Square One

I wanted to learn some picks and rolls on my new banjolele, and so I turned to Google. The instrument itself is still rather rare, but I found a few beginner pieces for ukulele and I printed them out for my first lesson of the new year tonight. My teacher was delighted and supportive as usual. He listened and even added chords to the basic sheet music.

And that is how I spent 20 minutes playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Old MacDonald.

You better believe they were kick ass versions, though!

All Relative

It's amazing how balmy 35 degrees is after just 2 days of below freezing temperatures!

(Happy Birthday, Dad!)

That's What it's all About

Every year it seems like there is one English class out of the four or five I teach that is just a little more challenging than the rest. Lessons that work perfectly for every other group somehow fall flat for these kids; work that other classes easily complete is not so for them, and it's hard not to blame those students when there is evidence that my planning was sound.

This year it is the last class period of the day when things seem to go awry. As an example, yesterday, less than 4%, or 2 out of 55, of the students in my other classes forgot or did not complete their reading logs, but in that class? It was three times that many and ten times that percentage-- 6 out of 15, or 40%. The classes are randomly, heterogeneously grouped, so what's a teacher to do?

Well, the job is to teach everyone, not just the easy ones, and so I try to set aside my frustration and problem solve. As a group, they are a smart, energetic, but unfocused bunch of kids who all want to do well in school and learn. It is their last core class of the day, an hour after lunch and right before they head off to PE and electives.

I always include structured movement opportunity in my lessons, and today was no exception. We were doing an activity where they had to evaluate a piece of writing with a partner. It was set up like speed dating so that one or the other student would have to move after each question and work with somebody new. For these guys, I decided to up the ante.

"Vote with your feet!" I said when going over the answers. "If you think this was a summary, do the Hokie Pokie!" They all jumped up, waved their hands in the air and turned around.

Next question, "If you think this is synthesis? Give me 5 jumping jacks!" The room erupted in vigorous calisthenics.

And so it went, until it was time for them to settle down and apply the principles we had just discussed to their own writing...

in blessed silence.

Tabloid Fodder

On the first day back from Winter Break my sixth graders were pretty animated discussing what they had read over break. "I finished the Harry Potter series!" one student announced, and before I could even congratulate her she continued in a wail. "Whyyyyyy did Fred have to die??"

I shrugged sympathetically and opened my mouth to reply, but she kept talking. "And Tonks?? And Lupine?? They just had a baby!"

I nodded, and she kept going. "But Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione? Yay! Those are good couples!"

"Wow!" said the girl next to her. "I don't know anything about Harry Potter, but I feel like you're talking about the Kardashians!"

Rita Skeeter would certainly agree!

So Cranks the Machine

Those who know me well are aware that I am not an avid clothes shopper. What with ordering online and supplementing at Target, years have literally passed in between shopping excursions for me. That has not been so this year, however.

We started our holiday shopping on Halloween, when Heidi's parents were here, and believe it or not, we finished it today with the last of the gift exchanges and returns. I have to admit that I was shocked at how much more streamlined the stores had their merchandise displays. They seemed downright empty.

Gone were extra racks and tables that I assumed were permanent, and anything I had seen before Christmas that was still left had been moved to the back clearance section and replaced by fitness gear, storage bins, luggage, and spring clothing. It was shocking, but kind of impressive in its own way.

As the weather finally turns colder, I felt lucky that I didn't really need anything for winter!

Overheard at the Lincoln Memorial

We have keeeel-baaaa-see, York-shy-er pudding, and onion gravy, Hon-- just heat it up!

A New Year Wish

I had the New Years dinner preparations well in hand this afternoon when it came time to bread the chicken. The table was set, the black-eyed peas had been stewing and the greens had been braising since earlier in the day. The ham was sliced; the rice cooker at the ready, and water on to blanch the corn.

When I grabbed the homemade bread crumbs, I noticed a small bag of extra crumbs next to them and tossed them all together with some salt, paprika, and hot pepper. As I took the pounded chicken paillards from their buttermilk and egg bath and dredged away, a faintly familiar smell, sweet and cinnamony, wafted from the bread crumbs.

I froze a moment, eyes wide. Could it be?

Tasting a quick pinch confirmed my fears. It was graham cracker crumbs that I had added to my mixture. All was not lost by any means, and when I confessed my error to my brother, we briefly wondered if perhaps this might be one of those legendary accidents that become an amazing tradition.

Alas, the answer was a resounding nope, but it was nothing a little hot sauce couldn't fix. May all the mistakes of 2016 be so easy to remedy!