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The same year I started teaching, a beloved English teacher of mine retired. She told me that four decades in the classroom went so fast. My grandmother said the same about forty years of marriage, and how she wished she had written more down.

As I embarked on a rather unexpected English/Language Arts career, I began blogging about my new teaching experiences. I became hELArious Lizzy. My Hubster, and eventually our two children Spartacus and Little Miss, are along for this wonderful adventure that I share in these pages. Thank you for joining me on this journey of teaching, motherhood, wife-ry, Lutheranism, and everything in between!

This current version of this website is a work in progress; keep checking back as I add more and build my internet life!

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Grading Gaffs: The Cows

Funny things high schoolers write to try to get an A

Vlog: Down and Dirty with the Mayflower Compact

Earlier this fall, I assigned my students a paper I knew they would struggle with, because there wasn’t a “right” way to write it. Student LOVE to ask, “What do you want me to write?” And I LOVE to respond, “I don’t care as long as you defend it.” Still, I knew I would get the same six questions eighteen…
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First Week Routines

Year seven of teaching is upon me! New student orientation day is Wednesday, and all students roll in Thursday. This is, I think, my busiest year yet. But the closer I get to a room filled with fascinating developing adolescents, the more excited I get to impart to them the wisdom of my years (I am turning 30 next year,…
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Life Hacks: Debunked

Life101 Adulting Series The “life hack” is a fairly new term to describe a fairly old idea: how to live life more efficiently. It usually is applied to clever tricks that make you think, “Why didn’t I think of that?” The life hack has spawned countless blog posts and click bait promising you ways to use things you already own…
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Getting hired as a teenager

Life101 Adulting Series So many applications request experience, but how can anyone get experience without getting a job? Most 16-year-old applicants do not have paid work experience, and getting that first job can be intimidating. Here are some tips to consider when trying to get hired as a teenager — or for anyone applying for jobs! 1. Before your apply…
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Personal Bank Accounts and Trusting Yourself

Life101 Adulting Series Personal Bank Accounts & Learning to Trust Yourself Bragging or Complimenting? I gave my students a list of common job interview questions. They practiced asking and answering them for a while, and then we debriefed. I always struggle with personal failing questions: “What is your weakness?” “How would you resolve a dispute with a coworker?” It’s hard…
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More life lessons

Little Ones to Him Belong

Intercom Devotion Earlier this week I was rocking my daughter, who is almost two, to sleep before bed. I sang her the simple hymn, “Jesus Loves Me,” which is one of her favorites. She has some speech delays, but she knows some sign language, and she loves this song because she can sign the refrain, “Yes, Jesus Loves Me.” As…
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Sparty Scribbles: a Year of Art

When Spartacus left his 3-year-old preschool classroom to move to the fours, he was gifted with his “journal,” the notebook that all the kids “wrote” in at the writing station all year. One of my kid’s godparents is finishing her Ph.D in psychology, and she is fascinated to follow my children’s development. As I flipped through his “art” in this…
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PreK First Day

Spartacus began his year in the four-year-old PreK class this week. While three was a challenging age, four brings its own hurdles. He loves playing outside and he loves his friends and he loves his teachers and he loves learning…but when he wakes up in the morning and asks, “Is it a school day?” it’s often followed by, “That’s not…
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