Transitions Are Hard

You would think that after thirty years I would have this summer break thing managed, and yet I do not. 

As much as I crave a break from the gogo gogo, once it arrives I find myself at loose ends. Oh, I have accomplished many of the things I planned to do-- I've played pickleball, gone to a baseball game, worked in the garden, baked bread, cleaned out my closet, organized the deck, and tackled a bunch of DIY projects, and still I've found myself literally spinning in my chair and solving word puzzles.

But never fear, dear reader, I am confident I will master this life of leisure, so much so that you can look for a companion post come August, lamenting all that is trying about going back to school.

Neither Quick Nor Easy

Ignoring the way that DIY projects are never quite as quick and easy or inexpensive as you think, I ordered a couple replacement poles for the cat structure in our living room. Tibby, in particular, loves to scratch the sisal fiber, and after 4 years, it looks like hell. 

Rather than rewrap the posts, which definitely would have been cheap, I spent almost what the structure cost to get new ones. When they arrived, I realized that swapping them out wouldn't be as quick as I thought, because I had to disassemble the whole thing. 

The parts had been languishing for weeks when I decided on Saturday, that with school out, it was finally the day for the project. So I kicked Milo off the top platform and slid the enormous structure out of the corner. I had the top poles off and the middle platforms swiveled so I could reach the torn-up cylinders I was replacing when I saw that the connecting bolts were not the same size. The new ones were much narrower and would not fasten securely to the old posts. 

Disheartened, I reassembled the thing, keeping one top bolt out, and shoved it back into the corner. Then I headed off to a big box home improvement store with both bolts in my pocket. There I stood long in the hardware aisle, comparing bolts and nuts and considering how best to adapt the misfit pieces. The only valuable thing I left there with was information-- I used the measurement display to identify the sizes of my bolts: they were 8 and 10 mm. 

Not surprisingly, metric hardware is less common in US stores, which explained the dearth of options. At home, I searched the internet to see if there was some sort of adapter I could buy, and it was then I learned a new term, "step stud". Yes, friends, they actually make bolts that are one width on one side and another width on the other. I was able to order 4 from the world's largest online retailer, and I expect them to be delivered tomorrow. 

Will they do the job? Well that remains to be seen, but they did add another 12 bucks to the cost, and of course, the time spent will be more than double what I originally hoped. But that structure is going to stay out of the landfill for a long time.

Half the Price and Twice as Nice

We share season tickets to the Nats with a group of our neighbors, and today was our first game of the year. The group chose new seats this season, so we were anxious to check them out. Last year we were down the third-base line and maybe 8 rows back, and this year we were over in a corner at the end of the first-base line and just 5 seats from the field. 

It was a beautiful day here, sunny and breezy, and Heidi was wise enough to make us stop for sunscreen on our way to the park. We took our time walking through the concourse, checking out the concessions, and finally slipping into our seats in the middle of the second inning. They were amazing, but it was hot on the field with very little of the breeze reaching us down there. After the presidents raced by, so close that we could almost reach out and touch them, I found my eye drawn to the upper deck across from us. It was nearly empty up there and shady; plus they had a much better view of the jumbotron and scoreboard.

At the end of the fourth, I suggested to Heidi that we check out the nosebleeds, especially since we had never been to that part of the stadium. It was still crowded on the concourse; the fans meandering and lining up for ice cream, hot dogs, and beer. The crowd was mostly families; it was Father's Day, after all. We finally found our way around to the escalators and took them all the way to the top. 

Up there it was quiet; there were no lines at the concessions, and a cool breeze blew gently over the sparsely populated sections. We found a couple of open seats in the shade with a great view of the entire field, both bullpens, the hometeam dugout, and the scoreboard, and there we pleasantly passed the remaining innings of the game in complete comfort.

Choice Word

I woke up early this morning with nothing to make me shy away from the day: on summer vacation, there's all the time you need and nothing to avoid. So I hopped right out of bed and headed downstairs.

