose a prompt from @the.plottery. The last text you received? It's got to be the last line of a poem you're going to write. Photo by Mark Vegera on Pexels.com Tired tracks line the dirt; Sputtering exhaust follow. The tank was full, but I forgot how much. A... Continue Reading →
Photo by Martin Pu00e9chy on Pexels.com Whenever I write poems, I usually write in free verse since it comes more easily to me. Today, I challenged myself to follow a more structured form to stretch my writing muscles and get out of my comfort zone. This prompt from ethicalela.com: Write about a time when something... Continue Reading →
I was deceiving myself. Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com Was I moving forward, or slipping back? Last week, I found myself slowly transporting back to my third year of teaching. The year where I had multiple mentors helping me iron out my classroom management skills. The year where I changed the seating layout of... Continue Reading →
Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.com A couple of days ago, the principal and the assistant principals at my school were going around observing the "learning environment" of each teacher's classroom. Fortunately, the principal came during my conference period on Friday, and not when I was actually teaching, which makes it less stressful and disruptive... Continue Reading →
Half dead, Half beaten, Half drained, Half burned, Half alive. Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Pexels.com The first three weeks of teaching ran through me like bullet train. I originally wanted to write about my long term goals for this upcoming school year, but right now, my brain keeps shutting down. Each week piles on... Continue Reading →
What is wrong with traditional structures of learning? Are we in a learning crisis? How do we rekindle the love for learning in a learning crisis? Photo by Katerina Holmes on Pexels.com A couple months ago, I was talking to my friend Duc about the education system, specifically in America, and all the problems that... Continue Reading →
Don't cry, I told myself, don't you cry. Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Pexels.com This is not a big deal. This is not a big deal. Don't cry. But these tears that drop; they are not mine. They came out, released from drops of shame, of fear, of timidity. I don't want to call them... Continue Reading →
Haunting Comforts 