Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

I'm always saying things to my homeroom like, "You know what I want to know?" and then I tell them. I think it's a good idea to model curiosity and to show them that everyone has things they can learn. 

Like just the other day, we were watching an update on the Webb telescope and another video about the new NASA program to send people back to the moon and beyond. "You know what I want to know?" I said when the video ended. "Well, I actually have a list including space junk and mission time lines, but let's start with this: why is it called the Artemis program?"

"That's Apollo's twin sister," one of the students informed me. "Like the first manned moon program? And she's the goddess of the moon."

"That makes sense!" I agreed, "So why didn't they just name the first one after her?"

Due Time

The world is a little darker this evening. I mean that literally: I spent some of my holiday Monday taking down our lights from the last holidays, packing them neatly in bins, and stowing them in the attic until December. I really liked our lights this year; after the amazing displays of 2020, I decided to up my game a bit in 2021. I did some research on small home lighting arrangements, looked at pictures, and scoped out the neighborhood, and shopped online to create some new light arrangements. Shimmering stars, classic multicolor C9s, rainfall lights, and 50-bulb twinkling globes merrily festooned our tiny decks and front porch.

"Is there a rule about how long you should leave your Christmas decorations up?" Heidi asked me the other night as we were walking over to pick up Lucy. Lots of lights were still cheerfully glittering in the twilight. 

"You mean like no white after Labor Day?" I asked in return. "Maybe everything should be put away by MLK Day?"

We laughed. "That seems like a good rule," Heidi said.

"But I like our lights," I reminded her. "I don't want to put them away."

"I know," she agreed, "but if you leave them up all year, they won't be special."

She was right of course, but I'm still kind of sad tonight.

Granddaddy of a Tale

Doing a little family tree research this afternoon I stumbled on a couple of mentions of my grandfather in old newspapers. In the first, he made national coverage when he testified before the House Select Committee on Small Business on August 23, 1947. As a resident of Greenbelt, one of the federal government's planned, low-income housing communities, he was called to offer his opinion on whether the government should allow competition to the community owned co-op which ran the grocery, gas station, theater, and drug store. 

According to the AP my grandfather got a big laugh when he quipped, "There are three sides to the question, Ploeser's, Patman's, and the truth." Ploeser and Patman were the ranking Republican and Democrat on the committee. 

In response to his remark, Chairman Ploeser reportedly declared, "Sir, if I could, I would give you a congressional medal of honor for that remark."

(The entire transcript of the hearing can be found on pp 257-260 of this book.)

The second mention came eight years later, almost to the day, when on August 27, 1955, a couple of Vermont newspapers reported that my grandfather was suing David Locke, of St. Johnsbury for 15,000 dollars (which would be the equivalent of ten times that much today). According to the suit, Granddaddy was driving on Rte 2 just west of the town, and when he swung out to pass from behind, Locke veered to the left and ran him off the road and into a tree, totaling his car. 

I don't know how the suit was settled, but I do know that 66 years later, we drove that very stretch of Rte 2 this summer on our way to St. Johnsbury, home of Dog Mountain, a remarkable coincidence, indeed.

Poor Lucy

As I write, Lucy is pestering me. We are siting on the floor by the fire, but every time I place more than one hand on the keyboard, she swats at it, telling me to keep petting her. That behavior usually maddens me-- I can't spend all my time at the beck and call of anyone, least of all my dog, but today I'm giving her a pass, because she's had a tough one. 

Starting with a grooming appointment at nine, temps in the 20s that did not go with her new do, and another puzzle on the table, which took a lot of our attention. All first world problems. Oh, there is no doubt she's spoiled, but if there was?

This might be definitive proof otherwise:

Just as I Hoped

I'm kind of strict when it comes to electronics in my homeroom. When the bell rings, the expectation is to power down all devices and, if the announcements aren't on yet, talk to the people at your table. Reading is okay, too, but I take seriously the idea of using homeroom in middle school as a way to build relationships that will help students feel connected to their school, and in-person interactions are needed even more than ever after the disruptions of the pandemic.

Personal devices and, to a lesser extent, independent reading are counter to the notion of community, and that's why I discourage them, even on Fridays, which are designated as "reading" days in homeroom. Luckily, we have staff and students who do recorded book talks every week, and those offer a communal experience around reading, but the challenge of how to cooperatively use the other 30 minutes of the period remains.

In the past, I've had students choose a book that we read aloud together, and that's pretty good, although once a week is not quite enough to solidly hook the group. I also have a few games that we can play around the books they are reading to make our time more social and interactive. And this year, a couple weeks before winter break I was poking through the game cupboard in my room when  I found my mother's set of Bananagrams. My mom loved all word games, and our family has spent countless fun hours pushing tiles around to make winning words, so I set the bright yellow canvas banana bag on my desk, thinking it might be a good way to spend a Friday morning.

The game was a hit! The sixth graders play in teams of two, working together to arrange and rearrange their tiles into little crosswords. I team up with the girl in my class who has speaks limited English, and it's kind of spontaneous little vocabulary lesson for us. "Do you know the word 'poke'?" I might say, and then give her a little one in the arm if she says no. From time to time, I glance up from our game to give hints and advice to the other teams, and after a few weeks of playing, I see improvement in their strategies. Best of all, we are all sitting together around one of the tables in my room, talking and laughing and thinking about words. 

It's awesome!

Spirit of the Challenge

Our brain break today was to draw "a ghost with a pretzel and a strawberry milkshake." We had three minutes to do our best and then post the picture so everyone could appreciate if not our talent, then certainly our effort and creativity. One student finished way ahead of everyone else. "It was really easy!" she said. "You guys are over-thinking it."

When we revealed the drawings we found that she was right, in the middle of all manor of ghosts with their snacks was one elegant drawing of a pretzel and a milkshake floating in the middle of the otherwise blank page.

"See what I did there?" she laughed, and the rest of us could only congratulate her on her quick wit (and pencil)!

Planning Way Ahead

Yesterday, while we were discussing their One Little Words, I mentioned to one of my classes that I had done another new year exercise called 22 for 2022. "The idea was to make a list of 22 specific things you want to do in 2022," I explained. "it was kind of fun."

"What did they do in the year 2000 for that?" one student wanted to know. "Zero things?"

"I don't know!" I laughed. "That's a good question!"

"And what are you going to do in the year 2077?" asked another student. "Make a list of 77 things?"

"Well," I replied without thinking too hard, "I'll be dead by then, so I don't have to worry about that!"

The poor kid looked a little shocked.

"But you should make that list," I encouraged her. 

She looked unsure.

"At least you have a lot of time to think about it!" I said.