Baking bread was first on my wanna-do list; my sourdough starter has been languishing in the fridge for a few busy weeks now. When I fetched the big Corningware bowl from its top shelf in the cupboard, I noticed flakes of dried dough around the top inside rim, remnants of the last time I baked. I knew immediately that I was the culprit because I always wash that bowl myself.

I love the word culprit. It comes from the Latin culpa, meaning fault or blame. There is a legend that the noun form comes from a misinterpretation of a 17th-century Norman legal document with the abbreviation "cul prist" short for Culpable: prest d'averrer notre bille (You are guilty; we are ready to prove our case).

And culprit is so much gentler than its synonyms perp, villain, or offender. Once when my nephew, Treat, was very young, no older than 5 or 6, we overheard him admit to his older brother that he had cheated at a game. "Okay, you caught me," he said. "I'm the culprit." Until then I don't think I'd ever heard the word used in conversation, but after that? 

I was a fan.

Job Security

This morning, on our last day of school, I was talking to my fellow sixth-grade English teachers. "You know what's going to be a game-changer for you?" I asked, pointing at our youngest member. "Soon there is going to be AI grading!"

Her eyes widened and the three of us considered, for a moment, what it would be like to have a machine do the hardest, most time-consuming, part of our job. Not only would it save us countless hours, but we could use the instantaneous feedback to coach students to make the changes and corrections in real-time.

"Right now you can assess writing using the standard rubrics they have on the site, but in a few years?" I continued, "You'll probably be able to put in your own rubric and have the writing graded instantly!"

I was thinking about our conversation and my promise to explore the options when I sat down with my laptop this afternoon. No time like the present, I thought and typed in a few search terms. I was rewarded with free trials of two AI grading sites, one of which claimed to have custom rubrics, but which really only allowed me to choose the categories I wanted assessed from a standard list. With that one, I was also able to select the level of work I was submitting, elementary, middle, or high school, and the genre.

I started by copying and pasting a few of my students' writing. The results, for middle school, were in the C range, even though I had given it a B+. When I shifted it to elementary, the results were closer. The feedback was detailed and mostly accurate, but not to the point where I would recommend using it to either my colleagues or students.

Then I decided to run my own writing through, and I pasted a few blog entries. I was dismayed to receive Cs and Ds on my work! 

Let me give you an example. Here is a piece of writing from March 2009, back when I started writing my daily slice of life.

It's rainy and cold here. Last weekend we had unseasonably springy temps in the 70's, but when I woke up this morning, this gray Saturday reminded me a little bit of those endless weekends when I was a kid. My gosh, back then it seemed like the raw, wet, late-winter weather went on forever, and come March, my brother and sister and I ran out of things to do in the house by early Saturday afternoon. My parents had plenty to keep them busy, however, and so I have memories of a lot of wandering through the house, sighing. I probably threw myself on the couch or my bed a few times, too.

I have no children of my own, but I am aunt, by blood and friendship, to more than a dozen kids, aged 1 to 16. They are fun to have around any time-- an afternoon, overnight, weekend, or even for a week or three in the summer. In fact, we have a couple of god-daughters here for the weekend right now.

We had a great day today. We made waffles for breakfast, caught a super-corny magician/comedian at the local cinema and drafthouse, hiked a national park with the dog, watched a couple of movies, and then spent some more kitchen time on homemade pasta, meatballs and sauce. Up next? Roasting marshmallows in the fireplace for s'mores-- cause that's what aunties are for.

Here's what app.essaygrader.ai had to say when I ran it through at high school level:

Evaluation:

Organization: The essay lacks a clear organizational structure. The ideas are presented in a random and haphazard manner, making it difficult for the reader to follow the flow of the essay. There is no clear introduction or conclusion, and the paragraphs do not transition smoothly from one to another.

Progression: The essay lacks a clear progression of ideas. The writer jumps from one topic to another without providing any logical connection between them. The lack of progression makes it difficult for the reader to understand the main point or purpose of the essay.

