Author Archives: Bob Welbaum

One Day in Dance Class

Being a substitute teacher has given me the chance to see how others teach.  One of my favorite memories was escorting a special-needs student to his dance class.  He was taking dance as an enrichment and they were working him into one of their routines.  Of course, he really stood out in a room full

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New Word Alert

In a earlier post, I had asked if English had enough words.  This week I found a new word that has been newly invented.  What do you call people who are more than friends?   How about framily?  That’s combining friends and family. I found this in the April 2015 issue of Runner’s World magazine

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A Double Definition of Courage

Have you ever heard of Juli Windsor?  She finished her first Boston Marathon in 2014.  And she’s three feet nine inches tall. She and a friend a little bit taller, John Young, were in the in the 2013 Boston Marathon.  You know, the year of the bombing, and they were halted a half mile short

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How High School Has Changed

Today I got another reminder of how high school has changed since I was a student. This morning some students came into my classroom selling the school’s news magazine. I had a couple extra dollars, so I bought one. The cover story is “Let’s Talk About Sex.” Other major articles are “Being Gay in High

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What Not To Do With Ice Cream

One benefit of substitute teaching is I can follow students throughout their academic careers.  I saw a young lady with anger-management issues successfully complete high school. Students I first met as fifth graders are now finishing eighth grade.  It’s a very rewarding feeling.  On the other hand… I especially remember one young man I worked

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I Wonder What It’s Like to be Rich

I see Forbes magazine has published its billionaires list again.  http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/ What would it be like to have that much money?  I have no idea myself.  But twice in my life I’ve gotten a glimpse of wealthy lifestyles.  It’s like some careless person has left the door ajar, and I got to peek inside. The first

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