A little leeway

The IREAD Rant

2012-03-04T16:47:00.000-05:00

Huddle up peeps. If you don't know about this, you need to. On Wednesday, all of our 3rd graders across the district will take a test called IREAD. The test will take about 70 minutes to administer. If the kiddos fail this ONE SINGLE test, they will get a chance to go to summer school and take the test again in the summer. If they fail that time, they will spend another year in 3rd grade. Other states have laws like this one, and now Indiana does too. Every time I look at a 3rd grader at Artful School, I think, "Dumb luck that you're the first group of peeps who are going to be hurt by this idiotic and barbaric law." We've worked really hard this year, helping the third graders get ready for this test. They've read, and read and read some more. Kids with special needs may qualify for a "good cause exemption" for retention. Thanks, State of Indiana! Thanks for the caring! If you want to read about some studies that show retention doesn't help kids catch up with peers, check this out. The article's not that great, but it does share some studies. Everyone wants studies these days. Scientific studies. It's just common sense that retention is a moronic plan for any child.
Send good thoughts a third grader's way on Wednesday morning. They're great kids who don't deserve what they're being dished up. And if you ever want to send an email to a legislator about this unfair law, go for it. So far, the emails haven't worked, but who knows? Maybe some Congressperson will have a third grader in a public school (right!) who will figure out that a big mistake has been made when their kid's future is dashed because of unfair retention.

The Hyperbole

2012-03-03T12:22:00.000-05:00

I feel like I have good ideas and that these ideas are frequently rejected by Husbandman. Last week I suggested we see War Horse, because it was nominated for an Oscar. "The only way you'll get me to War Horse is inside a coffin," replied Husbandman. Today I suggested we head over to see the Quilt Show. "Sounds great. Maybe on the way we can get root canals too," replied Husbandman.

We're going to have to review the whole "support, don't thwart," mantra over here on High Street.

The Horror

2012-03-01T21:15:00.000-05:00

Testing all week. If it's not one test, it's another test. Then after that, guess what? It's another test. In the midst of this nightmare of a week, I did get to hold this leopard gecko called Cheetoh. And I had some good conversations with some kiddos. After I hear kids read certain books, I'm supposed to ask literal, inferential, critical and creative questions. I can make these up myself, thanks be to GOD! After the Meet My Family book, I asked a sweet boy if he thought it was important for families to spend time together. He said, "Yes, because it's how you get more loving. You see each other and you share your love and your loving gets bigger and bigger." Full points for that answer, obviously. I asked another kiddo the same question. This kiddo is a handful and he spends much of every day doing exactly the opposite of what we ask him to do. He replied, "Yes, but my family just yells at me. That's all that happens every day. They yell and they yell and they yell. Everyone yells at me. They don't know that I'm trying to put together some good days here!' As yet, I've seen no real evidence that the kid is trying to put together anything that comes close to goodness, but maybe he's just doing his best, and his best kind of sucks, in general terms. Obviously the kid deserves full points for that answer as well.

Thanks to standardized testing, I was able to feel renewed empathy for this little kiddo. (HOORAH FOR STANDARDIZED TESTING!) 6 more school days til spring break. Not sure I'm going to make it, my friends. Teetering on the edge. Light a candle for me, if you do that kind of thing.

The Granny

2012-02-29T19:52:00.000-05:00

Read with a squirrelly little firstie today. We'll call him Squirrel. This kid is absolutely cantankerous and drives all of us out of our minds. I had no confidence that he would consent to a reading test with me this afternoon, but he did. At first he tossed the book and asserted all the usual flim flam about not being able to read. After the flim flam jimmy jam, he finally started reading. "This is my brother. We like to make sand castles. This is my sister. We like to sing. This is my grandma. We like to go boating....Well, SO DO I YOU OLD GRANNY!" I burst out laughing and so did he. A fun, bonding moment, which is pretty rare with this kid. He's usually screaming out all day at the top of his lungs stuff like, "Stop looking at me. I'll punch you in the face! SHUT UP! You are an IDIOT!" The kid's not much of a charmer, but he's not all bad. During the test, he held a TRANSFORMERS pencil the whole time. He refused to tell me where he got it, when I asked politely. After the test, he ran into his big brother's class to give it to him. Luckily, Big Bro's teacher was okay with the disruption and the exchange was pretty sweet. When Squirrel came out he said, "I had to go give that to him. He loves Transformers." I fear he may have stolen that pencil from a classmate, but what can I do about it now?

I read Dear Mr. Blueberry to the kinders yesterday and then we wrote books about our own pet whales. Little Red Head decided to name his whale, "Little Red Head." He said to me, "Whales live in lakes."
"I think they live in the ocean," I told him back.
He screamed at the top of his lungs, "THE OCEAN! That's called the BEACH!"

These little boys. They slay me.