Development of Ideas: The essay lacks sufficient development of ideas. The writer provides vague and general statements without providing any specific details or examples to support them. The essay would benefit from more specific and concrete examples to illustrate the writer's points.

Conventions: The essay contains several grammatical errors and lacks proper punctuation. There are also inconsistencies in verb tense usage. The writer should proofread the essay carefully to correct these errors.

Language and Vocabulary: The language and vocabulary used in the essay are informal and colloquial. The writer should strive for a more formal and academic tone in their writing. Additionally, the essay lacks variety in sentence structure and word choice, making it repetitive and monotonous.

Suggestions:

- Organize the essay into clear paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details. This will help the reader follow the flow of the essay more easily.

- Develop the ideas more fully by providing specific examples and details. This will make the essay more engaging and persuasive.

- Proofread the essay carefully to correct grammatical errors and improve punctuation.

- Use more formal and academic language and vocabulary in the essay. This will make the writing more professional and credible.

- Vary sentence structure and word choice to make the essay more interesting and engaging to read.

Estimated Grades:

Organization: D

Progression: D

Development of Ideas: C

Conventions: D

Language and Vocabulary: C

Overall Grade: D

I guess I get that a machine can't appreciate the impressionist style of this slice of life, but wow! The sentence structure and word choice comment stings. As for the several grammatical errors,  I had to run a separate report to see what they were. 

Error: temps - Suggestion: temperatures Error: this gray Saturday - Suggestion: this gray Saturday, Error: a little bit - Suggestion: a little Error: those endless weekends - Suggestion: these endless weekends Error: come March - Suggestion: when March came Error: brother and sister - Suggestion: brothers and sisters Error: in the house - Suggestion: around the house Error: early Saturday afternoon - Suggestion: early on Saturday afternoon Error: however, - Suggestion: However, Error: so I have memories - Suggestion: so I have many memories Error: of a lot of wandering - Suggestion: of wandering Error: through the house - Suggestion: through the house, Error: probably threw - Suggestion: probably threw myself Error: or my bed - Suggestion: or on my bed Error: aged 1 to 16 - Suggestion: aged one to sixteen Error: any time-- - Suggestion: anytime-- Error: cinema and drafthouse - Suggestion: cinema and draft house Error: a national park - Suggestion: the national park Error: Up next? - Suggestion: What's next? Error: cause - Suggestion: because Error: aunties - Suggestion: aunts

As you can see, many of the "errors" are misreads by the AI, and would be perfectly understandable to a human reader. Some of them actually contribute to the style of the piece. 

Ultimately, I wouldn't use any of the feedback to revise this piece, because it's clear that the app didn't understand the intention and standards of the genre. But in the not too distant future? I bet it will.

Meeting the Deadline

 "Your room isn't packed at all?" one of my students noted this morning. "I think you're the only teacher like that."

"Don't worry," I assured him, looking at my watch and noting that my last class would be over in about half an hour. "It will be!"

And it was when I left today. 

They Called it the Streak

 Here's what I did yesterday:

• taught all day
• attended a grade-level meeting 
• heard unwelcome news about not using the middle school model in our middle school
• posted the announcement and writing challenge for today
• read and added the last of the 100-day writing posts to my spreadsheet
• went to Target to buy the last writing challenge prizes
• graded (and commented on) 96 profile pieces and a number of children's stories
• put the grades in my grade book
• set up my grade book for final grades
• added comments for the report card
• exported my grades at 12:15 a.m.

Here's what I didn't do yesterday:

Post my blog! 

And I didn't even realize that my counter had been reset from 5, 217 days in a row to zero until my friend Mary sat down in a chair in my room this afternoon at 1:30 and asked, "Did you write your blog yesterday?"

After a moment of stunned uncertainty, I slowly shook my head. "I don't think I did," I said in disbelief.

"You didn't," she assured me. "But at least you have something to write about today," she finished with optimism.

Write about, certainly, and process, too.