J is for Just One More Thing

If you ask me, any assessment should be low stakes because, like Heisenberg famously asserted, you change anything by trying to measure it. That principle is especially true when it comes to middle school standardized tests. We make such a big fuss over them that it seems to hard to believe they could possibly be an accurate measure.

Oh, we are always motivated by good intentions; the tests have become so important, that we just want our students to do the very best they can. And so we give them boot camps, review sessions, and pep talks in the weeks leading up to the test, and then on the day of there are wristbands, pencils, bookmarks, and a free breakfast for everyone.

So today, after all that, when we finally sat down to actually start the test, one student raised his hand. "Do we get mints?" he wanted to know.

The answer was actually yes; I was saving them for a little later, but I really couldn't help myself when I replied, "Oh my gosh! Is this the SOL or an all you can eat buffet??"

The group laughed, and I gave them their Wint-o-green Lifesavers before starting my script, Today you are taking the sixth grade reading SOL... and crossing my fingers that they would all pass.

Life Lesson: "An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject, and how to avoid them." ~Werner Heisenberg

K is for Keep this in Mind

It's personal profile time in my little corner of the sixth grade world, and that means students are conducting (and giving) interviews so that each can write a 500 word journalism piece, with a specific focus and theme, about another member of our class. In sections where there are an odd number of students, for the sake of logistics, I get to participate, too.

So, this morning I was being interviewed by a fledgling reporter who asked me what I considered my greatest strength to be. I was stumped by the question.

One of the reasons I value being an active part of the project is that it allows me to model what I want my students to achieve, but the bigger pay-off is that it puts me in their shoes. "Um, I guess, I'm curious?" I answered. But then I recovered, delivering some good evidence as to how and why such a description fits me. Even so, it's hard to be interviewed!

Later I thought about that conversation when I looked at the recipe for gambas al ajillo that I wanted to make for dinner. Take 20 cloves of garlic... it started. That seemed like a lot to me, but I wanted to prepare the recipe according to direction before I made too many changes. Peeling that much garlic though? That would be a pain!

Fortunately, I remembered reading about a clever way to peel garlic which involved putting the cloves in a container and shaking them vigorously until the papery skin fell away. I grabbed a jar, dropped my 20 cloves inside, screwed on the lid, and proceeded to swing that baby up and down until every little piece of garlic was stripped naked. It only took about 10 seconds.

Wow! I thought. I should have said my greatest strength is that I have a good memory!

Life Lesson: "Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality." ~Susan Sontag

L is for It's a Little Late

When I was in graduate school, my Shakespeare professor told us a story the week before our first exam.

A young woman who was failing a class made an appointment to speak to her instructor. "I really need to pass this course," she said, "and I'll do anything to make it happen."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Anything?" he asked.

"Anything," she repeated.

"Then STUDY, damn it!" he told her.

In sixth grade the more common inquiry at report card time is "Why is my grade so low?" and when you tell the student it's because a few things are missing, the next question is always, "Can I do extra credit to bring it up?"

Extra credit!

How about regular credit?!

Just do the work, kids, and we'll go from there.

Life Lesson: “Forever is composed of nows.” ~Emily Dickinson

M is for Man I'm Tired!

It was a whirlwind weekend! We busted out of school at 2:30 on Thursday headed for the airport and a flight to Atlanta to surprise my little sister for her big birthday. Fate was not on our side, however, and after several gate changes and an hour of sitting on the plane at the gate, our flight was canceled and we were scrambling.

There was no way we would make it there that night, but I was happy that my mom and my brother were both able to deliver their surprises, and when my sister jokingly texted me "Are you on the front porch?" she had no idea how true my answer was.

"I wish!"

We did make it early the next afternoon, and it was a fun surprise. Two of her oldest friends were flying in as well, and so the eleven of us celebrated my sister and made merry late into the night all weekend long. It seemed much too soon when the alarm rang this morning and we packed and piled into the rental car at 9 AM, happy to have been there, but sad to be leaving.

In an earlier post this month, I mentioned a rule we have around here, which is that you're never allowed to say I am sick. There's another one kind of like it: No naps! In general, I just think that when you are tired in the middle of the day, it's better to get moving and try to make it to an early bedtime.

I tried to follow my own rule today; we went grocery shopping and came home to walk the dog before dinner, but that couch just looked so inviting! I had to lie down for a quick minute. An hour later? I finally forced myself up and into the kitchen to put the groceries away, but you know what?

I felt much better! Maybe naps aren't all bad after all!

Life Lesson: "It is better to be only sometimes right, than at all times wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them.” ~Abraham Lincoln

N is for Noticing

We spent part of our morning geocaching. For those who are unfamiliar, Wikipedia defines Geocaching as follows:

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world.

A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook (with a pen or pencil). The geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. After signing the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (Tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain items for trading, such as toys or trinkets.

So basically it's a world-wide treasure hunt, and you might be surprised to discover that there are probably several geocaches within easy traveling distance of your present location. Just go to the website and look. Finding the troves can be challenging; they are usually hidden very cleverly and the rules of the game call for you to be stealthy in your hunt.

My older nephews and I have spent many a fun afternoon chasing down a cache or two or five, and they were always very good at ferreting them out, although we have been stumped on several occasions. Today it was my niece Annabelle who was our lead searcher, and she turned out to be the best spotter yet-- she located both of our quarries in under a minute. That's impressive, but when I told her mom, my sister said, "I'm not surprised. She notices everything!"

