We'll See

I'm going to be out of school tomorrow because Heidi's folks are coming into town-- in fact they are stuck in our infamous rush hour traffic even now. It's usually kind of a chore to make sub plans, but today I told my students I would be out and instructed them to keep going on the stuff they are working on. They seemed to really embrace the idea, and when I told them that I was trusting them to be responsible, they practically cheered: "We can do it!"

You Know the Drill

As I've mentioned before, I have an activity where the students in my reading class have a set of question starters organized in Bloom's taxonomy, from lower to higher order thinking skill. Their task is to compose a five question quiz based on the memoir we are reading. Each question must be from a different category and they also have to provide an answer key. Then they give the quiz to another student (and take one that someone else has composed), grade the quiz that they created using the key, and have a conference with the other student about the results.

They think it's fun, and so they cheerfully revisit the text, ask higher order questions, and answer them-- twice! As they work on the assignment many students include creative twists, and some of the quizzes are both amusing and revealing, like the one today with this set of directions:

Just answer the question with something you think is correct.

Sonny Days

"Is that your son?" one of my students asked when a young PE teacher on our team stopped by my classroom to get the details about our field trip today.

"No!" I rolled my eyes at the suggestion, but then considered it a moment: he is a tall, blue-eyed skateboarder with a cute little man bun who works really hard in the best interest of his students.

"But, I'd take him if he needed a home," I added.

Food Fancy

How could I not try pickled potatoes? The recipe called for slicing and then frying them after brining, but I decided to chunk and roast them. Delicious! It's like a morsel of warm potato salad in every bite.

Celebrate Life

There was a street fair surrounding the funeral home when we arrived yesterday. All the side streets were closed for blocks, and on Main Street, police officers in neon-orange vests stopped traffic for any pedestrians who wanted to cross. The staff at the funeral home were keeping a watchful eye for people who were trying to find festival parking in their lot, but noting our black clothes and out of state plates, they didn't even look twice at us when we pulled in.

The viewing ended at twelve but the service was not scheduled until 1. The church was only a few blocks away, and so we decided to walk. Our path took us through the fair, and we stopped for coffee, browsed t-shirts at a sidewalk sale, and played with the kittens they had for adoption at the pet shop. It was a warm reminder that life, somehow, goes on no matter what.

"I think Tom did this," his sister told us before we left the wake. "The fair was rescheduled from a couple weeks ago from the hurricane that never came. Now we're going to lose half the crowd to the beer tent!"

Bad GPS Good GPS

We were relying on the directions function of the map ap on our phones to get us where we needed to go 4 hours from home this morning. Oh, we knew the broad strokes; it was a route we have traveled often, but it was the last 20 miles that we were counting on help for, and sadly, our devices let us down-- taking us on and off the same highway three times, past our destination and back around again. In the grand scheme of things it didn't matter; we gave ourselves a wide window and made it there in plenty of time, but it was frustrating.

On the way home, our phones redeemed themselves: coming upon a 7-mile stop-and-go backup, we took a quick exit and the GPS function directed us around the congestion in less than 10 minutes, and it was exhilarating.

Technology taketh and technology giveth in return.

Is this Going to Be on the Test?

After the second annual Day of Peace and early release for students,  we had staff development this afternoon at school. The meeting was scheduled to start at 1 pm, and at 12:55 most of the tables in the library were full. My friend Mary and I chose the neck cramp table right in front of the screen. A minute later, a younger teacher joined us just as the meeting started.

"You all had homework to prepare for this session," the presenter said jovially. "There is an activity at your table for you to reflect on the video as a group."

"We did?" Mary whispered. "I didn't do it."

"I didn't either," I shrugged.

"You guys!" the other teacher said.

"Uh oh, she's going to switch tables," Mary said.

"Did you do it?" I asked our colleague.

"Yes, and I even took notes," she answered. We all laughed uproariously.

"OK," Mary told her, "fill us in."

"It was about the seven habits kids need for success," she started.

"Wait," I said. "Let us guess what they are."

Organization, Cooperation, we chanted. Critical thinking...

And while we didn't get the exact terminology, we were close, successfully completing the activity despite 2/3s of our group being unprepared.

Booyah!