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A Letter to the West Virginia Department of Education

Wednesday, February 13, 2019 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)

My name is Owen. I am 7 years old and a first grader at Berkeley Heights Elementary School in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Well, I was, but now I’m at a new school. I was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease as a baby and I also have non-verbal autism. I’ve been in the same classroom with kids with like me for two years. I had three teachers: Christina Lester, June Yurish and Kristin Douty. My mom liked that they were always hugging and loving on me. It was a big fa ..

When a School Fails Children with Special Needs

Tuesday, February 12, 2019 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)

Martinsburg, West Virginia is home to Berkeley Heights Elementary School. It serves nearly 800 children (predominantly white) in pre-K through third grade, as well as a classroom for special needs children. Before I go on, can I tell you about the fear that plagues us? Us, the families who belong to those children who landed not so perfectly on this earth. Our kids can’t tell us what’s wrong or tattle when danger lurks and that truth is a mountain that I never stop climbing ..

Not Perfect, But Perfect In Imperfection

Sunday, January 06, 2019 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)

I sit, this morning, in a noisy port. The chill of the morning is unfamiliar after days of warm sun. My family, at least most of them, are asleep. In one hour, we are to have eaten and be off the ship. I never was one for promptness. After four days of nothingness, I am content. No checking email and even bigger for me, no writing. I promised. Promised them, though not aloud, that I would ride the seas in the moments they occurred. And, I did. From my middle son, I ..

We Are Going On A Cruise

Wednesday, January 02, 2019 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)

My name is Amos. These people are rushing around like crazy. Evidently, we are going on a cruise. No one asked me. My mother says I’m like a cat. I’m just covering all the bases. I am perfectly happy in Key Biscayne with my grandparents. My mother said we don’t want to overstay our welcome. You’ve got a crowd, my grandfather said. He loves us, but not all our stuff, especially LEGO’s. I hope I see Mickey Mouse. As long as he doesn’t get too close. Pesky varmint. ..

Friendship Is Built On The Simplest Of Things

Wednesday, January 02, 2019 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)

I’m not the greatest friend in the world. But, boy, do I love those who I call my very own. I don’t tell them often enough, though I have taken to saying,”I love you,” when I get off the phone. If you don’t love a friend, then who do you love? This old wood table is far from home for me, yet friends aren’t always within county lines. Two people that I absolutely adore. I met the one on the left at the beach. We were just a couple moms, toting very small children, an ..

You May Have Seen Him Today

Wednesday, January 02, 2019 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)

You may have seen him today. Or, at least, a rendition of him. The little boy with the funny gait. Loping amidst a crowded beach, impervious to personal space, a stomper of castles and thieve of shovels. You may have seen him today. Or maybe, for you, it was a woman, clinging to the hand of her sister or mother, waiting expectantly for her flight. Or maybe, if like me, it was the young man, a glimpse of my own son in twenty years, who lay on the cool of the tile in the shade ..

Dear NC General Assembly and NC Superintendent Mark Johnson

Tuesday, January 01, 2019 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)

It’s a new year and you’ve got work to do. 1. Work together for NC. I adore a team, but y’all resemble power hungry vultures on a rural eastern NC highway. 2. Bring back Kindergarten. Research clearly shows that play fosters long term academic success, yet you have turned our earliest classrooms into sweat factories. 3. Scrap Read to Achieve. Senator Phil Berger (https://www.facebook.com/SenatorBerger/?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARAt0nq7kSkUQJMW2VL73dNLZZrfZZS56HC42eG6uBc81r ..

New Year's Resolutions

Tuesday, January 01, 2019 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)

Perhaps out of the box, but humor me. 1. Make a list of ten things your heart longs for and expect that they will happen. 2. Go away for a three day weekend with friends, even if it means pulling out a credit card and begging folks to help with your kids. 3. Make yourself call a family member once a month that you don't speak to all that often and at the end of the year, acknowledge the difference it has made. 4. Do NOT vow to lose weight or exercise. Instead, think of ..

This Year

Monday, December 31, 2018 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)

I’m going to put on running shoes and sweat. I’m going to write, every day, and finish my first book. I’m going to start my first book. I’m going to not be in such a damn hurry. I’m going to notice cute naked fannies and not stress about potty training. I’m going to tickle more and yell less. I’m going to call my mom every day and my dad, too. I’m going to spend less than $400 a month on going out to eat/takeaway. I’m going to set the table. I’m going to actually fo ..

Ten Reasons Middle Schoolers Don't Need Social Media

Sunday, December 30, 2018 Adrian H. Wood Comments (0)

1. Social media was not designed for children. A tween's underdeveloped frontal cortex can’t manage the distraction nor the temptations that come with social media use. 2. You can not teach the maturity that social media requires. I hear parents say that they want to teach their child to use social media appropriately, but their midbrains are not developed yet. Like trying to make clothes fit that are way too big, children will use social media inappropriately until they are ol ..

Tales Of An Educated Debutante

on life, loss and the joy that rules the day.

The future is far away and scary, but today is lovely.

A Letter to the West Virginia Department of Education

When a School Fails Children with Special Needs

Not Perfect, But Perfect In Imperfection

We Are Going On A Cruise

Friendship Is Built On The Simplest Of Things

You May Have Seen Him Today

Dear NC General Assembly and NC Superintendent Mark Johnson

New Year's Resolutions

This Year

Ten Reasons Middle Schoolers Don't Need Social Media

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