M is for Meeting Options

The homeroom activity for today seemed so promising. 

The counseling staff had recruited volunteers from interesting professions to do half-hour virtual info sessions for all the students. Kids were allowed to read about their options, make a choice, and join the call. 

A particularly appealing aspect to doing career exploration this way was that it was more inclusive; in the past we had one in-person career day for 8th graders only, and seats were limited so kids didn't always get to attend the session they chose. This model opened up the experience to 6th and 7th graders, too, and spread the meetings over three different Mondays to provide more flexibility for students and presenters alike.

Unfortunately, lessons learned the hard way in the early days of virtual learning are already fading away, and the calls were set up so that students had more permissions than they needed. It is still middle school around here, so as soon as certain people realized what they could do, presenters and participants alike were muted, interrupted, and removed from the meetings, and the chats were spammed with irrelevant and inappropriate comments and images. 

Scrambling to recover, the organizers changed the settings and shut down the chat, but it was a little late for that.

Life Lesson: Secure the lobby and only allow selected presenters.

T is for Timeline

I listened to Sea of Tranquility, the latest novel by Emily St. John Mandel, loved it and learned there were characters in it from a previous novel The Glass Hotel. After enjoying that audiobook as well, I downloaded Station Eleven, even though I had already seen the television adaptation. I also listened to Mandel's interview with Ezra Kline on his NYTimes podcast, and they mentioned The Candy House by Jennifer Egan, so I paused Station Eleven and listened to that book. 

Turns out The Candy House is also a sequel of sorts to A Visit from the Goon Squad, which I am listening to now. Truth be told? It's a bit confusing and unsatisfying going in reverse order, but memory and time are themes of all four books. This approach also provides an opportunity to revisit the later books with a new perspective, evoking memory and time on a personal level.

I like that.

Life Lesson: Gμν = 8πG Tμν (Or, time is an illusion that moves relative the observer.)

V is for Vintage

I was listening to American Top 40 as I ran my errands today. An archived episode from this week in 1979, I knew right away it would be the usual mix of little-known records and monster hits from the summer I graduated from high school. Number 40 was a remake of a 1963 Ben E. King single that had also been covered by Tom Jones 8 years earlier, I Who Have Nothing. I had never heard any of the three versions before, and this disco version was pretty terrible. 

Not to worry, though. Entering the countdown at #39 was Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seeger. I tried to imagine someone tuning in 43 years ago and hearing that anthem for the first time, but honestly? It was nearly impossible to remember a time when that classic didn't exist.

Life Lesson: Everything old was new once.

B is for Bad News

This year, I have one of my favorite homeroom groups ever. It is a fun combination of of sweet and salty and quirky. They are generally engaged in whatever we are doing, although not always in a positive way. For example when the planned activity was yet another dive into current events, many could not keep their displeasure quiet. 

"What's wrong with knowing about the world?" I asked.

 "Nothing," answered one, "except it's always bad news!"

"Let's look more carefully," I suggested, scrolling through the recommended websites.

"Russia, Ukraine, climate change, inflation," she intoned, reading the headlines.

"You're right," I agreed and typed good news today into the search bar. I got a hit on the Good News Network and clicked over with curiosity. Baby Eagle Rescued, No Mow Lawn, Giant Jellyfish, Widow Finds Late Husband's Ring Under Apple Tree.

"Yeah," someone else sighed. "Not a lot better."

"Why don't we play LRC," I suggested.

"For candy?" they clarified.

"You bet!" I answered.

Life Lesson: When hit with bad news, pivot.

G is for Gap Year

In yet another example of "things they missed because school was not in person for a year" the sixth graders showed somewhat appalling behavior at the preview of the school play today. Even though we reminded them of the expectation of respectful audience behavior, it seems that our definition of respectful is rather divergent from theirs. 

To be fair, for the most part they were expressing their appreciation for the writing, acting, and singing, of their fellow students, but the way in which they did it, cheering and whistling and chanting the name of certain actors, was totally unexpected and actually disrupted the production. Plus, once they got started with such loud and long reactions, their behavior became even more interactive, like they were yelling at the TV or computer screen at home. 

It is true that occasions public collective viewing have declined sharply during the pandemic years, and these kids could be forgiven for not knowing the social expectations for such events. We adults, too, might also be forgiven for not anticipating the scope of necessary pre-attendance instructions; we assumed they knew how to act, and we were wrong. 

The experience is emblematic of what it's been like to teach this year: there are so many gaps and holes that we are not aware of until someone falls in.

Life Lesson: Expect the unexpected.

A is for At Leisure

After working at my desk until nearly 5, I was eager to get home, lace up my sneakers and take a walk. My preference is always to walk somewhere for something, and this evening it was a quick trip to the grocery store. Heidi was still changing and getting her clothes ready for tomorrow when I sang out a cheerful see you later and headed out the door. 

I stuffed my list in my side pocket and my AirPods into my ears and climbed the steps out of our complex and over the hill to the grocery just a little under a mile away. There I quickly gathered the items on my list, scanned, bagged, paid, and exited the store on my return trip. It was only waiting at the light to cross King Street that I realized I did not have my house keys, so I texted Heidi and hoped for the best. 

But the door was locked when I got home;  Heidi was running, her watch and phone too busy tracking her activity to receive my texts. Our neighbors with the spare key were not home either, so I took a seat on the milk box and began to type this entry on my phone. A couple of paragraphs in I was startled by our neighbor rounding the corner to climb the stoop. 

She was startled too. "I did not expect to see you there!" she laughed. "I was just coming over to borrow some printer paper." 

When I explained my predicament, she went to fetch the key. Opening the front door at last, I found Tibby and Milo waiting, more wide eyed than usual. "Why didn't you come in?" I could imagine them asking me. 

"I was locked out!" I told them, and then went to fetch some paper.

Life Lesson: Make the best of any situation.

I is for It Comes Around

Back when we were self-centered children, I can remember my brother or sister or me asking a rather bratty question: "We have Mothers Day and Fathers Day," I'm sure we noted, "so how come there's no Kids Day?"

"Every day is kids day," my parents answered, one or both, and we begrudgingly left it at that.

I thought about those days this morning when one of my homeroom students made a similar inquiry. "We principal appreciation week and counselor appreciation week and teacher appreciation week," she sighed. "So when's student appreciation week?"

I resisted the urge to answer her just as my parents had answered us, but I did shrug and say, "Everything we do here at school is for you and your education. If we didn't appreciate you, I guess we wouldn't be here."

To which she scoffed, clearly unconvinced.

Life Lesson: When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years." ~Mark Twain.