Life Lesson: "Between those who notice such things and those who don't, I prefer those who do.” ~Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose

O is for One Hundred Twenty Water Balloons

While shopping for writing challenge prizes the other day I came across an ingenious product. Forty balloons banded to plastic straws which are in turn attached to a hose connector. The whole shebang screws right onto the spigot, and, with three to a package, in no time flat you have yourself over 100 water bombs.

How could I resist such a purchase, especially knowing that I would be spending the weekend with my niece and nephew in Atlanta? It was nearly 80 degrees and sunny here this afternoon when we decided to give the battle balloons a whirl, and they did not disappoint. Richard, Annabelle, my brother Bill, and I had all the ammunition we needed to thoroughly drench each other in an awesom water war.  

"You can't imagine what a luxury it was to have so many water balloons!" I told a friend tonight at dinner.

She laughed. "You're right, I can't!" 

Life Lesson: “It's never too late to have a happy childhood.” ~Tom Robbins

P is for Police Week

I learned recently that anytime you see police activity in our community, a simple tweet to the police department will get you an explanation, via Twitter, in less than an hour. I like that. It seems like an excellent customer service attitude, because frankly, a lot of cop cars in your neighborhood can be rather alarming.

That said, I've only used the service twice, and both times were for police escorts. It was clear to me that something pretty fancy was going down, and I wanted to know what it was. The first time, it was for a luncheon for medal of honor recipients at a hotel near my house. That's kind of cool.

Today traffic was stopped on the on-ramp to a busy interstate right around rush hour while at least 30 motorcycle cops rode by in two-by-two formation, lights flashing, but sirens off. "What was the motorcade on 395 North just now?" I tweeted to @ArlingtonVaPD.

A few minutes later I got a reply. "It was for National Police Week."

Interesting! And good to know. "Happy National Police Week!" I tweeted back. "Thank you for your service."

Life Lesson: "The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge." ~Thomas Berger

Q is for Quizizz

This year I have created a bunch of review materials for our state standardized tests and put them in the form of "Quizizz" a Google-friendly app that allows students to compete against each other in a game-like environment. The teacher gets data as well, both at the question and the student level. Besides being high-interest, another benefit is that kids can access it independently, and so it fits in with a workshop approach where everyone is working at individual speeds and levels.

As a result, reviewing for the test is integrated into our class, but it is not the focus, and we can move on with other projects. Which we have. But when I told students today that they would be conducting the first interviews for their personal profile pieces on Tuesday, a very conscientious student raised her hand. "But wait! Isn't the SOL on Wednesday?" 

And when I nodded, she continued, "Shouldn't we be reviewing?!?"

I get what she's saying, but I shook my head and laughed. "If you don't know it by then," I told her, "one more class period of review won't help."

"I better do those Quizizz!" she said.

That's what they're there for!

Life Lesson: “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today." ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

R is for Record Breaker

I heard today that we are in record setting territory when it comes to measurable rain. As of this morning, in our area there have been 13 straight days of .01 inches or more of rain, which shatters the old record of ten, set in 1938.

I don't know about that, but I do know it has been a gray stretch of days going back at least a couple of weeks. Usually the weather doesn't bother me; a little hot, a little cold, some snow, rain, humidity, whatever-- it is what it is and will probably change soon. But that's the key, right? I like the contrast.

Think about it-- whatever your perfect weather might be, it is only perfect because you don't have it all the time. Like yin and yang, darkness and light, good weather and bad are necessarily defined by each other.

Life Lesson: “Too much of anything could destroy you, Simon thought. Too much darkness could kill, but too much light could blind.” ~Cassandra Clare, City of Lost Souls

S is for Same Book as Last Time

In my reading class we play a little game on Fridays where students have time to read the book of their choice and then write three clues about it. Afterwards hey have five minutes to interview as many other students about the books they are reading. Then we have a contest where the clues are read and a student's name is drawn at random. Will he or she be able to identify the book, or will he or she be forced to confess, as one student did so frequently last year that it has become a trademark of the game, "My mind is a blank!"

Winners get candy; there is also incentive to pay close attention because, time-permitting, we go through the clues again, and anyone who doesn't get called will get a chance in the second round. It's a fun way to have the students identify three important traits of their books and to do book talks.

I always throw a card with my current book as well, but the last couple of months have been a little predictable in that respect. I have come up with a slew of clues about Alexander Hamilton, and used my new found knowledge as a springboard for several short conversations, but this afternoon I reached the part in the many hundred paged text where Hamilton accepted Aaron Burr's challenge to a duel of honor, was mortally wounded, and died.

At Burr's shot, I clapped my forehead in sorrow and a little self-contempt. Why did I spend so much time with this guy when I knew what he was going to do? I wondered. And what am I going to listen to next? Because even though I didn't like the ending? I would definitely do it all again.

Life Lesson: "A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous." ~Alexander Hamilton

T is for There are Two Ways to Look at Anything

Even though the torrential rain and unseasonably chilly temperatures over the last couple of weeks kept me from working in my garden, today when I finally got out there in those seventy perfectly sunny degrees, because the ground was still so damp, the weeds slipped free like children from their jackets on a warm day.

In less than two hours, 6 bags were filled, the plot was cleared, and we were heading home with the sunroof open and the radio blasting, and all because of the rain!

Life Lesson:  “Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.” ~Helen Keller

U is for Under the Weather

In my house, there are three words that you are never allowed to say, and they are:

I

Am

Sick.

Why? Well, it's because I believe in the power of words, and I don't think anyone should use the verb "to be" for anything other than the best part of themselves. I am a teacher? Yes! I am a wife, daughter, sister, aunt? You betcha. But even if I lose, I'm not a loser, and if I feel tired or bored, there's more to me than just being tired or bored. 

