Take a Road Trip and Call Me in the Morning

After so many busy, busy action-packed days you might think that the last thing I would want would be a 7 hour car ride...

BUT you would be wrong. Quality snacks, a good audio book, relatively congestion-free roads, and great company were practically a prescription for forced relaxation.

And now?

It's Christmas!

All I Want

We were eating lunch today when the subject of something came up that reminded me of something else that reminded me of my ukulele. So I grabbed that baby from behind my desk and I whipped out the music to Silver Bells. Soon one of my colleagues (who sings in a choir!) joined in for a little lunchtime holiday sing-along. "You guys!" I gushed when we were through, "you just made one of my ukulele dreams come true! A sing-along!"

"Well Merry Christmas!" they said.

Boo Hoo mBug

It seems like

EVERYBODY

else

is on

Christmas vacation

except

us!

Twenty-Five Dozen

Christmas cookies--

Boom!

Mic drop.

Seasonable

Freezing rain and sleet were gently rapping at the windows when I rose this morning. I had too much planned to even regret that it was not a school day. And indeed before the sun was fully up and glistening off the ice on all the trees, I had baked three kinds of Christmas cookies and a dozen and a half muffins. By the time we were ready to head out into the world, the world was ready for us-- all the roads were clear and dry. The temperature rose steadily throughout the afternoon, and tomorrow it is predicted to be 60.

No matter-- here at home, the oven will be warming, the music playing, the lights twinkling, and the wrapping paper and ribbon unspooling gift by gift.

Progress Report

We handed out interim progress reports this morning.  In this age of live gradebooks these little paper records of student grades are really no more than an anachronism: not only have the grades on them likely changed since last week when we uploaded them, but most students and their parents know that and have checked to see what they are getting NOW.

Still, as I distributed them,  I counseled my homeroom students that this was a chance to see what they were doing well (and continue that), as well as identify areas they might like to improve, and also to take the opportunity to talk to their teachers about any questions they might have.

They might have been listening, but I have another student who definitely was focused on the event.

"I left your report card on your desk," he told me as he left English class this morning. "It's on a post-it note."

I raised my eyebrows. "Thanks," I said, and in the chaos of exchanging one set of 22 sixth graders for another and restarting my lesson, I promptly forgot,

In fact it wasn't until many hours later, when I was working my way through the day's sift of classwork, hall passes, lesson plans, extra copies of materials, memos, and flyers that I noticed the little canary square of paper stuck to a pile of books on the corner of my desk. Neatly divided into three categories, I had a grade and a comment in each of the areas of "Patience" "Fun" and "Teaching."

I don't like to brag, but my lowest grade was a B+ in Patience (no kidding) and the comment read, pretty good, but could be a little nicer. In Fun? I earned an A, and the comment was, good activities and socializes really well. And in Teaching I got an A++++ Awesome fantastic teacher-- the BEST!!! 

I've gotta get that Patience grade up!

So Not Why

We gave our students a choice of movies to watch next week on the team-building day we have planned before winter break. Using a simple online tool, I created a survey with 8 options inviting the kids to pick as many as they liked in the hope that whatever film we showed would be pleasing to most. As it is, we have nearly a 60% approval rate of The Secret Life of Pets.

I also asked them to name a movie they might like to see in the future, and I was scratching my head at the number who listed Finding Dory in that category, even though it was a choice on the current list.

When I shared my confusion with another teacher on the team, she laughed and suggested, "Maybe they're saying they're not quite ready for it yet, but they will be soon. They just gotta grow into it."

Oh, we teachers do amuse ourselves.