All posts by Lynn Bonsey

Lynn Bonsey

About Lynn Bonsey

Who knew that in my sixties, I’d be simultaneously dealing with adolescent angst, adult children, and elder care? Days, I teach middle level students to read and write. Nights and weekends, I often spend with my father and mother who live in separate facilities in separate towns. My two siblings and I collaborate to ensure our parents’ quality care, which requires patience, vigilance, and constant advocacy. In the midst of all this, I lean on my husband, a retired educator, to keep me sane and happy.

Connecting With Students On A Maine Hiking Trail

A version of the following essay originally appeared in Middle Link, a Maine Association for Middle Level Education publication (Fall 2007, Volume 19 No. 1).  “The Way We Were” might have been a better title for this post, because today, nearly a decade later, my students, colleagues, and I take few field trips, and we […]

An Educator’s Angst About Teaching Politics This Year

Generally, during an election year, my middle-schoolers research candidates, produce political commercials, craft editorials, create newscasts, take part in mock elections, speak on behalf of “their” candidates, conduct polls, build their own political parties and platforms, interview family members about their political views, and pretty much immerse themselves in the entire political process. It’s an […]

Poised For The Latest Standardized Testing Debacle

Over the course of four weeks beginning in late March, Maine students in grades 3-8 will slog through seven plus hours of standardized tests. These reading, writing and math tests will seriously disrupt school schedules, steal valuable instructional time, cause stress and anxiety, and ultimately produce data which is almost meaningless at best, and, at […]

Life Lines

Two weeks ago, the “About Lynn” section of this brand new blog somehow migrated to the Bangor Daily News obituary section. I’m dead serious. When I shared this fatal mistake on Facebook, I got a lot of “likes” and laughs. “This could only happen to you, Lynn,” some said. I’m not sure this could only […]