And so when we have a little scratch in our throats, or a stomach ache, or anything else, around here we don't define ourselves by that, we simply describe our symptoms, say something like, I don't feel good, and look forward to a better day tomorrow.

Life Lesson: “You gwyne to have considerable trouble in yo' life, en considerable joy. Sometimes you gwyne to git hurt, en sometimes you gwyne to git sick; but every time you's gwyne to git well agin.”~Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

V is for Vth Grade

One of the poetry challenges last month was to write six stanzas in the style of Wallace Stevens' poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. Every student who tried it did a terrific job-- it was some of the most imaginative and descriptive poetry of the month. One part of the directions was a little confusing to some, however. "Excuse me, Ms. S." one student said quietly. "I don't really get Roman numerals." He was referring to the way Stevens numbers his stanzas of course.

I learned Roman numerals a long time ago in 5th grade. The basics seemed easy enough. I equaled 1, and then it was hash marks until four. The word 'five' has a 'V' in it, four is one before five, and six is one after five, and so on. Ten and X? There was no trick to help with that, but once you knew it, you were fine.

I would have been totally lost when it came to the bigger numbers if my teacher hadn't taught us a phrase to remember them by: Little Cats Drink Milk. 'L' is 50, 'C' 100, 'D' 500, and 'M' is 1000. With that knowledge, I could write or decipher any Roman numeral you gave me. (It also helped that they always showed the copyright date at the end of movies and TV shows in Roman numerals.)

Once I showed that student the pattern, he too, was able to do it without any problem, and he was free to write a great poem.

Life Lesson: "I do not know which to prefer,/ The beauty of inflections/ Or the beauty of innuendoes" ~Wallace Stevens

W is for What if?

If there's one thing that drives any writing teacher crazy, it's when you give the students a prompt to write about, such as write about a time you were afraid, or write about someone you admire, or write about an unforgettable moment, and inevitably someone raises a hand and asks, "What if I never had that happen?"

Really? Really?

If students can't answer a question on a math assignment, do they need to ask what will happen? They'll get that one wrong. If they can't write about an atom or an amendment to the constitution in science or social studies, then their grade will be lower on that assignment. So why do we think that writing about our experiences is any different?

Part of being an effective writer is being able to find something to write about. Is it hard? Yep.  But as a teacher, I will never excuse a student from trying. (I will help, though!)

Life Lesson: "This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It's that easy, and that hard." ~Neil Gaiman

X is for eX-tra Sensory Perception (and X-ray)

The first x-ray I ever had was in 7th grade. The date was Friday, January 3, a day that I strongly believed that

I.

should.

not.

be.

in school.

And yet, there I was on the second day of a two-day school week, RIGHT AFTER WINTER BREAK!'

"Why can't they just give us two more days, which would be four more days, of vacation?" I asked my mother on New Year's Day. 

"You have to go back sometime," she said, "why not tomorrow?"

"Because it's dumb!" I answered. "I really don't want to go!"

The whole conversation was silly, because I really did like school-- I guess I just liked vacation better. That night I had a dream that I broke my arm. When I told my mother, she said I still had to go to school.

As far as I remember, the first day back was fine, but on the second day, we were playing Steal the Bacon Basketball in PE and when my number was called, instead of grabbing the ball, dribbling down the court, and scoring before my opponent, I fell in front of everybody and took the walk of shame back to the line after the other kid made the basket.

It was then I noticed how strange my arm looked, U-shaped, almost like the pipe under the sink, and how much it hurt, too. When I showed my gym teacher his eyes grew wide and he looked like he might barf.

"Let's get you to the nurse!" he said.

A couple of hours later I was getting that x-ray, and soon after, a cast all the way past my elbow.

"I told you I shouldn't go to school this week!" I told my mom.

Life Lesson: “Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing.” ~Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

Y is for Yellow

When I was little my favorite color was yellow, and even today, if you ask me what color I prefer, I'll say yellow, but I'm not sure how true that is anymore. For example I rarely wear anything yellow, and although my very first car was a yellow Volkswagen Rabbit, I would never buy a yellow car now. It's true that some walls in my house are yellow, but we chose that because it was light and it went with the brown, green, and red of our furniture.

Why do people even have favorite colors, anyway? A quick Google search will give you a couple of psychology articles and some even more fun personality tests along the lines of What does your favorite color tell about you? I looked at yellow, of course, and found that those who prefer it (statistically less than 5% of the population) are happy idealists who are underestimated far too often."People who love yellow sometimes come off as whacky or aloof, but that's just because the moody folks are straight-up jealous."

Maybe that's me, but just to be sure, I looked at some of the other colors I like. Blue folks are calm and cool like the ocean, green overvalue money (but why not nature?), and those who favor black are moody and sophisticated. And in case you are interested? Red is bold, orange is a drama queen, purple is mystical, gray can't decide, pink is naive, white is innocent (what else?), and brown is simple and comfortable.

They all sound pretty reasonable... now I know why I don't have a favorite color!

Life Lesson: "Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud." ~Maya Angelou

Z is for Zucchini, Spiralized!

It is May, and that means it is time for the annual Alphabiography Challenge in my 6th grade English class. (If you're not sure what that means, then click on the label at the end of this post for some illumination!)

When I decided to participate along with the kids this year, I was going to go in alphabetical order, but that was before I got my nifty new gadget in the mail today. Now it seems like a no-brainer to do the challenge in reverse!

