PBG

For the past couple of years we have spent Heidi’s birthday weekend with her parents. The first year, they drove down to DC, and last year, dogless as we were, we flew up to Buffalo. This year? We split the difference and met up in Pittsburgh. We booked a couple of dog-friendly hotel rooms right on the Monongahela River.

The trip up here was fabulous, all open roads, blue skies and perfect fall foliage, and what a view of Steeltown we have! With Monday off and plenty of shopping and a bit of exploring on the agenda, I am looking forward to a fun long weekend. 

Mixin It Up

I have a student who adds a little heart after her name so often that one of her other teachers started calling her Saraheart, and now I often do, too.

Saraheart was in a bit of a negative funk the other day, though. "This book is dumb!" she started. "I don't like Oreos!" she complained about the snack. "Why can't I just go to my locker?" she demanded.

"Oh my gosh!" I finally said to her. "Do you know what an anagram is?"

She shook her head with a little shrug.

"Let me give you an example," I said. "Are you Saraheart or Sarahater?"

Watch How You Play

"Have you graded our personal narratives yet?" a student asked me today.

"Not all of them," I reported with a bit of a sigh. "There are quite a few kids in my classes, you know."

"Why don't you make it easy and just give us all As," she suggested slyly.

"Why not all Cs?" I replied archly.

"No thanks! Take your time!" she answered.

"Ms. S is savage!" noted another student who was listening.

Love thy Neighbor

"Oh hey," a neighbor stopped me in the parking lot the other day. "I had a dream about you the other night."

"Really!" I answered, and I confess that I was intrigued. I have lived 15 yards away from this lady for more than 18 years now, and although we are friendly, we have never been close.

"Yes," she said. "We were at the pool, and you must have gotten out of the water first, because you were standing on the side, and I realized I didn't have a towel, so I asked you if I could use yours..." Here, she paused and looked at me meaningfully.

I opened my palms in a then what? gesture.

"You said, 'No'," she told me, and then turned to go.

"Well you know what they say," I called after her.

She looked over her shoulder.

"Dreams say more about you than anyone else!" I said.

Lotsa Luck

What do you call a day when a big chunk of your siding blows off and your car flashes three warning lights?

Lucky!

Because that day was this day, a day I was already off from work for my annual physical.

And not to boast? But I got it all taken care of and had oysters for lunch, dining right on the river in the glorious autumn sunshine.

I know, right?

Ready to Learn

"Ms. S.?" a student asked this morning. "Can I talk to you outside?"

"Am I in trouble?" I replied, eyebrows higher than before.

She shook her head and I followed her into the hall.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened last Thursday," she told me and paused.

I remembered what she meant. She and her writing partner had been off-task, and I reprimanded them for using their iPads for something other than they should have been. I nodded, and she continued.

"I think there was a misunderstanding," she began, and calmly laid out her side of the event.

Oh I told her my perspective, too, and after talking a little, and quickly came to a meeting of the minds, agreeing to communicate more clearly in the future.

"Hey listen," I said, "before we stepped back inside. "I want you to know that I wasn't mad before. I was willing to let it go."

She nodded.

"But your way was much better!" I continued.

Positive Energy

With two kittens and a puppy in the house there is a lot of chasing and wrestling and climbing and clawing and wrestling.

Joy!