To the Bone

 When my nephew was three, his scientific mind was already developing. "What's in your ears and your nose?" we would ask him.

"Oh," he would shrug, "that's carteridge." 

His pronunciation my have been off, but he knew his facts. The same cannot be said for the designers of all the decorative animal skeletons that have populated the neighborhood in advance of Halloween. Cats and dogs and rats and even a horse stare blankly through hollow sockets as we pass, but they all have bony little ears on their skulls.

Riley would not approve.

Pinch Me

Last night I dreamed that I was sleeping.

Wow! I must  really be tired!

The Show Must Go On

 Oh my!

Was that me screaming and cussing this morning 2 minutes before my first class call was supposed to start?

Err, yes, yes it was.

The tantrum was triggered when I spilled my coffee all over my work space, drenching blotter, keyboard, mouse and rosters. And instead of hastily cleaning up so that I could start my class, I swept my arm across the table in rage and knocked a few more things into the puddle of coffee pooling on the floor, then kicked my desk chair over, and stomped around, bellowing in frustration, forbidding Heidi to help me at all.

But

the clock was still ticking, and so I furiously grabbed some towels and paper towels and started swabbing my tears and the coffee as fast as I could. Then I righted my chair, plopped down, and rolled over to the still, slightly damp table, dried my mouse on my coffee stained shirt, and clicked JOIN, just a minute late.

And as the little circles glowed on my screen, disembodied young voices wishing me a good morning, my composure completely returned, and I turned on my camera and started the class.

Never the Same Unit Twice

 "Why didn't we ever do that?" many returning students have asked when our conversation turns to what the current kids are working on.

Sometimes I shrug and shake my head and say, "You did!" and they laugh because they don't remember. But other times? I defend myself by explaining that even teachers, no especially teachers, have to keep learning and improving. Then it's their turn to shrug, but nod their heads.

Even so, I've noticed that the most profound improvements often come not from the splashy new activities, but rather from the most subtle changes. Today I reframed some of the writing prompts we use to help our young writers come up with a topic for their food memoirs by simply adding the phrase a story about a time when...

I had a bunch of story starters and we spun a virtual wheel to pick a couple to brainstorm (okay the wheel was a little flashy, especially the fanfare and confetti). The ideas that the studenta came up with were wonderful. In response to a story about a time when you cooked or got food for someone else, we heard stories about cooking a traditional nepalese dish to surprise one girl's parents, a boy making dinner for his mother and grandfather because he knew they would be tired after work, and another young man waking early to make breakfast for his extended family as they slept, getting overwhelmed, and then rescued by his dad when he got up.

The mark of a promising topic I told them, is the emotion you felt and the change in you at the end. "What did you learn from your experience?" I asked each.

"To keep trying, even if you think it's not good enough," answered the first student. 

"Sometimes you have to be responsible and help out," said the second.

"Teamwork really helps!" replied the third.

I think they got it.

No Rest for the Weary

The second Monday in October used to be the first holiday of the school year. It came just at the right time-- when routines were pretty solid, but everyone could use a break after the go-go-go of the beginning of the school year. Some years back, in an effort to add more working days to the teacher calendar, Columbus Day became a student-only holiday; staff was expected to participate in professional learning. 

There was some justification of the move that involved a cursory discussion of whether it was appropriate to mark the day as a holiday at all, given all the terrible consequences of Columbus's journey on the people and lands he "discovered". I more than understand that perspective, and this year I was happy to hear that our state is celebrating Indigenous People Day for the first time. Even so, I got up, logged in, participated in my distance PD, and then planned my lessons for tomorrow and Wednesday. 

I hope the kids enjoyed their day off. 

Nothing Gold Can

The weather has changed. 

The remnants of Hurricane Delta, (the Greek letter, not the name, although I like that it works both ways-- it makes me imagine Delta Burke storming through Sugarbaker's on Designing Women) are sweeping through, turning our fine, bright blue October days into a muggy gray morass. The rain is good for the plants, this I know; that cool dry weather we relished last week had crisped up what is left of our summer herbs and flowers. Still, I feel disappointed. There is something about perfect weather, the exhilaration and joy it sparks, that beguiles me into believing that, this time? 

It will stay.

Pandecorating

Just a little over a week ago I read that retailers were cautiously optimistic about the upcoming Halloween season. "If it's anything like Easter," one guy was quoted, "then we'll be fine. We sold a lot of bunny suits." The thinking was that parents are going all out to compensate for having to keep their kids at home. 

Anecdotally, I can confirm that it's going to be a boom year for Halloween. Walking around our neighborhood, as we do every day, we have noticed a lot of decorations cropping up as October gets rolling. Some houses have little cemeteries in their front yards, complete with tombstones and all sorts of skeletons, both human and other. There are cauldrons and brooms and witches and giant spiders, caskets and cats and ghosts and zombies and mummies, some scarecrows and hay bales and tons of pumpkins, of course. 

When we went to our local big box craft store today, their Halloween section was already on clearance and nearly cleared out, too. Why wouldn't it be? Halloween is sooo three weeks from now. On October 10 it's time to be planning for Christmas, people. 

And this year, I'm looking forward to some spectacular lights.