Pattern Recognition

"I hate the Oscar movies," Heidi said last night. "They are always, always depressing."

"Maybe this one won't be!" I answered.

It was.

Splash Down

It's been a chilly last few days here, more like March than April. Blustery winds blowing puffy white clouds across a bright blue sky have subsided to a cool gray evening, and the last fire of the season may even be crackling on our hearth this evening. 

But not to worry!

Our pool pass application came in the mail today.

Six weeks and counting.

The Best Medicine

For me, one thing that has definitely been missing from school lately is laughter. The concentration required to keep the necessary plates spinning leaves very little room for spontaneity. Add to that the natural disconnect of virtual interaction, without cameras, with kids you have never met in person and you get a bit of a humor dead zone. Or at least I have.

But today, in my last class of the day, with a lesson I had taught 4 times already, things lightened up a little bit.

Maybe it was "Fun Fact Friday", a tradition I instituted last week with this group because I see them every day, even with block scheduling, and so we need some extra chat snaps. The kids are invited to post any fun fact they know or can find, to school the rest of us. Today we learned that fish can cough, turtle are not silent, and there was a cat who went to college.

Moving on with the poetry lesson, I asked them to post their best definition of simile and metaphor. When Simile is the knock off version and metaphors are the brand you see in a well known store but never get popped up on my screen, I laughed out loud. 

Next it was to write some similes about homework, your best friend, and your family. Here's what we got:

My family are a bunch of wild banjos And yes i mean banjos 🪕 

Me and my best friend are like Mountain Dew and Doritos. 

Doing homework is as fun as smelling rocks 

Doing homework is like when your mom asks to see your phone. 

Doing my homework is as much fun as listening to my fish cough. 

When the bell rang, we were all laughing. 

I have to credit the co-educator I work with-- she and I have gone a long way to make our special education inclusion class a supportive place to learn. I also have to give props to the creative group of students we have in that class. Somehow, we make it work, and today? 

We made it fun.

Ba Dump Bump

The Chat Snap prompt of the day today was Tell us about your favorite animal. Use some poetry!  For the most part, the young poets were happy to play along. A little rhyme, a haiku, some similes and metaphors, perhaps even a quick acrostic poem-- that's all I was hoping for, but as always, there were a few kids who were reluctant to participate. 

"What's going on?" I asked one student who still hadn't posted 10 minutes or so into the class. 

"I can't think of anything," he said flatly.

"Well, what's your favorite animal?" I responded.

"Iguana."

"Oh! That's cool!" I told him. "Do you have an iguana?"

"No." he answered.

"Really?" I said. "Then do you wanna iguana?"

Perchance to Dream

Sometimes I listen to a meditation or podcast as I'm falling asleep. Quiet voices and music replace any restless thoughts or residual anxiety left over from the day: they help me fall asleep and stay asleep. One of my favorites is The Memory Palace. Created and hosted by Nate DiMeo, the show is an anthology, briefly told and beautifully written, of little-known true stories, each packing an emotional or intellectual punch at the end. 

I always make sure to go back and listen to every episode when I am awake, but at night, I set a timer for no more than 10 minutes, and Di Meo's soothing voice and elegant rhetoric calms my turbulent mind. Last night, I forgot the timer, and I woke in darkness after dreaming of voting rights, revolutions, starlings, and swans; I had sleep-listened to ten episodes. I tapped pause, and drifted back to sleep, which might have been dreamless or not.

Cat-astrophe Avoided

My phone chimed right before the class change this morning. I was a little anxious when I saw it was a message from our neighbor across the way, my imagination fabricating all sorts of local disasters that he might be reaching out to report. Fallen tree? Burst pipe? Sink hole? Break-in? Too much mail?

I anxiously tapped in my passcode and opened the app.

I wanted to tell you guys that I keep seeing your two cats in the window when I practice the piano. I love them!

Undedicated

As part of our fiction unit, the young writers in our classes were asked to dedicate their children's stories to someone who helped or inspired them. The addition to their books was purely optional, but we wanted them to realize that although writing can be hard and lonely, publishing is a chance to celebrate one's accomplishments with pride and gratitude.

Most of the dedications were sweet and predictable-- honoring parents, siblings, and other family members. A few were to teachers past and present, a couple were to pets, and one was to a duckling. Some were super snarky: 

I dedicate this book to absolutely no one! 

I dedicate this book to ME ME ME!

And the best one, in my opinion, just happens to fall into that category. It was to me (or not to me, as the case may be).