Friday Night Pizza is Back

I got me a great new pizza dough recipe-- quick to make, easy to handle, and delicious-- it seems to be just what I have been searching for for years.

Click here to see for yourself.

Pick a Poet

My guest poet friend made his annual visit to my classes today. After six years, one of the things I enjoy most about his visits is how unfettered he is by the pedestrian practicalities of running a classroom. For example, he is free to change the activities for each class, and he always does. "I get soooooo bored doing the same thing over and over," he points out every year. Tell me about it.

His tolerance for "creative" chaos is also much higher than mine, but that's okay, because watching from the sidelines and seeing how my students react in a less structured environment is usually either a revelation or a validation for me. 

I like the surprises best, though, and he can often turn a kid from silly or surly to successful by the end of the session. And some kids surprise me every year with their wit, their whimsy, their originality, and their invention. True story-- just yesterday, I struggled to think of a strength for a boy who knocked it out of the park today. 

I also get a chance to improvise and write along, not as the leader, or even the coach, but as a fellow player on his stage. Here's my favorite composition from the day:

Saying Good-Bye in Five Acts:

I. Her suitcase closed with a snap.

II. A bright light streaked across the sky.

III. Splash!

IV. Thanks for all the fish.

V. "As I was remarking the other day to Heywood..."

Microcosm

Much as they say the world can be found within a drop of water, so, perhaps, might education be represented by a blank sheet of paper.

Set aside that grand metaphor of potential and opportunity, for a moment, and consider the practical, day-to-day operations of a school: How much paper does it take to make the place go? How many texts, maps, assignments, scratch sheets, drafts, drawings, graphs, posters, permission slips, flyers, hall passes, rosters, memos, etc.-- might be reasonably created per student, per day?

At our school, the answer to those questions is too much. In one of the wealthiest counties in the wealthiest country in the world, we don't have enough paper.

Now, back to that grand metaphor...

Fun and Games

I spent some facetime this evening catching up with my mom. As always, our conversation was wide-ranging and very entertaining. At the end, though, my mom mentioned that she had been organizing her recipe file when she came across a couple of handwritten pages with ingredients and no directions. She asked me if I could guess what they might be.

Could I!! Oh yes! It was like a fun little cooking puzzle game!

The first one was

2 pounds of tomatoes, peeled and diced
6 leaves of basil
1 clove of garlic
chicken broth
cucumber
watermelon
salt and pepper

The chicken broth and watermelon were tricky, but I feel pretty certain it must be a cold soup.

The second one was harder:

1 stick of butter
a small pkg of cream cheese
1 1/3 c flour
1/2 c cream
1/4 toasted almonds
1/2 c sugar

Hmm. No eggs? I think it's a cookie of some sort, maybe rolled, coated with the almonds, and sliced. I'm not sure, though.

Anyhow, this was really fun, and I wished there were more recipes to puzzle out. I think there just might be a real game here.

Enough with the Countdowns

Never mind that last post.

"Only five more Mondays!" is how one of my lunch companions greeted the group today.

Oh, and 17 weeks from tomorrow? School starts again.

46

There is always a teacher in every school who knows exactly how many days there are until the end of the year. The countdown starts sometime around spring break, and this teacher is usually not shy about sharing the daily digit. There is public delight in crossing off each day.

I never really understood the rationale behind such thinking; truth be told, I'm sure I imagined myself somewhat superior to that person. Sometimes, to be a little contrary, I would quote the number of days until school would be back in session.

Hmmm. Yeah. I don't know that number right now.

Garden Gazette

It was a perfect day here-- 70 degrees with puffy clouds and a light breeze. We took advantage of the weather by spending a couple hours in the garden clearing away the weeds and leaves that have accumulated since November, and although it took several vigorous passes with the nail brush to get my hands clean afterwards, there is good news to report:

The peonies are budding, the raspberry has proliferated, the daisies are dandy, the mint and marjoram and thyme are fine, and the worms?

Are wiggling.