There's Something About Words

I just finished reading a 400+ page Gothic-style novel which is a far cry from my usual fare. I guess I was looking for something along the lines of The Night Circus or even Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore when I stumbled onto The Thirteenth Tale. I chose it using my Kindle app, so I'm quite sure I was not aware of its length.

Prudently, I downloaded the free sample first, and the the first-person narrative description of Margaret reading the letter that will change her life on the palely-lit stairs leading from her father's bookstore to her apartment definitely drew me in, but it was the letter itself from Vida Winter that made me buy the rest of the book.

As Margaret says, There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.

OK it wasn't quite like that, but over the last ten days I have diligently followed my at-least-one-chapter-or-two-a-day regime, which is admittedly ironic, given the clearly high esteem in which books are held by the main characters in this one, until this morning. At a little beyond the halfway point my attention was captured, and it was only a couple of hours until I had finished the story.

And story is the right word for it, because although I cannot say it transcended either of the frameworks of fairy tale or Gothic novel, there definitely came a point for me when I was so involved that it almost felt like the way I remember being enthralled by stories when I was a child. And that was magical.

And that is what I work to help my students experience, because as soon as I finished? I wanted to read another book.

Divine

At a bit of a loss for inspiration as to what make for our evening meal, right before I left school this afternoon I hail-maried it and googled "dinner tonight recipe," and the first thing I found was this:

shiitake-kale-kimchi stew

Thanks Serious Eats!

Overheard in Writing Club

Grace complains so much about how she hates CJ that I swear he is her Mr. Darcy!

WWCD

Years ago I worked with a woman with whom, although I liked her personally, I considered myself almost diametrically opposed to professionally. She was 12 or 15 years my senior and rarely hesitant to speak her mind, especially when she disagreed with someone or something which was often. I thought her lack of diplomacy was kind of funny, and it actually made her much more manageable as a team member since not too many people took her seriously.

She retired five years ago in robust disgust at where education was headed. We wished her well, but welcomed the idea of a different teacher with a more positive perspective to take her place. Since then our country has elected a new president (who has appointed a new secretary of education), our state has elected a new governor, our district has hired a new superintendent, and our school has changed principals. With all of them has come an increasing over-reliance on unnecessary standardization, bankrupt assessments, and invalid teacher evaluation plans.

All of a sudden, taking a walk outside at lunch, leaving at contract time, and otherwise disengaging from all manner of oppressive policies seems like a really good idea.

Best Laid Plans

I left what I thought would be a fun assignment for my students when I was out of the building last Friday:

Use your word study words to create a word search in the grid below. Create at least 10 clues using the definitions of your words. Be sure to tell how many letters are in each answer. The first one is done for you.

I even planned to allow them to complete their own word searches as their weekly quiz grade, but when I returned, I was disappointed at how few students managed to finish the assignment in the time they had, so today, I faced the issue head on, sharing my chagrin and asking for feedback as to why so many kids had trouble with the task. I wanted to fix it.

"We didn't get it," someone shrugged.

"What part?" I asked. "Show me where you were confused in the directions."

Silence.

"I didn't understand how to put the words in," offered another.

"But I gave you an example," I reminded him.

Silence.

Throughout the entire discussion, a student who had completed her word search nicely was waving her hand. Finally I called on her.

"You did a great job," I said. "Was there a problem?"

"Yes," she said. "All the people who didn't finish were talking too loudly!"

I Chose Poorly

I cussed a little today when I chose the wrong lane on the exit ramp. Truthfully, I think of it as a game, a game I like to win. The right lane is always more crowded, but they can turn right at the light, if possible. Left lane is stuck until green, so it's all about the traffic and timing.

Today, I was first in the left lane, chortling at the heavy cross-traffic, watching the car I would have been if I had chosen the sucker's lane all jammed up in my rear view. Then, an unexpected break in the oncoming congestion-- right lane cars are making the right like water in a sluice way; nothing can stop them; the not-me car and many others all pour onto the road before the light turns green and I can join them, far back in the flow. They have gained SEVERAL seconds on me that I know from experience I will NEVER get back.

Shaking my head and chastened, I head for the gym where the treadmill awaits me, no choice but to move forward, so to speak, there.

Opa!

Sunday morning of our weekend at the bay has evolved into a traditional breakfast challenge. We want a dish that uses as many of our leftovers as possible, but is completely different than anything we have eaten in the last two days. It started a few years ago when we took leftover cheese sauce and onions and turned them into a souffle. This year, the ingredients on hand were cold roasted chicken, rice, eggs, baby spinach, grape tomatoes, and feta cheese. In retrospect, it seems silly that it took so long to realize what the food was telling us:

Avgolemono?

Fysika!