A Civilized Hour

"Wouldn't it be nice if we went to work at this time every day?" Heidi asked rhetorically as I shuttled her to school a little before 9 yesterday morning. Our district had called a 2 hour delay because of the extreme cold. I was off anyway for my annual physical, but since I was up I offered to give her a ride. "The sun is shining," she noted. "I feel rested," she continued, "ready for the day."

I thought of that conversation this morning as we dragged ourselves out of bed at the usual 5:30 alarm. Heidi had been up most of the night coughing, and neither of us had gotten much sleep: another two hours would have been welcome.

"Heart conditions and sleep deprivation are correlated," my doctor told me yesterday. "Now that you're over 55..."

One Year Over the Speed Limit

I really didn't feel any different after my last birthday; I personally like to think I'm aging both gradually and gracefully. But after my annual physical today, I'm beginning to wonder about that, especially considering the number of times I heard the phrase, Now that you're over 55...

Auntie Up

We haven’t seen Josh since he returned from his world travels. Understandably, he’s been working extra hours to catch up on the time he missed while in Africa. Even so, we have been exchanging texts with him, looking for a mutually convenient time to get together and catch up. Tonight he initiated the contact:

hey hey guys im free on thursday! still down for dinner?

Yep, we answered, how about 5?

yeah! is it ok if i bring my girlfriend?

Of course, we said, but it was a bit of a surprise, considering we didn’t know he was seeing anyone. He must like her, though, if he’s ready for her to meet the aunties!

But Who's Counting?

I had a four day weekend last week because of the snow; this week a combination of the MLK holiday and my annual physical provide another short work week, and the following week there is a teacher work day and a CLT retreat resulting in one more 3-day teaching week.

Who knows how I'll feel when February dawns that Friday promising a couple of full weeks ahead? (Unless, of course, it snows again before Presidents Day and our family Oscar holiday.) In any event, I'm confident that those 6 weeks to spring break after that will fly by in a productive blur, as will the nine weeks left in the year when we return.

This is the point in the school year when the teeter totter tips toward seventh grade for my students. The second quarter is ending, and soon they will select their courses for next year. Fortunately, they don't realize it, but I sure do.

They Say So Much

"Do you like sad songs?" a student asked me yesterday.

"Yes," I answered without hesitation.

"Then you should hear Train food," he told me. "It. is. sad." He looked me directly in the eyes, and I believed him.

I handed him one of the post-it notes I was carrying around as I helped students clarify the claims for their essays and find evidence to put in the outline. "Write it down and I'll listen to it," I said.

"It might have bad language in it," he warned me.

"I've heard cussing before," I assured him taking the pink square of paper and tucking it in my pocket.

I wondered what this child who pushed everyone away and had already lived such a hard life could find so sad.

When I checked out the song I found that it was by a young rap artist named XXXTentacion who was killed in a robbery attempt early last summer at the age of 20. Train food is a track on his posthumously released album and tells the story of a young man kidnapped by death and left on the train tracks to die. It has haunting background sounds and ends abruptly with what is presumably the death of the narrator. It's almost too sad to be sad, but it is pretty eerie, especially given the artists early death.

More importantly, I could see why my student found it so moving, and I'll be glad to have something to talk with him about. Who knows? Maybe we'll even find a connection.

Make Sure to Stretch

I'm hosting a student teacher from now until April. Fortunately, she seems like a person who can roll with whatever comes her way, which is good, because middle school and its denizens demand flexibility. This week was a perfect example:

Her university orientation was scheduled for Monday to prepare her to start in my classroom on Tuesday, but both days were canceled because of the snow. Wednesday we were back on time, but it was a scheduled early release, but she started anyway and went through the professional learning with me and my CLT. Yesterday was a full day, but today there was a 2 hour delay because of light snow overnight. 

"I think I've seen every possible schedule in the last 3 days!" she laughed this afternoon. "And it's been awesome!"

News that Matters

Today was the first day of my new intervention period group, comprised of eight kids who struggle not at all with disruptive behavior, but rather with organization and efficient use of class time. We began with a review of a few tools they might use to know what was coming up in their classes so that they might be prepared, a concept which seemed completely foreign to all of them.

"This is the weekly newsletter," I said pointing to the screen, "Both your parents and you get it every week."

This was news to all but one. He scratched his head thoughtfully. "I think my mom prints it out and gives it to me," he conceded.

His friend chuckled. "You actually read a newsletter?" he asked incredulously.

I moved on. "Take a few minutes to look over it on your iPad," I directed, "and then I'll ask you to share with everybody anything important or interesting that you notice."

A little later I did just that.

Crickets.

"Really?" I asked. "Nobody sees anything that might be good for us to know about?"

The silence stretched on.

Finally I broke it myself. "What about this science test?" I pointed. "Or this social studies project? Or this essay in English? Did you know about those?"

Everyone shook their heads, but they did not seem dismayed.

"Doesn't that worry you?" I said. "These are for tomorrow."

"Nope!" answered one guy cheerfully.

I looked at him in surprise. His tone was open, and not disrespectful in the least. I didn't get it.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because it's going snow tonight!" he told me.