Emily Serafa Manschot's Page

Last night I was grading papers at the kitchen table, my usual hang-out between 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM almost every night. My husband was in the living room watching a new program called "In The Middle". Suddenly he yelled out "'Milia! Turn on channel 7!" I reached for the remote and turned to the proper channel. Here is this poor little kid, about 10 or 11 years old, discussing his school project with his mother. He just happened to be building an ancient pyramid...out of SUGAR CUBES! I screamed o… Continue

Yesterday, Northville middle school and high school teachers attended a workshop given by Dr. Marcia Tate, of DeKalb County, Georgia, entitles "Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites." As you know teachers are apprehensive of most workshops. I can count the number of workshops that my district has sponsored that have been beneficial on one hand, and in 37 years, that's not a very good batting average. However, this one was very informative and entertaining. Even though I knew most of the material, it d… Continue

Last Friday night I was flipping through channels (as usual) and saw that one of my favorite programs of all times, "Spain...On The Road Again" was in reruns. This program, on PBS, features Mario Batali, the famous Food Network Iron Chef, actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Claudia Bassols (from Barcelona) and Mark Bittman, a food and wine critic from the New York Times. Together they traverse Spain looking for the best in history, culture, and cuisine. They hit almost every autonomous region and eat… Continue

Hi all, well, time to blog about Parent Teacher Conferences again.

I really enjoy meeting my students' parents. I am really fortunate to have good, motivated students. However, the helicopters come out in full force from time to time.

One young lady's mother was especially annoyed that her daughter is not getting an A at this time. She has an 87.5% average, which is a B+. I simply told her mother, "She's a very good student." And she is. I like this girl very much. She can light up the room wi… Continue

It's taken me almost the whole weekend to recover from the MIWLA Conference 2009. I slept until 9:10 AM on Saturday and 9:15 AM today. I also took a long nap both afternoons.

I drove from Northville to Lansing on Wednesday night. Flora, Daryl and I had dinner at Nuevo Vallarta, which is in walking distance from the Causeway Bay Hotel, formerly the Holiday Inn South. The food was decent--I had chiles rellenos, and though they were a bit greasy, I liked them. The service was friendly and speedy.… Continue