Fantastic Voyage

Back when I started teaching sixth grade in 1993, the science curriculum was organized around the PBS TV show The Voyage of the Mimi, a 13-episode series that showed the experiences of the crew of the fictional research ship The Mimi as they conducted a whale census.

Every unit, lesson, and activity was related to an episode of the show, the idea being to put the skills and knowledge into an engaging, real-world narrative context to make them both more accessible and more memorable. Even though science was not the subject I taught, I was a big fan of the approach. From what I could tell, the kids loved it and learned a lot, and I was sorry to see it retired after 15 years, around the turn of the century.

In 2006, we got a new social studies teacher for our interdisciplinary team, a young woman who had grown up in the district. She was in her mid-20s at the time and had experienced the Mimi curriculum as a sixth-grade student, and she was heartbroken when she found out that the show was no longer being used.

To be honest, her passion for the show was more than a little comical, and we spent many a lunch break reminiscing about the plot and the lessons, and the activities. It was she who told me that, in his first television role, Ben Affleck actually played the young boy, C.T. Granville. (Check out a clip here.)

That teacher has since moved on to another school, even though her daughter attends ours. I thought of her yesterday, though, when I tapped on the link to the daily Name Drop quiz from The New Yorker magazine. The premise is that you get six clues, one at a time, and 100 seconds to identify the subject of the day. The fewer clues you need, the better you do. I confess that I often find Name Drop very challenging-- sometimes I can't solve it at all-- but this week, I am on a roll. I've gotten the answer in one clue every day for the last three.

And for yesterday, I owe it all to my former colleague.

So I texted her to let her know, and she replied like this

Rumor Had It

 "I can't believe you're still here!" gushed a woman at our open house this morning. "This is my daughter," she put her arm around a new sixth grader. "And she was my teacher," she pointed at me.

"Well, basketball coach," I shrugged. "I taught your brother Brandon, though."

The older women with them turned to me with a sizing look. It was my former student's mother. "Girl!" she said. "You've been here a looooooong time." She shook her head. "How many years?"

"This is 31," I laughed.

"Time for you to retire!" she patted my shoulder.

"Maybe so," I agreed. 

"Didn't Mr. H retire?" she asked, mentioning the guy I coached with for many years.

"Two years ago," I nodded.

"I've got to ask you something," her voice dropped to a whisper. "But maybe not in front of the children." She looked around meanigfully.

My eyebrows shot up, but my curiosity got the better of me. "Okay?"

"Were you and Mr. H ever dating?" 

I laughed again. "Oh no!" I assured her. "We were just very good friends."

She gave me that look again, and walked away unconvinced.

Lookee Here Copernicus

As I prepared to welcome my new students this week, I found that in addition to at least six siblings of former students, two of the new kids are the children of students from the past. We also have a couple of kids whose parents are former colleagues, and at the ELA meeting today, I reconnected with a couple of colleagues who are former students.

I'd say that's pretty good for a lady who's worked in the same room for 30 years!

As Seen on CCTV

It was probably a little separation anxiety that prompted Heidi to ask me to check the door bell cam today and see how Lucy was when our dog walker came around. On the recording we saw Sarah open the door and then call for Lucy. 

“She wasn’t at the door?” Heidi notes. “That’s weird.”

So we checked the pet cam to see what prevented Lucy from charging to the door. There we found her sound asleep on the new doggie mat we bought for the couch. A little further viewing showed us her happy return home, tail wagging, and subsequent return to the couch. 

A little while later, though, we came across some footage of Lucy and Milo standing side by side. Then he rubs against her and walks a few steps away. She gives him a deep play bow, and he returns, and then they both walk off camera together. 

“What’s that all about?” I asked, but of course Heidi just shrugged, because? Who knows? 

Weather Report

It was a day spent sitting. 

Our school district scheduled 6 hours of mandatory professional development on diversity, equity, culturally responsive teaching, and Title IX in the morning and then social-emotional learning in the afternoon. In between we were served bbq and all the fixins.

As with many professional learning sessions, we were directed to try out some of the components they were hoping we would use with our students. One such activity was a restorative circle, where we stood in a loose ring in the seats of the theater in department groups and took turns answering a set of questions designed to build community.

Describe yourself in terms of weather was one. 

"61 and clear," I replied when it was my turn, but now, after such a day, I would have to revise my reply: still 61, but a bit of an evening fog has rolled in.

Back to School Shopping

Back to School Night is early this year, just a couple of weeks away, really, and it occurred to me this afternoon that I might feel better if I knew what I was wearing. These past few years my school attire has been almost strictly athleisure, joggers and the like, and so I wasn't feeling that I had as many options as I might have liked when it came to dressing a bit more professionally for the adult crowd I could expect that evening.

Whereas in earlier times I probably would have actually gotten up and gone shopping, today I sat in my chair and clicked through a few retail websites. Then, after making sure that each offered free returns, I ordered some slacks and loafers. As I was doing so, I remembered we have a wedding to go to at the end of October, and so Heidi and I ordered a few dresses to try on from Nordstrom. Next, I found some shoes to go with the dress, and ordered those, too.

Everything should be here within the next week, and we can try things on and return them if they don't work, with plenty of time to go shopping again.

Auntie

"Long time no see," my uncle joked as Heidi, Lucy, and I piled into their apartment a little after noon. He was referring to the fact that we had seen him and my aunt just last Sunday at their grandson's Eagle Scout ceremony. 

Although we live in the same sprawling metropolitan area, my aunt and uncle live on the northern outskirts, and the 39-mile trip never takes less than an hour, and often more. It is far enough that we usually plan our visits weeks in advance, and we never see each other as often as we would like.

On the drive over today, we listened to American Top 40, and Casey Kasem was playing the hits from this week in 1977. As always, I tried to recall what was happening back then, and I realized that Aunt Harriett and Larry had just been married a couple weeks before.

And then there we were, ready to learn how to play Mahjong, a game my aunt loves and plays often. Lunch was first, a light, seasonal meal of a tomato stuffed with tuna salad, served with cucumbers in vinegar, and biscuits, but then it was down to business as we took our seats at the card table my aunt had set up and ready to go.

As I settled into my folding chair I reviewed everything I knew about the game, starting with the iconic scene in The Joy Luck Club, where June, the protagonist, takes her recently deceased mother's spot at the table with three of her mother's dearest friends. "We are your aunties," one of the three players reassures June when she looks nervous. "We are very honest people!" It's a line my sister and brother and I have riffed on since we first saw the film in 1993. 

And that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge, but despite our inexperience and the complexity of the game, my aunt was a good and patient teacher. Heidi and I picked up the basics pretty quickly, and it was close to 6 PM when we left. 

"I'm so glad you came!" my aunt hugged us as we headed home, promising to come again soon. Out in the car, I switched on the ignition and punched the directions into the map app. It was 6:12 PM and the route took us right through Rockville, past one of my mom's old places.