On Their Clock

It was nearly 10:30 when the hospitalist finally stopped by Josh's emergency room digs. A probable bout of colitis combined with exhaustion and a touch of the flu had brought him here via California, New York, Hershey, PA, and urgent care. He had been waiting for about six hours to see whether he would be admitted or sent home after some blood work, a CAT scan, and fluids.

"Oh, we plan to admit you," the young doctor said, "and with your symptoms, you'll get a GI consult and probably a colonoscopy. But we're actually pretty crowded right now, and it might be a while before we take you upstairs."

And when we asked about an approximate timeline for further tests and treatment? "It's hard to say," she shook her head. "We tend to move pretty quickly down here. They have a whole other time frame up there."

So maybe he'll be out by spring break?

Groomer Has It

After all he had been through-- bear attack, smothering, waterfall, starvation, infection, freezing, riding over a cliff, and spending the night naked in a horse carcass, Leonardo DiCaprio fixed those steely blue eyes on the captain. "I'm going with you," he rasped.

I leaned over to Heidi. "I hope he washes his hair first!" I whispered.

Walk On

It was a little disappointing when we walked down to the movies this afternoon only to find that our preferred film was sold out, but with no other shows of interest in the next couple of hours, we decided to turn around and walk home

cheerfully (!)

with a stop at 7-11 for a few Powerball tickets,

and a plan to watch Listen to Me Marlon on TV,

and 3787 steps.

The Chasm of Sar

It was a bit of a chaotic day in my English class today-- students were finalizing drafts, posting to our online classroom, and making sure they were ready for the word study quiz on Monday. For such a variety of activity to be successful, most of the students need to be self-regulated and on-task. On days like today, when I am trying to assist as many students as possible, my reminders are not always so gentle.

"Do you think I became a teacher so that I could tell kids to be quiet and get to work over and over again?" I asked with a slight edge of frustration the the third time I had to speak to one particular student.

The room was suddenly silent, and that bubble of self-righteous irritation in my chest deflated. I realized how silly I sounded.

"If so," I continued in a much kindlier tone, "then thanks for giving my life such meaning!"

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.