@MSAMBERCHANDLER

I'm frugal. Some (my husband) would say I'm cheap. I'd like to argue that I'm easily satisfied, but anyone who knows my obsession with...

If you’ve ever received a card from me, you’ll notice that I often sign it with the closing “Fondly, Amber.” I have adopted this ideal...

It's standardized test time. It's do we or don't we bring students back to in-person school time. It's tax time. It's do we send students...

I'm not a standardized test fan for a whole bunch of reasons, but to suggest that this school year we NEED standardized test to measure...

Monday, I cancelled a meeting. Tuesday, we ordered take-out. Wednesday I worked 11 hours without leaving my school building, barely saw...

I have been sidelined for the last two weeks. I hurt my knee and IT band, and I was instructed to rest and heal. For those of you who...

I've been stuck on the couch for almost a week now with an IT band strain, and it has been a confluence of SO.MUCH.NEWS, boredom, and...

When I first played Super Mario Brothers as an adult, I noticed that there was an amazing new feature. My son, after he'd reached a...

My kids and I were talking and discussing the fact that Covid-time is completely different than "real time." We just passed the 6 month...

As most of you know, my dad is in the hospital. His prognosis is a roller coaster ride, and the fact that our communication with him is...

Starting an entirely new program, in a new building, with teachers I'd never worked with (or met, in some cases), with FRESHMEN, was a...

When I was pregnant with Zoey--14 years ago--I felt incredibly insecure about the type of mom I wanted to be. I read everything I could...

In Buffalo, we recently had a weather "situation" that led to three days in a row off from school. As this "situation" was developing, I...

As a middle school teacher, I look at my adjunct professor role as an opportunity to connect with other adults and help share what I've...

Happy New Year! Yesterday, when my students returned to class I needed to shake things up a bit. We'd grown close during the beginning of...

Last week we got loud. There were hoots, hollers, stomps, claps, and some standing ovations. There were chants of names, and there were...

My favorite book to teach is probably A Prayer for Owen Meany, but given that I no longer have access to AP Lit students on a regular...

This has been an awesome month of school. It is really flying by, and as we do final edits of our Credo essays, I'm already making some...

Room 255 has been trying out jigsaw activities over the last few weeks. First, we used "The Landlady" jigsaw to do a close read, section...

Today we will begin presenting our Credos. This is an awesome day for me because I will fully commit students to memory because I will...