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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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Romeo & Juliet, according to freshmen

One of the summative projects for my freshman English 9 Romeo and Juliet unit is a “Tic-tac-toe” project. They get a checkerboard of 9 options and they draw a line through the middle, each producing a visual, written, and performance component. It’s an easy creative project that generally yields fun results during the last week before spring break. Since I…
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Teacher Burnout…and solutions

a new experience This is my seventh year in the secondary classroom. When I began teaching, I didn’t imagine I would be teaching this long. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 teachers tap out by year 5. I didn’t know what I would be doing, but I packed up my classroom each spring vaguely wondering how many more times I…
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Grading Gaffs: The Cows

Funny things high schoolers write to try to get an A

What to do after a car accident

Life101 Adulting Series Let’s assume you didn’t read my 3 tips for winter driving post, and you slid into another car on your way to work this morning. What should you do if you’re in a fender bender? Lucky for you I’ve been in several car accidents — none of which were my fault!! — so I can give you…
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How to Drive in the Winter: 3 Quick Tips

Life101 Adulting Series We had our first major snowfall this past week in Indiana, and my high school students, like every other driver on the road, freaked out. Because driving in the winter can be scary, and maybe something will go wrong. How should you drive in slippery conditions? Winter Drive Tip One: Just Drive SLOWER I know you’re running…
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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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More life lessons

My child said, “I hate you”

Spartacus, our oldest, will turn 5 this year, and he is in his second year of full-time preschool. He attends a wonderful Lutheran ministry, but despite the best efforts of his parents teachers, that pesky original sin side keeps sneaking through! Today, for the first time he shouted up the stairs at his daddy those piercing words: “I hate you!”…
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Advent with a 4-year-old

Last week we enjoyed that most precious of Advent preparation events, the preschool Christmas program. 4-year-old Spartacus was thrilled to play Joseph. It was everything a children’s Christmas program should be: adorable, disorganized in spite of all the preparation, technical difficulties, and children waving and picking their noses. During “This Little Light of Mine,” Joseph disappeared briefly, having misplaced his…
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Best Christmas Gift for Everyone

Last year, Spartacus received a Christmas present that got put away with the decorations. It got pulled from the basement this past weekend as we put up our first *live* tree, and Spartacus has rediscovered this toy. And we have discovered it is the Greatest Christmas Present Ever For Anyone. WHAT IS IT, you ask? Indoor snowballs. Indoor snowballs, you…
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