Spiralized vegetables are definitely enjoying a moment; they are a lighter alternative to pasta, and frankly pretty delicious. So, after paying upwards of ten bucks for a tray of some fancy-julienned squash, I calculated that I could get my money back in six weeks were I to purchase my own device. That decision made? I ordered it with free one-day shipping and bought some zucchini in anticipation.

Arriving home from school, I dropped my book and lunch bags and grabbed a pair of scissors to slice open the brown box awaiting me. I wasn't in the house ten minutes before a bountiful bowl of long green curls sat upon my counter. Not long after, a lovely sauce of fresh tomatoes, olives, and basil accompanied them, and shortly, dinner will be served.

Life Lesson: "Sometimes a tool may have other uses that you don't know. Sometimes in doing what you intend, you also do what the knife intends, without knowing.” ~Philip Pullman

Goldilocks and the Promise of Spring

What a cold, gray weekend we have had here! And yet, last night when we emerged from the theater at 7:45, there was still a lot of light outside, filtered through the rain clouds though it was.

And today turned out to be just the day to repot the tiny pepper sprouts that have been growing in our bathroom. I put them out on the deck in a little make-shift greenhouse where they joined the newly-planted hanging baskets and the other seedlings we purchased at the Veggiemania sale up at our local nursery.

Contrary to suffering from transplant shock, all the plants seemed quite pleased with their new digs and the soft weather, which was neither too sunny, nor too cold, nor too dry for them.

Dare I say it?

It was just right.

The Nicest Kids in Town

We're going to see our middle school musical tonight. Ordinarily, the preview performance that we see at school is enough for me, but as I asked my brother when trying to convince him to come along despite his aversion to any musical, let alone a middle school production of Hairspray, Jr, How can you resist a show set in June 1962 with a main character named Tracey?

Yeah, he's going.

(But maybe it's because his wife did the sets, too, and we're going out to dinner after.)

Flashback Friday

I receive a weekly beer newsletter from a local specialty store, and when I read the bulletin yesterday about a cucumber ale aged in gin barrels, I thought of my friend Mary. This limited edition beverage was arriving today and was first come, first serve, so knowing I would be in a meeting with her this afternoon, I set a reminder on my watch.

And that's how I found myself ditching school to go buy beer on a Friday afternoon.

I forgot how much fun that can be! (Next time, I might even drink some, too.)

Not E Boy

Oh the joys of teaching sixth grade in the spring!

My students were busy brainstorming their ideas for the Alphabiography challenge that starts on May 1 when the following conversation was heard throughout the room:

Student 1: I have everything but E. I need an idea for E.

Student 2: How about 'orgasm'? (Laughs lecherously)

Student 1: (Confused) What?

Student 2: Orgasm! Heh, heh, heh. Orgasm! Orgasm!

Student 1: That... doesn't... start... with E.

Me: May I speak to you in the hallway, [student 1]?

As Easy as 1-2-3

This time of year is very busy at school. There are all sorts of competing tests, activities, and assemblies that teachers have to plan around, and so it is that by necessity I have to introduce the writing challenge for May tomorrow, even though there are still three days left in the poetry challenge.

Ideally, the writing assignment for any given day allows students to practice and apply what they are learning in class, and so I was faced with a bit of a conundrum as I sat at my desk this afternoon finalizing the particulars of my lesson for tomorrow. What kind of poem would go with alphabiography planning?

And then? Inspiration struck! In one of those where did that idea even come from? moments it occurred to me that there was at least one poem I could recall that was in alphabetical order-- The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey is a macabre recitation of how 26 children meet their untimely ends. My students will love it!

And so I googled the poem, which is actually a book illustrated with Gorey's signature pen and ink drawings, to find the text. One description of the work called it an "abecedarian" (pronounced ay-bee-ce-day-ree-an), and it was there I paused. A what?

Exactly! And voila! The Abecedarian Poetry challenge is born!

Wrap it in a Poem

My students recently took a practice test for our state's standardized exam which revealed that they needed a little refresher in identifying organizational patterns, which are also known as text structures. The most common of these? Chronological, compare and contrast, cause and effect, description, problem/solution, and sequence or process.

I like to plan such lessons from both a receptive and productive approach, so I explained to them why knowing about these patterns was important both as a reader and a writer, and I gave them a handy reference sheet with all the signal words they might need; for example cause and effect writing relies heavily on since, because, this led to, on account of, due to, for this reason, consequently, etc.

But, hey! It's poetry month, people! So to give them practice using transition words, I created a new challenge for the day... the Process Poem!

Process writing describes a series of steps or events. A coherent process description requires a clear purpose or unifying idea (thesis). There are two basic types of process writing: directions (how to do something) and information (how something works).Process writing uses a specific signal words such as:

first,
second,
then,
last,
before,
until,
after that,
now,
soon,
at the same time,
by then,
following,
finally

Today's challenge: Write a fanciful "How to" poem of at least 6-10 lines. Use the transition words to help you, but be creative and add figurative language!

Here's an example:

How to Make the Perfect Sunday 

by Ms. S 

First take a scoop of a Friday fun,

then add a second scoop of Saturday swirl. 

Next smother it in warm sunshine, 

followed by sweet whipped dreams,

and after that rainbow sprinkles.

Lastly, don't forget the cheerful on top!

Finally-- enjoy!

"Hey!" one student raised her hand when I shared the example. "Sunday and sundae? I see what you did there!"

But, did she though? Did she really?

Swag

Many of my students this year are enjoying the Hundred Day Writing Challenge, but there is one guy who has definitely embraced it. He has posted every day without fail, and his writing is quirky, funny, and engaging.

