Absolutely A-maize-d

I was so taken by the description of frontier hominy in the book I'm reading, Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen, that I promptly went online to order coarse ground corn meal. Arriving home from work this evening, I had no idea what the huge, seriously heavy, box on my front stoop could possibly be.

In a bank-error-in-your-favor moment I opened it to find that, rather than one 24 oz bag, I had twenty-four for the price of one. The company says I can keep 'em if I want 'em, so friends? In the event of a polenta emergency, call me.

In the mean time, I'll check back with news of the hominy. (I also recommend the book! It's fascinating.)

Sibling Rivalry

"This poetry challenge is the hardest one," I told my class yesterday. "It's Shakespeare's birthday and ... get ready for it... you're writing sonnets!"

I went on to give a quick overview of the rhyme scheme and meter (iambic pentameter is like five heartbeats), and then I wished them luck. To their credit, many worked diligently to fit words to the form. I answered questions and offered encouragement as they wrote.

"Your brother wrote an awesome sonnet last year," I told one student.

"He did?" the boy replied. "I'm going to try to make mine really good, too, then."

Here's what he came up with-- (I'd say he succeeded!)

Sonnet 1
by Andrew

Spring is a beautiful time of the year,
So many blooming flowers on the ground,
The weather delights and brings lots of cheer,
The morning is quiet with just the sound,
Of the beautiful birds chirping away,
At a rising sun on the horizon,
As the trees stay still but the branches sway,
In the perfect light from the glowing sun.
The afternoon is longer and lighter,
And great for exercise late in the day,
Spring has become the champion fighter,
As Winter has lost, and stumbles away.
Why is the time of Spring so important?
The days are longer, the nights are shortened.

Pocket-worthy

One of the many great things about Poem in Your Pocket Day is that every year I read and hear so many amazing poems that I've never heard of before. In fact, just today I actually found a poem by Robert Frost that I really can't believe I've never read. It's that wonderful:

Dust of Snow

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

Pathos

Another year brings another Poem in Your Pocket Day.

As you may have read here before, to encourage my students to participate in this annual event, I always break out my personal poetry library. Consisting of sixty or so volumes, many are edited and written for kids, but some are for more general audiences. Oh, I have culled my collection of any books that might have more mature material than not-- there is no Reuben Jackson, Richard Brautigan, or even Sylvia Plath, although I do own some of their work, but when I offer my poetry books to my students it is always with the caveat that they must turn the page on anything that they feel may be inappropriate, or bring it to me. Since the purpose of the assignment is to find a poem to share, I caution them to consider their audience and avoid choosing anything that might offend.

Most students enjoy browsing through such a variety, and in general the poems they choose seem just right for them. Of course some students take my caution as a challenge to find the most inappropriate poem they can, and others enjoy bringing something they think is racy to me and asking me to explain it to them. My stock reply? "If you don't know what it means, pick another poem!"

Today, though, an earnest student picked up my copy of There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.

"I've never actually read this before," he told me.

"Really?" I answered. "I'm surprised. It's a classic-- enjoy!"

A few minutes later he returned gravely to my desk. "Wow!" he said. "That went really dark really fast." He shook his head. There was no irony in his voice. "I mean, she swallows the horse, and she's dead "of course"??? And then a little cartoon gravestone?" His eyes were wide. "This book is totally not for me." He placed it back on the table and walked away.

It's What I Do

First day back from break and our weekly Tolerance Club meeting was on the calendar scheduled for 2:30. We sponsors had come up with a vague plan a few weeks ago ending with, let's meet before break to finalize the details. Well, that didn't happen, and since the club meets in my room, I often feel singly responsible for the hour.

Mondays are both easy and hard for me-- the routine of my class dictates reading log checking and word study quizzes (easy), but then there's the grading, recording, planning for the next day, and team meeting, which theoretically all happen between 1 and 2:30 (hard). Then there's Tolerance Club from 2:30-3:30.

Our tentative plan had been to show a clip from the documentary Girl Rising, which we had all seen in the theater last spring. The film tells the story of nine girls from developing nations all over the world and their struggle for agency in their mostly patriarchal societies. Each segment is written by an author from that region and narrated by a famous actress. It is a powerful movie with the thesis that educating girls will not only empower those individuals but also accelerate the economies of their families, communities, and nations.

So, we had the movie.

At 1 o'clock, I researched educational materials and found an outline for teachers and students. Using the questions on their worksheet, I designed a pre-view activity for small groups, found information on Nepal, and planned a one-on-one discussion for after the clip. I prepared all the materials and set up the movie, sign-in sheet, and snack. At 1:30 I went to my meeting.

The activity? It was a success. Everyone was engaged and seemed to really enjoy the discussion. One student, new to our club, told us how cool the experience had been. My fellow sponsors were also very complimentary. I appreciated their appreciation and thanked them, but finally I had to just shrug and remind them, "I do this for a living you know."

Good to Go

I'm more resigned than sad that spring break is virtually over. I had a nice week, and although my to-do list is always impossibly long (still that optimistic!), I feel like I accomplished quite a bit.

I'm ready for the last leg of this school year. I'm also ready to put my garden in, ready to celebrate my nephew's college graduation, ready for his brother's return from his freshman year away, and ready for our god son's graduation from high school. Look at all that potential!

And when summer comes? I'll be ready for that, too.

Inspector Gadget

It's Bill's birthday dinner!

So of course I had to use...
the Vitamix,
the juicer,
the Cuisinart,
the ice cream maker,
and the pizza oven for my grill.

Also,
the pastry bag,
the mandolin,
and the kitchen twine,
were very handy.

Not to mention all the
overnight soaking
and marinating,
and the toasting
and braising
I did.

I hope he likes it!