Bossy

You ain't seen nuthin' til you see your cat go and get your dog to come for dinner.

Day On

I stayed home from school today to work on the school magazine. While I believe in the value of publishing art and writing, and (full disclosure) I do receive a stipend for the project,  it is nevertheless a huge time burden at this very busy point in the school year, and I inevitably end up taking a day off to finish it.

So, knowing I would be spending a lot of time on the computer today, I decided to set a timer to remind myself to get up and move around. Every 22 minutes I did 10 flights of stairs, a hundred crunches, 30 jumping jacks, or... ate a snack. Although I had to endure the strange looks the cat and the dog gave me, and to be honest, sometimes I ignored the timer, in general I could tell I was a lot more productive than I would have been if I had worked straight through.

Noted.

Please Return to Sender

The hundred day writing challenge is down to its final fortnight, and this year we're wrapping it up with the Gratitude Challenge. All students are invited, but not required, to post some thank-yous to all sorts of people in their lives.

When I introduced the activity earlier this week, the inevitable question in each class was "What's the prize?" My answer was that I thought they would find that the challenge itself was rewarding, and I encouraged them all to give it a try. If you send gratitude out into the universe, you never know what you may get in return.

Some scoffed, to be sure, but a handful of kids are participating, and their writing has been lovely and sweet. Even the most minimalist of the bunch has turned some heartfelt phrases. Some letters, too, have been wrenching, reminding me even at this late date that there is so much we don't know about the children in our charge.

Here's an example:

Dear sister,

Thank you for always caring about my mom and I. I know you haven't seen mom ever since you were five, but look at you, twenty years old. Thank you for sending me the El Salvador soccer shirt. I know El Salvador is not good at soccer, but I root for them. I sorry you have to get surgery on your wrist. Make sure to take care for our brother, Omar.

I hope I see you soon,

Carlito.

Sounds Good

The end of the school year finds my students writing journalism-style profiles of their peers. In the past, this has been a very successful assignment, partially because most kids like talking to each other, especially about... themselves. Just last week one student told me that me he felt like laughing and crying at the same time because he loved this project so much. Okay, he might be an extreme case, but the kids do like this work.

Many human interest profiles begin with a lead anecdote, one or two paragraphs describing the subject in action, doing something essential to the angle of the piece. It's sound practice to give students examples as models of what they're trying to achieve, and so today I shared the lead anecdote that a student wrote last year in a profile of me:

Tracey walks straight into her kitchen after a day of work. She preheats the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and then pops in the part of her meal that takes the longest: the potatoes. Then she turns to make the rest of her meal: kale salad fresh from a farmer’s market, roasted portobello mushrooms, tiny roasted grape tomatoes, and toasted almonds. Once the mushrooms are brushed with a sprinkle of olive oil, soy sauce, and pepper, she slides them past a blast of heat that welcomes her as she opens the oven, and onto the oven rack. She chops the tomatoes and adds them to the oven. When the mushrooms and tomatoes are done, she sets them to cool as the potatoes finish baking. Ms. S. then whips up some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and mustard dressing and adds it to the kale salad. When the potatoes have reached their finest, she removes them from the oven and adds some quickly-melting butter, then combines all the oven-cooked delicacies together. She crumbles blue cheese on her salad and is finished with her typical dinner.

Pretty impressive for a sixth grader, eh? And I'll tell you what else; after hearing that passage read out loud four times today, you can bet what I made for dinner.

Of Course it Did

That cheesy special-effects, someone's-shaking-a sheet-of-metal thunder, flicking-the-lights-on-and-off lightning, and pouring-buckets-from-the-boom rain storm that we had a little earlier?

Oh, it's all my fault. Even though the skies were threatening, I just didn't believe "scattered" thunder showers meant us. So, me of little faith busted out of work at 4:30 so I could water the garden.

Sorry!

Vegan Picnic

In the spirit of the traditional Memorial Day cook-out, our menu is this:

Potato salad with a miso-mustard apple cider vinaigrette
Bean salad with mint and cumin
Burmese ginger slaw
Corn on the cob

And for the carnivore?

Throw a free-range pork chop on the grill.

It's going to be a good summer!

Hot and Cold

This unofficial first weekend of summer brings so many opportunities and choices. For example, after working in the garden for a couple of hours this afternoon, I couldn't wait to jump in the pool. But then, after standing on the first step of the pool for a couple seconds?

I could wait.