Props

It was the last class of the day, fifth time I had taught the lesson, and five minutes until the kids were gone for the weekend. "Would anyone like to share their quick write?" I asked. 

The presence of the assistant principal who had dropped by unannounced to see what we were doing added a bit of energy to the exercise, but it was still feeling a little rote. 

The first couple kids who read were notable for their earnest engagement with the prompt, and I glanced at the clock. "We have time for one more," I said. The student next to me had raised his hand each time, and it was his turn now. 

"'Baseball is my favorite sport, I lied'," he started, and my eye brows shot up with interest. "It wasn't true," he continued, "I loved soccer, but I wanted these boys to accept me."

What followed was an amazing sketch, and when he finished, the assistant principal and I locked eyes with a What just happened?? kind of a look. Just then, the bell rang, and I dismissed the class, but not before I told that writer how well he had done.

In the last 30 years, I have read the work of thousands of sixth graders, and there have been several who I could easily imagine becoming way better writers than I will ever be, but this kid? He might be there already.

Doctor's Orders

I had my first over sixty eye exam today. "Your eyes look perfect," the doctor said. "Especially for a woman of your age-- no dry eye, glaucoma, floaters, or cataracts. And no sign of macular degeneration, which is more common in fair people like us." She seemed genuinely impressed.

I gulped and looked around for some wood to knock. Who knew these were things I needed to worry about? "Thank you," I managed.

"You're welcome," she said. "Keep exercising and eating those vegetables, and I'll see you next year."

Oh, I will. I certainly will.

Dinastía

"I put the good news that your nephew joined the staff on the leadership agenda," my friend and colleague Matt told me this morning.

I knew just what he was talking about. For the last many years I was in that group as team leader, we started every meeting by sharing good news and kudos. I had also read the minutes of the meeting; old habits die hard, I guess. And of course I knew that my nephew Treat had joined the staff to work in Heidi's program

"We think he's the fourth parent-child employee for our school," Matt said, because Treat's mom, my sister-in-law, is the art teacher at our school.

"Fourth!" I responded with furrowed brow. "I know there's Nicki and Garret," I began.

"And Nicki and her mom way back when," he continued. 

I nodded. Nicki, a veteran special education teacher, had started as a personal assistant for a student in my TA over 20 years ago. At the time, her mom was the special ed lead in our building. Nicki's next position was as Heidi's assistant, but by then she was working on her teaching credentials and starting a family. We had all watched her son Garret grow up, even as we mourned the loss of her mom to cancer.

"That makes three," I said.

"Me and my mom!" Matt reminded me. I smiled and nodded, remembering that five years ago when he joined our staff, Matt's mother had been our longtime library assistant. 

"Amazing!" I marveled. "What a testament to our school and community! Not to mention all the former students who have also come back to work here."

Even right across the river from the capital of one of the most powerful countries in the world, in one of the fastest growing places in the country, we still keep those small town connections.

Play for Pay

"Do you have to go to college to be a professional soccer player?" a student asked me today. 

"Are you asking for yourself, or someone else?" I responded.

"It's me," the student replied. "I want to be a soccer player, but I don't want to got to college."

"College soccer is another level up," I said. "It will give you more playing time, and more visibility to professional scouts. That's why many soccer players do go to college."

"Is that true in other countries, too?" the student asked. "Don't they have academies you don't have to pay for?"

"I don't know," I shook my head. "What country do you want to play for?"

"I don't want to say," the student told me. "I just don't want to go to college."

"Well, if you're a good athlete, you can get a scholarship, and then the college will support you in your classes. You can get help and tutoring."

The student seemed unconvinced, and we ended our conversation there, but as I walked away I considered how many, many times over the years I've been a teacher I've had such a discussion, with a few variations. Usually, it's the sport that is different, but today was the first time I've ever had that talk with a girl.

Vantage Point

I was following to my virtual PD session this morning with half an ear and a glance at the screen every little bit. To be honest, they lost me when they started 15 minutes late, posting the registration link at least 4 times in the chat, trouble shooting for stragglers, and gleefully reporting the participation number as it climbed to over 70 people waiting around for it to begin. 

Even so, one name popped out at me from the list of participants: it was a former student who was obviously now a middle school ELA teacher in our district. A quick google showed me that she was a 6th grade special educator at a nearby school, and I thought back to what I remembered about her. She loved to write, and she was pretty good at it, too, despite struggling in other subjects and with executive functioning. 

The first year of middle school can be a crisis year for kids who were holding it together academically with a lot of support in elementary, and that's what happened to her. We met with her parents a couple of times, and even working together as a team to help her, eventually we all decided that testing for special education services would be appropriate in her case. She was found eligible, and with the extra support she received, she became a real success story, working hard to make the honor roll by eighth grade. 

And now here she was, offering other kids the same sort of help she herself once needed to be the best she could. That's the kind of long view that makes having taught in the same place so long so rewarding

And Many More

When Emily requested flan as her birthday dessert, building the whole menu around that Spanish favorite seemed like a good idea, and so tapas it was! And today, as I peeled pears, deveined shrimp, marinated swordfish, cooked chickpeas, shelled fresh beans, scrubbed clams, sliced mushrooms, rolled meatballs, chopped a lotta lotta garlic, so that I could grill, seer, sauté, poach, and braise, it was fun pulling everything together. And this evening, when I plated the jamón ibérico, manchego cheese, marcona almonds, apples, dates, and homemade sourdough toasts, and popped the cork on the champagne, I was really glad to have a chance to celebrate Emily with Bill and Treat and Heidi and Nadika.

No Fault Manufacturing

The wheels were falling off of our top dishwasher rack, and no amount of macgyvering could make them stay on more than one or two cycles. I did some research, and it quickly became apparent that this was a common problem with this model of dishwasher. Indeed, it was a similar situation with our last model that led to its replacement: then the parts to fix the problem were not available, and a new upper rack cost more than we paid for the whole machine. 

But this time, the part was readily available, or rather a redesigned version approved by the manufacturer was easy to obtain, although every supplier made it clear that installation directions were not included. I was a bit daunted by all this, but upon continuing my research I found a YouTube video that made the job seem very doable. With that, I ordered the part. 

And everything was going smoothly this morning when I unloaded the dishwasher, removed the clips and pulled out the rack to begin my repair, until I noticed the extra piece that was not mentioned in the video. Frowning, I disassembled my work, and tapped on the comments. Most were quite positive, but several mentioned a couple of missing steps, and one provided the link to a companion video that helped me finish the job. 

There was one comment that has stuck with me, though. Let me get this straight. They make a defective part, and then they charge to replace it with a "better" version, but don't provide directions, so you have to pay somebody else to do it? Why wasn't it a recall?