When we did the first round of prizes for the month of March, he won a pair of aviator sunglasses and they have been the star of nearly every poem he has written this month starting with his haiku:

I got sun glasses
They are so swag-o-lishis
They give me such swag

and continuing on through simile:

My sunglasses are as swag as a Ferrari
hyperbole, my swag sunglasses keep the world spinning
credo poems, And I believe that no one has ever won as cool sunglasses as I have

and the tribute to his birthday month:

Smell of flowers in the air.
Wearing swag sunglasses.
That is what it is like in June.

his praise poem refrain:

swag is in his blood

of course his six ways of looking poem:

I
On my dresser
I saw my swag glasses
The glass reflected my books in the background
The glasses stared at my books

his ode to Earth:

but best of all, without you there would be no such thing as swag sunglasses!

his ode to Mars:

You fill us with wonder and questions,
is there life? Is there water? Are there swag sunglasses?

and finally in his Shakespearean sonnet:

My sunglasses are so extremely swag,
They are the coolest things on the planet.
Sorry, but you can't have them, so don't nag.
Their rim is the same colour as granite.
I do really love my swag sunglasses.
They really are so, so very awesome.
They make me look sweeter than mallasses.
They look as cool as an awesome possum.
They are very much the best things ever.
I really like to wear them all the time.
Also they are as light as a feather.
I won't sell them for a knickel or dime.
My sunglasses are so very epic
and they belong to me, not Joe or rick.

I look forward to reading his post every day, and he reminds me why I do this activity.

Thanks, Marshall!

Sunday No Funday

We went out to run a few errands today and ended up shopping in

five!
different!
stores!

That's too many.

Uh Odes!

I spent a bit of my morning reading over and commenting on the odes that my students wrote yesterday in celebration of Earth Day. In general, I would say the opportunity to go outside for inspiration and details paid off-- their odes were sweet and concrete.  When it came to conclusions, though, there were a few challenges. See if you can tell what I mean:

O'Earth thank you for all you have done to the animals--
have a great day!

or

Even though you are insignificant
in the cosmic scheme,
we will always love you

or

O' little blue marble,
what would I do without you!

or

you are glorious
and glamorous
and yet
we still destroy you.
Oh Earth.

or

oh earth I will never forget your gifts that you share with us
thank you and happy birthday.

or

As we run, walk, and jog,
you are the birthplace
and home to thousands of people.

or

thx for being a
wonderful planet

and my personal favorite:

I feel the air is pushing me back and forth
O earth what would the world be without you?

Happy Earth Day to You

Last weekend when the girls were here, they both told me separately how proud they were of their long-distance running parents. "What about you and your sister?" I asked the oldest. "Do you guys do anything like that?"

"Oh, no," she told me, "we're more inside people."

I thought of that conversation today when I told my students that in honor of Earth Day we would spend part of our class outside gathering details for the odes we would write to our home planet when we came back in. Do we have to? sighed at least one student in every class.

Then there was the litany of concerns:

I have allergies. 
I need sunscreen. 
I'm afraid of bugs. 
It's too cold. 
Isn't it going to rain? 

"Guys!" I snapped them back. "We're only going to be out there for 10 minutes, 15 tops!" And off we went to explore the back field of our school where we found:

maple seed helicopters (that you can also stick on your nose)
buttercups (which many were unaware could show if you like butter)
dandelion seeds to send flying
redbud blossoms to sample
cedar foliage to feel
clover to search for lucky four-leafs
breezes to refresh us
mulch to pinch our noses at
smooth crape myrtle trunks to admire (it looks like mango! someone noted.)
holly leaves to beware of
pink dogwood flowers to commend
anthills to architecturally acclaim
crabgrass to metaphorically contemplate
and lots of
birds
and squirrels
and trees
and people

And when we came back inside each group was absolutely silent as they composed their odes to our home.

Royals

How strange that on the day that the longest reigning monarch of England, Queen Elizabeth II, turned 90, the artist once and for all known as Prince passed away.

One who was forced to grow up so early has grown so old, and the other who seemed somehow forever young will never truly grow old.

What a world.

Cause for Celebration

The day before National Poem-in-your-Pocket-Day is a busy one in my classroom. Students browse through thousands of poems in over a hundred poetry collections to find the perfect opus to carry with them the next day. They are also welcome to revisit all the great writing they have posted to our online poetry challenge and select an original work.

For some reason, these sixth graders were more excited and engaged than any other group I've ever shared the activity with. Can we have more than one? Can we trade with our friends? Can I pick something another student has posted?

The answers were, Yes. Yes! and YES! 

"It's like any holiday," I joked with them, "you can celebrate it any way you like!"

Yay! they cheered.

When I told my friend and fellow English teacher Mary about it? She said, "Look at you, creating a community of writers!"

Yes! Yes! and Thank you, Mary!

Kids These Days

Yesterday, I was recounting a bit of misconduct on the part of a particular student who happens to have Down's Syndrome, on our recent all-school field trip to a colleague who wasn't there.

"He just grabbed the map and speed-walked away into the crowd! So when I caught up with him, I grabbed his lunch box strap to make him stop, and then he tried to yank it away from me, telling me to let go or else! And the next thing I know we're standing in the middle of the convention center completely surrounded by thousands of kids from all over the area, and he's yelling that he doesn't want to fight me."

"Wow," she said only half-joking, "You're lucky nobody was filming you with their phones. That could have gone viral!"

