Yo-yo

With exactly 20 days left in the April writing challenge and 20 days required to win a prize, I casually pulled out a big gun today. As my students checked their reading logs and reviewed for the word parts quiz I circulated through the room flicking my wrist to deploy and retrieve my blue Duncan butterfly. Here and there I let it sleep at the end of its string before calling it into the safety of my palm; a couple of times I flipped it around the world, and once or twice I even tried to walk the dog. For a brief moment I was back in sixth grade myself: it was 1973 and, just like all the other kids,  I had a classic yellow and red butterfly threaded around my finger.

"You have a yo-yo?" my students exclaimed.

"Oh yeah," I shrugged. "Don't you?"

"No!" they answered, followed by a chorus of Can I try it?

"You can if you win one in the writing challenge!" I said. "Let me remind you how it works..."

It's nice to know that I did actually learn something valuable in sixth grade! I wish the same for my students.

Not Quite

The poetry challenge for my sixth grade students today was to write a limerick, and I thought the directions were pretty clear:

A limerick is a silly poem with five lines. They are often funny or nonsensical. Limericks were made famous by Edward Lear, a famous author who wrote the Book of Nonsense in the 1800's. This was an entire book of silly limericks.

How to write a limerick:

The first, second and fifth lines all have 8 or 9 syllables.
The third and fourth lines have 5 or 6 syllables
The rhyme scheme is AABBA
Limericks often start with the line "There once was a..." or "There was a..."

First of all, bless their hearts, all 25 kids who took time out of their Sunday to try and compose a limerick, which is not an easy task at all. Some were really good, and some were just a little off. This one, though? Was my favorite:

There once were golden ducks
which loved to smuggle old bananas
but when they were caught
they quack and grunt
" but we are innocents!" With mistakes

Reteach?

You bet! And I can't wait for the conference to see where my directions went so wrong!

If at First

"Hey Mom! I have a new favorite color! Guess what it is?" we overheard a little boy ask this afternoon.

"Chartreuse?" his mom suggested playfully.

"I don't even know what that is," he dismissed her answer. "But you have two more guesses!"

Picture It!

Today the first student earned her chance to fly the drone, and fly it she did, with minimal help from me. "This is all you!" I encouraged her, and then I sat down to play cards with three squirrely little boys as she deftly maneuvered the zippy red craft through the room on game day.

Of course her experience inspired others to submit proposals for a chance of their own to pilot a drone. I read them all, repeating the guideline that their tasks should be challenging but clearly beneficial to them.

So what to do with the student who made the following offer? I will illustrate a piece of your writing into a comic. It will take me two weeks. You pick the story. 

As tempting as it is (who wouldn't want to see their writing transformed as such?) that seems too much like exploitation, so sadly,

she's going to have to submit another proposal.

Enough is Enough

I brought the pair of girlfriend chinos up to the register at the Gap. "Oh these are great pants!" the cashier gushed. "Lots of people buy several pairs because they come in so many colors and they fit so well."

I nodded politely. "I can see that," I said.

"Are you sure you don't want any more girlfriends?" he asked.

"Oh no," I laughed and looked over my shoulder at Heidi. "I definitely have all I need!"

Low Expectations

I had a district-wide meeting for all middle school English teachers today. This year the department has organized break-out sessions in lieu of collective congregations, and we can choose between four or five presentations to find the one that best suits our professional needs and/or desires.

In general, it's a pretty good model, especially since they usually get folks from our local chapter of The National Writing Project to present one of the options. That was the one I chose today, but it was still with some reluctance that I packed my things and left my classroom at 2:40, a good 2-3 hours earlier than usual, and headed off to another middle school.

The Writing Project presentations are always heavy on participation and writing-- they put you in the student seat even as they are providing the tools and techniques a teacher might use. The session I attended today was no exception; it was hands on and creative, and I had fun and got a couple of concrete lesson ideas.

As we filed out of the room I found myself next to another teacher I know only slightly.  It was a little awkward at first, until I looked her in the eye. "That was painless!" I said.

She laughed and nodded in agreement, and I waved as I pushed open one of the heavy double doors and walked out into the afternoon sunshine.

The Upside

I read recently that one path to a more positive life is to find the blessing in every aggravation. Bummed by the laundry? Be thankful for the clothes. Work got you down? Appreciate the paycheck. Feeling old and sore? Consider the alternative.

I tried it out at home a few weeks ago, but the third time I mentioned the "upside" to something Heidi was venting about, she told me if I was going to keep on doing that? She was just going to stop talking.

Since then I've applied the principal privately, which gives me a chance to think before I speak.

Namaste.