Getting the Layout

One of the question I have been asked the most since students have returned to the building is, Who carved their initials into this desk?

It's a question I cannot answer. "The desks aren't mine," I tell the students. "They were moved into my room for social distancing. In a regular year, I have tables."

"What do you mean?" asked someone yesterday. "What kind of tables? Cafeteria tables?"

"No," I shook my head. "Classroom tables." I swept my arm in an arc across the room. "You know, like school tables, where students sit together and work and learn and share their ideas." 

"Oh!" the kid nodded. "I get it! You're a table teacher."

"Right!" I nodded. "I sure am."

May I Just Say

I spent a big chunk of the day wrangling errant students and compelling them to finish incomplete assignments from the last 4 weeks. It can be maddening work in the best of circumstances: trying to catch kids up without letting them fall too far behind or holding up the rest of the class requires planning and coordination, even when 3/4 of the class aren't physically present. But, we do what we can.

For the most part, the kids willingly obliged, and when they had rectified their missing work situation, they even seemed relieved. And one kid even put some gratitude right into his assignment. 

Answering the last question of his unit reflection, What questions or comments do you have for me? he wrote, "You are very patient with me. Thank you."

Which made the tribulation totally worth it. 

Maybe Monopoly?

For some unknown reason, the testing schedule this year has teachers proctoring exams in classrooms other than our own, even when our rooms are empty. As such, I have spent the past 2 Monday mornings in a science classroom down the hall from my own. 

Since we are not really supposed to be doing anything other than roaming the classroom watching the test-takers take their test (proctor is a verb, after all!), I have become rather familiar with the contents of my colleague's room in thew hours I have spent there. She teaches life science, and in the cross-curricular spirit of our school, her bookshelves are full of novels and trade books that are related to that discipline. Michael Crichton is especially well-represented, and there are copies of that non-fiction classic The Hot Zone as well. 

But it was the stack of board games tucked in the corner that caught my eye. She has about 10 copies of a cooperative board game called Pandemic. The premise? Players are skilled members of a disease fighting team, and it is your job to keep the world safe from, well, a pandemic. Along the way there are politicians and panic and people who do not follow the guidelines. 

Now, I love a good game, and I don't know about you, but that does not sound fun to me.

As the Case May Be

 I was helping my 7th grade niece catch up on some of her math assignments. "We can work on this tomorrow, too," she suggested. "I have until 11:59."

"Okay," I said, "But I have to go to school tomorrow."

"But it's asynchronous!" she said. Yeah, she knows that even though she lives in Georgia.

"Not for me," I shook my head sadly. "I have to give the SOL."

"Which one?" she asked.

"Believe it or not?" I told her, "it's 7th grade math!"

If I May

News today that most mask mandates have been eased or lifted for those who are fully vaccinated. The latest data reports that a little less than 48 percent of the US population has had at least one dose of a vaccine, and here where we live the number is 60%, which is actually closer to 80% of those who are eligible. And just as Pfizer has received approval to administer their vaccine to anyone 12 or older, several students told me yesterday of their weekend plans to be vaccinated. 

Living in a bubble of like-minded people makes it hard to understand why anyone would remain unprotected from the virus, but a conversation I overheard between two kids at school yesterday showed me of why we are not further along in vaccinations. 

"I'm not getting it!" one girl told a classmate.

"What??" the other student was stunned. "Why?"

"I haven't gotten COVID yet, and I don't think I will. I think I'm resistant."

"Won't your parents make you?" the other girl wondered.

"No!" she said. "They won't get it either."

I looked over from my desk. She had her mask pulled down to her mouth.

"Cover your nose, please," I reminded her.

She sighed and with a little roll of the eyes adjusted her mask.

May the Road Rise to Meet You

The question of the day was What is something you did that you will never do again? In addition to our check-in conversation, I was aiming for the students to uncover an alphabiography topic (a short personal narrative with a life lesson at the end), and for many the prompt did just that. 

Never again will they

walk behind a metal swing while someone's on it

leave the house without money

take a road trip without a charger

ride a roller coaster

touch an electric fence with a slice of pizza in the other hand (Spoiler alert! The cow got the pizza.) 

eat a whole habenero

wear white to school

walk away from the oven when cookies are baking

take a test without studying

eat sushi

run around like crazy near barbed wire

stick tweezers in the outlet

take a deep breath of salt and vinegar chips

go to online school

prank call the police

text the wrong person

cut their own hair

touch a cicada

pour sand on a leaf and eat it

steal from their parents

swim with sharks

expect school to be fun and easy 

 Lesson?

Learned.

Come What May

As we putter on in to the final weeks of the school year, We are offering our students a choice of mini-projects to demonstrate what they have learned this year. One of the options is a tried-and-true assignment: a letter to the future you. As part of the planning process students fill out an outline with all sorts of questions to help them think about who they are now and who they might be when they open this letter. Reading through their replies is always a joy-- they are so funny and honest, and I am always reminded of why I have chosen to spend so many years in the company of tweens. 

The last question is What are some words of wisdom you have for yourself?

Only a handful of kids have completed this part so far, but here are their unedited thoughts:

Study hard because I'm coming for you

Know what’s weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything will change. (Bill Wattersom) 

 you are powerful beyond measure 

 Me, I want you to remember to keep your love of learning, learn math, and I want you to remember that whenever times are hard, I want you to go out for fresh air and spend time with those we love. You are UNIQUE!

if live gives you lemons throw them at somebody cause why do you want lemons the only thing i can think of that lemons are good for is steak and there is better stuff to put on steak and limes are better cause they can be used for more things 

 I hope that I’m still the one who helps out my friends with my listening and advice. 

 You learn more from failure than from success... 

 “Hard work means nothing if you don’t believe in yourself” 

 Dont do anything stupid