Plane Food

While researching today's post, which was going to be about how addictive those Tasty food prep videos on BuzzFeed are, I stumbled upon a list of anti-glam food sites, and it was there that I was introduced to inflightfeed on Instagram.

Yes, it is all photos of airplane food! As current as the pictures are, there is a bit of nostalgia to the site for me as well, since here in the US, we don't have meals served to us on airplanes anymore. Speaking as a former air line cook, I recognize how that state of affairs may give us all one less thing to complain about, but it's still al ittle sad.

Don't worry, though, it seems that we just shipped all those tiny dishes overseas, because all the shots on inflightfeed are from Air India, Malaysia Air, Lufthansa, KLM, Azores Air, etc, en route to and from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Oslo, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Lisbon, and other such destinations.

And, while it doesn't look like the food has improved much in the last 25 years?  I sure would like to travel on a few of those flights.

Spring Run

Despite the fact that most cherry blossoms have been long gone these last two weeks, the unpredictability of nature had the Cherry Blossom Festival on the calendar for this weekend. Many, many tourists had booked their trips in advance, and as it was impossible to get anywhere near the Tidal Basin either yesterday or today, we redirected our dog walking to Roosevelt Island on Saturday and then Hains Point today.

To be kind, East Potomac Park is a real fixer-upper with plenty of potential and lots of location, location, location. That said, this place, which actually houses the National Capital Region Headquarters of the Park Service, is a dismaying mess of flooded and rotting sidewalks, flotsam-and-jetsam-littered green space, and breathtaking views. Even so, it is still a popular destination for city families and fisherman, and us, today.

We started our walk around the peninsula on the northern side across from the golf course club house. Sunshine, a nice breeze, and an unbeatable view of the waterfront across the Potomac Channel made it almost possible to ignore the trash and gaping holes in the walk way. Several folks greeted us as we walked, and as we went on, we noticed many people looking over the railing into the choppy water below. Pausing to see what all the fuss was, we were amazed by a ribbon of large silver fish swimming along the side. Hundreds flashed by in both directions on what seemed to be a super highway for fish.

"What are they?" a woman ahead of us asked a fisherman nearby.

"Herring," he told her. "They run every spring like this. They live in the ocean but return to the Potomac to spawn."

We watched in awe for more than a moment as an endless stream of Alewife and Blue River Herring darted below us, and as we continued around the point, it was impossible not to stop and check to see if they were still there.

They were, every time.

Unaccompanied Adult

There was a time, that doesn't seem that long ago, when we had seen all the latest kid movies, but these days it's increasingly rare. On my Oscar ballot this year, animated feature ranked right down there with foreign language and documentary feature as the category with the fewest movies I'd actually seen.

So when we asked our god-daughters what they wanted to do this weekend, I was really happy when seeing Zootopia was at the top of their list. And honestly? The Disney flick did not disappoint. Nor did the previews-- I'm definitely seeing Finding Dory when it opens in June, even if I don't have a kid to take me!

Tough All Over

Our sixth grade god-daughter is in town from New Jersey for the weekend, and she and I have spent the last few hours commiserating about school. "I use to like school before they made us get up so early!" she said.

"Tell me about it!" I answered.

"When we ask to go to the bathroom our math teacher always sighs and says, Is now really the best time?" she told me at dinner. 

"I know, but look at it from her point of view," I said. "A kid goes to the bathroom and then comes back and says, What are we doing? I was in the bathroom."

She laughed. "Well whose fault is that?" she admitted, and so we went on. 

And to be honest? It's been helpful and refreshing to hear the student side of the kind of sixth grade drama that seems to be fairly universal.

Slowhand

"So did you practice a lot of ukulele the last couple of weeks?" my instructor inquired this evening.

"Uh. No," I confessed. " I haven't even picked my ukulele up in at least a week."

"Busy, eh?" he shrugged. "What? Do you have a full time job or something?"

He laughed. I felt better.

"Why don't we do a little rockin' out?" he suggested. "This song has two chords and then it uses the blues scale."

I expected him to pull out some sheet music, but he didn't. Instead he demonstrated, bar by bar, and then had me try it. He was right-- it wasn't too hard.

"I'm going to play the chords," he said, "and you just go ahead and play the scales up and down, any way you want."

I did what he said: I listened to the music and just tried to keep up, jamming along. It sounded pretty good! And I was smiling a couple of minutes later when we stopped.

"That was a nice solo!" he told me, "Just like Clapton!"

I laughed as he pulled out the sheet music so that we could keep working on The Sunshine of Your Love. "This is so much fun, I don't think I'll practice next week either!"

More than Enough

In a week where consistent frustration at work has led me to question both human nature and our culture at large, a welcome commercial transaction today:

Shout out to chewy.com, a web-based pet supply company from whom I ordered several items a couple weeks ago! Most of the stuff was great, but a couple things just did not work for us. When I went online to return the too-small collar and tiny food bowl I was irritated at first that there was no simple return form. And so it was in foul humor that I clicked the "Chat Now" button.

A few minutes later I had copied and pasted the items and order number into the dialog window and was busy grading papers when  customer service replied to me.

We will refund you the full amount right away, but there is no need to return the items to us. We hope you will find an animal shelter or other organization who will give your items to animals who need them. Is there anything else I can help you with today?

For goodness' sake, no! 

What He Could Do

Today I gave my students a poetry challenge based on Naomi Shihab Nye's poem, Famous. After reading, I asked them to come up with their own examples of fame and also to tell what they wish to be famous for.

On the surface? We were reviewing what a stanza was, but I hoped for a little bit more, and I was not disappointed. Here's a great example:

The run down hut
is famous to it's family.

