Author Archives: mrdeanjulius

We forget, especially when we are deep in the weeds of the school year and our work and our lives, how important it is to simply have fun. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry says in The Little Prince, “All grown-ups were once children … but only a few of them remember it.” And I think thisContinue reading “The Importance of Fun”

Authored by Dean Julius Now that we’re at the end of this series of gratitude blogs, I think it would be nice to take a moment to reflect. The thing that I’ve loved most about this Attitudes of Gratitude blog series is that it has been a constant, monthly, reminder to me to find joyContinue reading “8th Grade Attitudes of Gratitude”

Authored by Dean Julius – from Roadside Lights by Eiji Ohashi There is roughly one vending machine for every 25 people in Japan, the highest number of vending machines per capita in the world. It’s an often popularized factoid about the island nation, especially for Westerners. Just take a moment to think about what moreContinue reading “Breaking the Education Vending Machine”

Authored by Dean Julius (and various 7th graders) If the past two years have taught me anything, it’s that teaching was never easy, and a global pandemic only served to make the challenges of this career even more daunting. Trying to make deep, meaningful connections with twelve & thirteen-year-olds behind the veil of a ZoomContinue reading “7th Grade Attitudes of Gratitude”

Since I began working at St. Andrew’s, I have kept a string of cards running across the windows of my classroom. Something over twenty feet of cards. Each card is from a student or colleague, and is a catalogue of gratitude over the course of the four years that I’ve been a teacher here. ItContinue reading “6th Grade Attitudes of Gratitude”

Something I have always appreciated—and continue to hold dear about St. Andrew’s—is how much my colleagues and the students show gratitude and support for one another in various ways, from observing and learning from one another’s teaching, to little comments students make to show their appreciation for those who teach them.  To highlight these littleContinue reading “5th Grade Attitudes of Gratitude”

Sometimes, in the thick of things, we have to come up with innovative ideas to get students wrapped up in the lessons we teach or the books we’re reading. And as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, and coincidentally, invention and innovation both begin with the letter I and they’re synonymous, accordingContinue reading “Collaboration & Innovation with Mrs. King”

One of this year’s goals at St. Andrew’s is to continue engendering a collegial spirit of watching one another teach, taking what we observe, and stealing those ideas. After all, Picasso famously said, “good artists borrow, great artists steal.” And in the spirit of great artists stealing, Mr. Goldsbury’s 7th grade science class put toContinue reading “Hunting for Plants: Mr. Goldsbury’s Dichotomous Key Scavenger Hunt”

This year I asked my 7th grade students to read Gene Luen Yang’s wonderful graphic novel American Born Chinese, but I also asked them to finish the unit by writing their own graphic story. I’ve struggled in the past with implementing project-based learning curricula in my classroom, so I was excited to give it anotherContinue reading “Illustrating Self: Middle Schoolers Finding Identity in Graphic Novels”