The Windy City

2012-02-27T20:12:00.001-05:00

We are heading to Chicago for spring break. Husbandman and I are the two people going. #1 Son has some odd plan that involves going to Texas. Will learn more about that soon I'm sure. I've gotta get going on some dinner reservations. Maybe Green Zebra? Maybe Frontera Grill? All so good. And now we're thinking we may travel on up to Nova Scotia this summer. See some whales? Check out some pelagic birds in the Bay of Fundy? Not sure yet, but this could happen. We ordered a Doers and Dreamers pamphlet from the Nova Scotia tourism bureau.
Don't want anyone to think that I'm ignoring the reality of the day to day. Vowing to do my best to help the Artful School kids get through ISTEP week with calm courage and confidence and a little bit of fun too.

The Movies

2012-02-26T22:28:00.000-05:00

I saw The Artist. Didn't like it. The Help wasn't that great either. My 3 faves are Descendants, Moneyball, and Midnight in Paris. All good. If one of these could win, I'd be pleased. Saw Hugo. Liked it a lot, but I don't want it to win. Did not see War Horse because it seemed dumb. Did not see Tree of Life. Seemed odd. Now I have some regrets about that, because who knows? Maybe it was good. 2011 was a decent year for movies, but I'd like to see the industry put a little more effort into the movies in 2012. Come on, Movie Industry. Do your best, forget the rest.

The Animated Film

2012-02-20T18:39:00.002-05:00

I made this film this morning on toontastic.

The Work

2012-02-18T14:17:00.000-05:00

I'm at work today, but I've decided to stop working and do some blogging. BLOGGING BREAK!!!

BREAK TIME's OVER! Back to work!

The Sarn

2012-02-16T19:43:00.000-05:00

Big discussion today about how I don't refrigerate my lunch when I get to work and about how my office mate is freaked out when I eat egg salad sarnies. My officemate (mom of Hank, see hand below) inexplicably initiated this discussion in the midst of a curriculum mapping committee meeting, in front of 8 teachers I know barely at all. I asked the others if they thought the 3 hour lack of refrigeration was weird. They all agreed with my office mate that it was weird. One implied that I could be putting myself in mortal danger. Another suggested that I freeze the bread from now on if I'm not going to refrigerate my sarnies when I get to work.
Geez people. Lighten up. The sarnies are still cold from the fridge.
Anyway, we eventually got back to the tedious task of curriculum mapping, and our day moved on from there. It was actually pretty fun hanging with these peeps, who all seemed to sincerely care about my health.
And tonight I bought some yellow snapdragons. And I took a walk.

The Productivity

2012-02-13T20:09:00.000-05:00

I was just a zippin' and a zoomin' today and that is how I like a Monday to go. Sweet moment with the firsties. I was showing them a power point I made about flow maps. A student teacher was back at the computer advancing slides for me as I stood in front of the screen. Every time a slide advanced they would scream out and yell questions like, "How are you doing that?" and "You're not magic!" It seemed funny to me that they didn't know about power point. I told them I would come back and teach them how to make one. That's going to be extremely fun.
On a pertinent side note, we have a little kinder who has taught me some great terms that you too may like to use in future---Fuckerass and fuckerbitch. V. inappropriate of course, if you're 5 years old. If you're 51? These terms can and will come in super handy.

The Cranes

2012-02-12T11:10:00.000-05:00

Saw thousands of cranes at Goose Pond yesterday. Sand Hill Cranes. We also saw a hawk flying low, along the road. I'm having a hard time identifying it. Might be a Roadside Hawk.
It was about 15 degrees when we were out there, which really didn't allow for much lingering, as we searched for the Hooded Crane, a rare and mysterious bird that has lost its way (FROM RUSSIA AND JAPAN) and is hanging out in Indiana with the Sandhills. Still, I'm pretty sure it was out there, and I probably did see it.

On a more important note: Today I read the obituary of Patricia Stephens Due, a civil rights activist who believed that "ordinary people can do extraordinary things." She wrote a book with her daughter called Freedom In the Family and she wanted to give attention to the movement's "unsung foot soldiers." These are the folk I've been teaching the kids at Artful School about---people who marched and protested whose names we don't know. I will share her story with the kids along with my next book for the One Book, One Fairview Project. I think it's going to be Freedom On the Menu, because Patricia Due also desegregated lunch counters. She basically spent her life fighting for civil rights. Today I'm giving Ms. Due her due, with gratitude and respect.

The Redness

2012-02-10T21:59:00.000-05:00

Because of my high blood pressure, I have to take blood pressure medicine. I took one dose this week and within an hour my entire head and neck were red. I had to speak at a teacher meeting the next day and I was a redhead most of the day. So embarrassing, but even worse, I had a stomach ache that led to vomiting. This medicine can not be great for me I figured, so I called the doctor and now I have to take another kind of medicine. So I'm a little nervous about taking this medicine. Obv. Anything could happen.
Happy Weekend Dears.