I want to be famous in the way a parent is,
to his children.
Not because he did something
out of the ordinary,
but because
he pushed on,
through fights and work,
still keeping responsibility
for his children's happiness,
and because,
he never
gave up.

~Anuj

Yo-yo

With exactly 20 days left in the April writing challenge and 20 days required to win a prize, I casually pulled out a big gun today. As my students checked their reading logs and reviewed for the word parts quiz I circulated through the room flicking my wrist to deploy and retrieve my blue Duncan butterfly. Here and there I let it sleep at the end of its string before calling it into the safety of my palm; a couple of times I flipped it around the world, and once or twice I even tried to walk the dog. For a brief moment I was back in sixth grade myself: it was 1973 and, just like all the other kids,  I had a classic yellow and red butterfly threaded around my finger.

"You have a yo-yo?" my students exclaimed.

"Oh yeah," I shrugged. "Don't you?"

"No!" they answered, followed by a chorus of Can I try it?

"You can if you win one in the writing challenge!" I said. "Let me remind you how it works..."

It's nice to know that I did actually learn something valuable in sixth grade! I wish the same for my students.

Not Quite

The poetry challenge for my sixth grade students today was to write a limerick, and I thought the directions were pretty clear:

A limerick is a silly poem with five lines. They are often funny or nonsensical. Limericks were made famous by Edward Lear, a famous author who wrote the Book of Nonsense in the 1800's. This was an entire book of silly limericks.

How to write a limerick:

The first, second and fifth lines all have 8 or 9 syllables.
The third and fourth lines have 5 or 6 syllables
The rhyme scheme is AABBA
Limericks often start with the line "There once was a..." or "There was a..."

First of all, bless their hearts, all 25 kids who took time out of their Sunday to try and compose a limerick, which is not an easy task at all. Some were really good, and some were just a little off. This one, though? Was my favorite:

There once were golden ducks
which loved to smuggle old bananas
but when they were caught
they quack and grunt
" but we are innocents!" With mistakes

Reteach?

You bet! And I can't wait for the conference to see where my directions went so wrong!

If at First

"Hey Mom! I have a new favorite color! Guess what it is?" we overheard a little boy ask this afternoon.

"Chartreuse?" his mom suggested playfully.

"I don't even know what that is," he dismissed her answer. "But you have two more guesses!"

Picture It!

Today the first student earned her chance to fly the drone, and fly it she did, with minimal help from me. "This is all you!" I encouraged her, and then I sat down to play cards with three squirrely little boys as she deftly maneuvered the zippy red craft through the room on game day.

Of course her experience inspired others to submit proposals for a chance of their own to pilot a drone. I read them all, repeating the guideline that their tasks should be challenging but clearly beneficial to them.

So what to do with the student who made the following offer? I will illustrate a piece of your writing into a comic. It will take me two weeks. You pick the story. 

As tempting as it is (who wouldn't want to see their writing transformed as such?) that seems too much like exploitation, so sadly,

she's going to have to submit another proposal.

Enough is Enough

I brought the pair of girlfriend chinos up to the register at the Gap. "Oh these are great pants!" the cashier gushed. "Lots of people buy several pairs because they come in so many colors and they fit so well."

I nodded politely. "I can see that," I said.

"Are you sure you don't want any more girlfriends?" he asked.

"Oh no," I laughed and looked over my shoulder at Heidi. "I definitely have all I need!"

Low Expectations

I had a district-wide meeting for all middle school English teachers today. This year the department has organized break-out sessions in lieu of collective congregations, and we can choose between four or five presentations to find the one that best suits our professional needs and/or desires.

In general, it's a pretty good model, especially since they usually get folks from our local chapter of The National Writing Project to present one of the options. That was the one I chose today, but it was still with some reluctance that I packed my things and left my classroom at 2:40, a good 2-3 hours earlier than usual, and headed off to another middle school.

The Writing Project presentations are always heavy on participation and writing-- they put you in the student seat even as they are providing the tools and techniques a teacher might use. The session I attended today was no exception; it was hands on and creative, and I had fun and got a couple of concrete lesson ideas.

As we filed out of the room I found myself next to another teacher I know only slightly.  It was a little awkward at first, until I looked her in the eye. "That was painless!" I said.

She laughed and nodded in agreement, and I waved as I pushed open one of the heavy double doors and walked out into the afternoon sunshine.

The Upside

I read recently that one path to a more positive life is to find the blessing in every aggravation. Bummed by the laundry? Be thankful for the clothes. Work got you down? Appreciate the paycheck. Feeling old and sore? Consider the alternative.

I tried it out at home a few weeks ago, but the third time I mentioned the "upside" to something Heidi was venting about, she told me if I was going to keep on doing that? She was just going to stop talking.

Since then I've applied the principal privately, which gives me a chance to think before I speak.

Namaste.

Droning On

They saw me coming.

The retailers at that discount store knew what they were doing when they set up the "pre" checkout line as a kind of a chute stocked with all sorts of appealing little doodads. As shoppers file through in an orderly queue waiting for the next available register, there are hundreds more things to look at, pick up, and perhaps even buy.

That's how I got my drone. Never even in the market for such a gadget, I got one glimpse of the flashy black and red quadcopter just as I rounded the last bend or that materialistic gauntlet and grabbed the box as I went by. It was paid for and in my bag before I even gave it a second thought, a bargain at $19.99.

