Today I am going to start teaching Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird to my 9th grade English class. I am glad the New York City Department of Education and my school, specifically, have not yet said that this is a banned book. YET. Over the years, this novel has been the subject of debate about its racial insensitivity due to the language used in the novel. Even before cancel culture came out and everything became offensive, I always started the novel with the explanation that, in my opinion

In case you have not seen the barrage of sports betting advertisements, sports betting is now legally allowed in New York State. Now I love JB Smooth, aka Leon from “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” but I am done with seeing him dressed as a Roman Emperor on the commercials all day long.  And come on, his wife/empress is Halle Berry? That is another column entirely. 

One of the reasons why this is a fabulous idea is the revenue that it will bring to the State. According to Forbes Magazine, “the State

I recently showed my Film and Literature students the film It’s A Wonderful Life. We first read an excerpt of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and as we were watching, we compared and contrasted the Dickens’ work with Frank Capra’s film. It was so refreshing how much they enjoyed the film. What is even more interesting is many of my students do not even celebrate Christmas. One young man who is quite polite and enjoys the class usually comes only four days a week. When he entered the class

I have been a high school and sometimes middle school English teacher for almost 25 years. During those 25 years, the New York State English Regents and the SAT have changed multiple times. I have sat through numerous professional developments and meetings discussing the changes and how to align your instruction for the exam. Each time we worked on this I would ask: We teach reading and writing, what are we changing? I am just a lowly teacher, not someone who sits at the Board of Regents in

I recently celebrated my marriage of 29 years, and I am still amazed at the actions of my spouse once in a while. How is it that after 29 years of marriage, you can still realize something new about your spouse and it can drive you a bit crazy? It can also add humor as some incidents become running jokes. 

Last September, we were driving out of a medical building where I had just seen a doctor. While we were exiting the parking garage, a large man was walking towards us. The man had bandages

It is that time of year again where we will all be subjected to the crazy elf pictures when many of our social media friends try to outdo one another with their elaborate poses and shenanigans. Those of you with children that have been experiencing this for a few years, how do you keep it original?

For those of you like me who either have older children or no children at all, the Elf on the Shelf is a book that was published in 2005 by the genius mother-daughter team of Carol Aebersold and