Tricia Ebarvia

As an English teacher, I know all about irony. So while I can never find enough time to read all the books on my “on deck” list, my 9-year-old would rather do almost anything else but read. Okay, that might be a little bit of hyperbole.… Read More

This post is late tonight because I just got home from a school board meeting (where I live, not where I teach). Our local school district and its teachers are currently in contract negotiations (well, sorta… see below). My children’s teachers have been working without… Read More

Participating in the “Slice of Life” challenge for the first time this month reminded of how important it is to keep the creative well going. It also reminded me of two questions that serve as useful reminders for what matters. 

Even though we had no school on Thursday and Friday thanks to Winter Storm Thor (a name my superhero-crazed sons appreciated), I haven’t gotten much done with the extra time. As much as I enjoy the time off—and the customary sledding, hot chocolate, and pajamas-all-day—I… Read More

Last night, Matthew asked me for help on his math homework. He is in fourth grade, and they are currently working on a unit on division. His end-of-module test was supposed to be this week (we’ve had two snow days), and the review packet included the… Read More

I’ve been reading Charlotte’s Web to the boys, just a chapter or two a few nights a week. Charlotte’s Web was one of my favorites growing up. I didn’t have the words for it back then, but I knew that there was something special about reading… Read More

“Daddy, can you be the narrator?” I hear one of the boys ask my husband. Whenever the boys play together—whether it’s with their Legos, Star Wars figures, or super heroes—they usually assign someone to play the role of the “narrator.”

With the popularity of dystopian literature, I guess it’s only fitting that I find myself sometimes wondering if I do, in fact, life in a dystopian society. And I’m not even referring to the 1984-esque Patriot Act or the Generation Like of Brave New World. And… Read More

The long-anticipated season 3 of House of Cards was released on Friday. While some of us joked at lunch last week that we’d be glued to our TV sets this weekend, I’m not sure how many of us actually got to spend all that quality time… Read More