Generally Speaking

Today was easily the busiest day of the year, so far: It started with a walk to the farmers market and then on to the garden center. Once home, we ate a quick lunch and were off to the garden to remove a winter's growth of weeds. Fortunately we had Josh with us, because 2 1/2 hours later we had 14 contracter bags full, and that guy wheeled them all to the curb. Back home again, we put winter things in the attic, I repaired the lid to my grill, we potted 36 tomato seedlings and planted a few pots of marigolds and sunflowers, just in time to cook dinner.

I recently started using a fitness app that tracks activity and logs food and exercise. There are definitely good days and meh days, and one of the features I like best is a little note at the end of each one that tells you how it would be "if every day were like this one."

Today I don't need it, because if every day were like today?

I'd be exhausted!

Lesson Not Learned?

Over-eager?

Perhaps that was me, rushing out to see the first big summer movie on its opening weekend. It turns out, vacation is still a little too far away for me to sit back, relax, suspend my disbelief, and enjoy the show, because "over-eager" pretty much describes the movie also. The Avengers opens with a battle and ratchets up from there. It all seemed a little forced to me.

Fortunately? If the previews are any indication, then it's going to be a good movie summer! Tomorrowland, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Ant-Man, and a reboot of The Fantastic Four will all be playing on the big screen in the next few months.

Can I wait?

Umm...

Yes?

Where They'll Be

When we were talking about President Kennedy's assassination yesterday, I compared his death to the attacks on September 11, 2001. "Everyone in America will remember where they were the day the Twin Towers fell for the rest of their lives," I pointed out to the class.

They seemed to take my word for it; I guess they had to since not one of them was born yet on that day.

Later I wondered what unifying moment awaits their generation, and I hoped that instead of

war,

death,

or destruction,

it might actually be something

awesome!

Where Were You?

It's National Poem-in-your-Pocket Day, and as every year, I asked my students to choose a poem and carry it for the day. We celebrate the occasion in class also, and all students who are willing and able may share their chosen poems (for a lollipop, of course!).

This year someone read Where I Was by Dan Brown.

"Do you know what that's about?" I asked.

"I think it's about a field trip," he answered.

"Yes, but it is also about when President Kennedy was shot."

"What?????" another boy shouted from across the room. "President Kennedy was shot????? Did he die????"

I frowned and looked at the second student, trying to tell if he was serious. The other kids around him shushed him, and explained that yes, the president had died of his wounds.

"Anyway," I continued, "that was such a huge event for the people who were alive then, that many years later they remembered clearly where they were when they heard the news, and that's what the title of the poem means."

Later I was telling my friend Mary about it. "Just think," she laughed, "that kid will always remember that he was in your class, in 2015, when he heard that Kennedy was shot."

For the Bird

Once I was complaining to someone about the general lack of respect that those planning meetings and professional development seemed to have for teachers' time. He shrugged. "They pay you to be there whether you like it or not." That was pretty demoralizing.

I thought of that when we were confronted with another tedious task in our department meeting this afternoon-- I'm not sure what objective those who designed the activity had in mind, but after a full of day of teaching, the consensus was definitely to just get it over with as quickly as possible.

We had to rate ourselves and our school, from bad to good, on a series of descriptors. It had to be a consensus or any outliers had to be detailed in a 2-3 paragraph explanation. I proposed using fingers to get a general sense of where each of us was, and the group agreed. "But watch which finger you use for one," I was warned by our chair. "I know you!"

Visualize

"Can we draw stick people?" is perhaps the most common question sixth graders ask when an assignment calls for them to produce a visual.

"Sure," I answered this morning, "but there is a bear in the story. What is he going to look like?"

Not to worry, my student assured me, and he was right. In fact the whole class was charmed by the character we dubbed "Square Bear."

Internal Clock

We drive by our community garden plot every day on our way to school. I've developed a sharp enough eye that during the growing season I can usually tell if there is a need to stop sooner rather than later to harvest, cut, gather, water, or weed. In the winter, though, I sail by barely noticing even if the lid of the small potting bench has blown open; I've learned that the winds will shift and slam it shut again.

This year it's been a cold spring, and we had not been to the garden even once to check on the persistent covering of weeds when late last week, perhaps from reflex, my head turned and my eyes were filled with a wee purple haze blossoming from the far side of the plot. It wasn't until Sunday that we actually stopped to investigate. As discouraging as the unwanted blanket of vetch, false chrysanthemum, and clover was, the peonies were sprouting strong, the blackberries are spreading faithfully and well, and that lovely cloud of periwinkle? It was some fragrant phlox that I put in last year and promptly forgot.

It's time to get to it.