That was Wednesday, and I held off even buying batteries for it until the weekend, thinking maybe, just maybe, I would come to my senses and return it. I'm so glad I didn't though, because once I got the thing operational, it was extremely entertaining. Oh, I terrified the cat and dog and crashed it all over the house, running its tiny battery down several times before I could even begin to control it. It gave me hours of Sunday fun.

And while I did improve a bit, there was still so much room for growth that I slipped it into my lunch bag this morning, so that I might practice a little at school. As I unpacked my food for the day, I set the tiny flyer and its controller on my desk and when my homeroom arrived they spotted it immediately and asked to see it fly. Only too happy to oblige, I maneuvered my drone like a big clumsy mosquito all over the classroom.

"Can I try it?" they all were desperate to know.

And here's where that teacher's motivational instinct kicked in automatically. "Maybe" I answered, "What would you do to earn a turn?"

"What do you mean?" they asked.

"Submit a proposal," I suggested, pointing to a stack of 4x6 index cards on my desk. "Think of something that would be good for you to do. It should be kind of hard, too. AND, we have to know whether you did it or not by a specific time."

"I'm going to get better grades in math and science!" one student said right away.

"Better than what?" I asked him, "And by when?"

They gave me a collective frown.

"I'm going to do my reading log tonight," another promised.

"You would do that anyway," I told her. "Think of something a little more challenging.

And in this way, I made contracts with about half of the kids to read more, write more, organize more, and be on time more.

The drone is standing by.

Consumer Education

Target was crowded this Sunday afternoon and, shopping done, we found ourselves at the front of the store searching for the shortest line. We had way too much for express, but as we passed, our attention was drawn to one woman who stood a little apart from the actual queue. "Are you in line, or not?" she asked loudly.

Eyebrows up, my head snapped around to see who she was talking to.

A little girl of perhaps 10 stood timidly several feet from the belt. "Yes," she answered.

"Well act like it!" her mother encouraged her. "Move on up!"

The child complied, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

"Whoa!" the woman advised from the sideline. "Not too close! Give the people some room."

The little girl took half a step back.

Her coach nodded from the sideline.

We pushed our cart past, secure in the knowledge that there will be competent shoppers for generations to come.

Maximum Sparklage

"Ya'll should bring your ukuleles over and I'll play piano," our neighbor suggested this morning. I was practicing my picks, rolls, and strums while we were hanging out drinking coffee.

I laughed. "Then we could start a band!" I replied. "But what would our name be?"

Our dogs, Lady and Isabel, were snoring contentedly at our feet. "How about Lady Bell?" I suggested, "or maybe just call it what it is: Three Chicks, Two Ukuleles, and a Piano."

Our conversation wandered on to other things, but later Heidi was telling me about a shopping trip she had taken with the same neighbor. who was shopping for outdoor lighting and couldn't decide between two fixtures, because, "She wanted maximum sparklage!" Heidi said.

I snapped my fingers. "Now that's a band name!" 

Define "Sense"

April 1 means we say goodbye to Slice of Life and hello to poetry in my sixth grade English class.

Oh, the hundred day writing challenge continues, and those who have the "write stuff" will also have 30 poems written by the end of the month. Such accomplishment takes some explaining however, and as I stood before my class this morning introducing the very first daily poem, haiku, a hand waved to me from the corner of the room.

"Wait! Do these poems have to make sense?" she asked.

"Well, yes," I answered. "Even though you are limited in syllables and lines, your reader should know what you are writing about."

"Why?" she frowned, "My slice of life never made any sense!"

Poetry, Found

I like my friend Ellen's idea to wrap up another fun month of Slice of Life! Thank you Two Writing Teachers for sponsoring this annual challenge-- it's been a blast!

Super Tuesday
What does the groundhog say?
Just you wait!

Wildly predictable
makes you stronger,
mush!

A stroll through time,
first hand knowledge,
busy town,
as writers do,
ooh ooh!
the time it is a changin.

Csi: the bunny trail,
checks and balances,
seen and unseen,
sixth grade rising,
highly unusual,
the name game,
natural rivalry?
TMI!

Companion ticket,
waffling,
two for lunch,
a day at the park,
a little bird told me--
tricks of time,
story starters,
she's seen the sights...

Golden treasure!

Golden Treasure

It was just a metal tube filled with mustard, and yet...

In this country we sell our mustard in jars and squeeze bottles, and that's the way we like it. Yellow, spicy, Dijon, honey, whatever the type, that's the way it comes, and why not? Such packaging is convenient and familiar to our nation of sandwich makers. But not long ago I was in an international grocery of the kind that is rather common in our diverse area.

Shopping there you can travel the world aisle by aisle, finding unusual products at every turn. For the adventurous American cook seeking a specialty item it is a treasure trove, but for others it is a bit of home.

Having had the privilege of living in overseas, I could appreciate both. There was a particular store in Lugano, Switzerland when I was in school there that stocked a variety of international items, among them such novelties as Oreos and Doritos. Some Saturdays we took the bus downtown simply to troll the aisle of American products, longing for a taste of the USA.

Now I picked up the toothpaste tube full of mustard and closed my eyes. I was back in Switzerland at Angelo's, the small general store right off campus, and Angelo's mama was making their famous ham and cheese sandwich. First she split a roll that had been delivered from the local baker just that morning. Next it was a foil wrapped disc of Bel Paese cheese that she spread on the bottom, topped with Italian ham and some sliced cornichons. The final touch was a squirt of mustard and then mayonnaise from the metal tubes on the counter. We growing teens couldn't get enough of them after study hall, but it's still one of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten.

Into my cart went the mustard, and down the aisle I headed, wondering what other treasures this place might hold.