OLW 2022

Another year, another One Little Word assignment-- regular readers might remember my new year tradition of asking my students to share one word that represents something they want more of in their lives in the coming year. This time, instead of asking the young writers to compose a paragraph about their choice, they simply posted the single word, and then each read it to the class and explained why they had chosen it. Seeing the words stand alone was powerful, but hearing the student's voices as they elucidated their ideas was quite poignant. I think I'll do it again this way next year.

Here are the words they chose:

Learn
Productive
Relationships
Success
Sleep
Kindness
Read
Happiness
Me
Science
School
Joy
Chocolate
Light
Doors
Focus
Hope
Remember
Balance
Responsibility
Cats
Acceptance
Therapy
Candy
Intelligence
Love
Screentime
Games
Laughter
Helpful
Comedy
Active
Smart
Intelligence
Taste
Responsibility
Food
Cash
A's
Adventure
Lively
Friendship
Achievement
Change
IQ
Trust
Ambition
Accomplishment
Math
Lacrosse
Competition
Control
Work
Apple cider
Soccer
Luck

So Old It's New

After a few weeks away from school, a couple of the students' iPads were a little glitchy this morning. "Not to worry," I told them, (the students, not the iPads) "I can print out a copy of the assignment, and you can just do it by hand."

They are so used to completing assignments electronically that such an offer seemed very novel to them. "You mean you just push a button on your computer and the paper will come out there," one kid pointed to the printer.

"Yeah," I shrugged, "that's how it works."

"Wow!" she replied without a trace of irony. "That's amazing! Technology today!"

Lazy Sunday

The rain started at around 10:30 this morning, and true to prediction has continued steadily all day giving us a gray and slushy Sunday. "I have three options," I told Heidi around 11:30, after a nice little brunch. "I could do the NYTimes Sunday puzzle, watch some episodes of Evil, or get out the jigsaw puzzle that Richard and Annabelle gave me for Christmas."

"Choose less screen time," she suggested, and so we cleared off the dining room table, brought over an extra lamp, and dumped out the puzzle. It's been years since we've taken the time to do a puzzle at home, so many that we wondered how our nearly 5-year-old cats would take it. But we needn't have worried, both of them and the dog curled up in their beds and slept away the rainy afternoon, while we made excellent progress.

Around 5, I stretched, put on my new winter raincoat, and took the dog for a quick, 2 mile walk, and then it was back to the puzzle, knowing that winter vacation ends for real when the alarm goes off tomorrow morning at 5.

Going Strong

Today would have been Elvis's 87th birthday, had he lived. I know that because a couple of days ago would have been my dad's 87th birthday, too. It's funny to think that those guys were born just 2 days apart-- my dad didn't have a lot of Elvis-like qualities. 

Today is also Heidi's parents' 56th wedding anniversary, a date easy for me to remember, because, see above. This morning Heidi decided she wanted to do a little more than usual to help her folks celebrate the day, since they aren't really eating out because of COVID. So we had some flowers and prepared food delivered to them from the grocery store near their home. That way, her mom won't have to cook, and they will still have a nice meal. 

It took us less than 10 minutes to get everything picked out and sent on its way with the promise that it would be at their door in less than two hours. "Wow!" Heidi shook her head as I closed the lap top. "That internet! It's still pretty amazing."

Counting the Days

When we heard the news yesterday that school would be closed today also, giving us an entire snow week, one of my colleagues texted: Enjoy the rest of your 7 day weekend or your 3 week winter break, lol!

I'll take it either way!

Longterm Memory

I was waiting to drop a package outside the UPS store when a woman coming out stopped and called me by name. "It's Mallory's mother!" she said.

I remembered her, and we had a nice conversation, but as she walked away I was still a little surprised that she recognized me, because 1) a KN95 mask covered more than half of my face, and 2) it had been 20 years since I taught her daughter.

I must have made a big impression!

Roadblocks

This morning I decided to use my third snow day in a row as one of the required five floating professional development days built into this year's school calendar, and I was feeling pretty productive plowing through items on my recertification list when I hit a bit of a jam. 

It's a state mandate that all teachers certify in first aid, CPR, and AED as part of license renewal process. Our district makes it as convenient as possible, offering an online course for the first part and several in-person options for the hands-on portion, but it was the online course that slowed my roll; I just didn't want to see or hear about graphic injuries, even in the service of helping those who might get them. When I got to Bleeding and Wounds it was time to take a break, and so I went to the grocery store. 

With the exception of random piles of slushy ice here and there, the roads were fine, and it was with a renewed sense of purpose that I entered the store to accomplish the next item on my to-do list. I was reviewing my list as I wheeled my cart into the produce section, when looking up I skidded to a halt and gasped. The shelves were almost empty! At the butcher counter, it was the same situation. Don't get me wrong; although I left the store without several items on my list, we want for nothing. Without oranges and arugula, green beans, squash, and avocados, there is more than enough food on our shelves and in our fridge to last a good, long time. 

The storm-impacted roads, added to the already fragile supply chain, and the binge-shopping people always do when snow is forecast, had left the grocery store more depleted than I have seen since, well, 2020.