The RedHead

2012-02-09T20:50:00.000-05:00

Little Redhead has discovered where my office is. He loves to come in at random times during the day. As he enters, he screams, "DR. H!!!!!" I'm always happy to see Little Redhead, so I invite him to play with some of my HAPPYMEAL toys while we talk. His teacher keeps finding him in my office, and she's really nice about it. As she walks him out, I always call out jauntily, "Come back any time, Little Redhead! Always happy to see you!" I can't help it. This kid makes me truly gleeful.

The Inferring

2012-02-05T11:34:00.000-05:00

My task is to make a short power point about inferring for a teacher meeting that will happen this week. I'm working with 2 other literacy partners who have done most of the work on this 50 minute presentation on inferring. When I was in graduate school, I always prided myself on being the hardest worker in any group project. It was a point of pride and perhaps even some arrogance to constantly praise myself about how I worked harder than other people. With this group project, I've been a total slacker. I had some reasons for this that had to do with time constraints, but I have to admit it. I slacked. Because I slacked, I've been given a very easy job to do this weekend: Make a ppt based on 3 key points in a chapter of the book we're all reading. But now that I'm finally getting into making the ppt on the 3 key points, I'm finding I have a few disagreements with the 3 points. So, I'm tempted to go a bit outside the box with this power point, and introduce a more social view of inference. Which was not in the plan. And as the slacker, I do feel a certain obligation to stick to the plan of the people who actually put time and thought into this task.
Not sure what I'll do yet. But at this point, with not much time left before we present, it's time to do my best and forget the rest.

The Q

2012-02-02T20:31:00.000-05:00

A new blog is born! Gotta give props to Q's Music, the blog about music that #1 son endorses and enjoys.

The Bowl

2012-02-02T20:24:00.000-05:00

I wish I could get into the super bowl somehow this weekend. I'd really like to livetweet the game. If there's a will, there's a way. I'm getting a ticket if it's the last thing I do.
Everyone always says to follow your dreams and that's there's nothing you can't do if you set your mind to it. So if you have a super bowl ticket, please give me a call and give it to me.

The Room

2012-01-28T11:35:00.000-05:00

For 2 years, 20 Something's Daughter has been empty (shrinelike) and we really haven't used it at all. This year (2012) I got the great idea to start using her room as a place to work. I'm very productive in here. And very happy. THANKS, 20 Something! I'm living up to my Woolfian potential. Still sad (to v. sad) you're gone tho. Just fyi.

The Cuff

2012-01-26T10:28:00.000-05:00

I had to buy a blood pressure cuff because my blood pressure, after an entire lifetime of being low, has decided to be high now. (I hate you for this, blood pressure). I have to take several readings and then go back to the doctor in a few weeks. Every time I take my blood pressure it's high. Sometimes it's v. high. And then I feel like crying and I worry about having a stroke. I'm having a ton of fear and anxiety about taking my blood pressure. I hate to do it and I get short of breath right before I put the cuff on my arm. I'm supposed to take my blood pressure today, but I don't think I can face it. My blood pressure can go to hell as far as I'm concerned.

The Gifts

2012-01-23T19:07:00.000-05:00

I'm crazy about this bearded lizard who goes by the name of Spike. He's so gentle and kind. I'm glad I overcame my fears and let him crawl on my body.

On another note, I went to a baby shower after school today. We ate food and watched an incredibly hard working and very pregnant young teacher open up gift after gift. I found myself longing for a type of shower for myself that involved gifts. Not sure what the theme of my shower should/would be. But if I could open up a bunch of gifts for an hour, I know I'd be in a pretty good mood after that. I could have a "Getting sick of having a cold sore shower," or a "My eye twitching has returned and is driving me crazy Shower." If you have any good ideas for showers for yourself or for me, let me know.

The Desire

2012-01-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

My desire to finish a task today is bumping up against my strong anxiety around the task. This is the conundrum of the ages. Instead of working, I took a short nap. Now I'm at the desk. But instead of working, I'm blogging. Going to crank up the timer and see what happens.

The Newbies

2012-01-20T21:43:00.000-05:00

With my one Book one School project, I'm going around reading books to one and all. This week it's Martin's Big Words. After the reading, I give the kiddos a blank booklet and a sheet of quotes from the book. They can pick quotes to glue into their book and then write their reactions to the quote. The kids are writing such moving comments. The project's a success so far. Today I walked up to 2 new 5thsters and introduced myself. They told me their names as they were cutting quotes into their books.
"Did you love the book I shared?" I asked them and they both replied in the affirmative.
"What about this project I made up? Don't you think it's pretty cool to make these little books?" They nodded and smiled and both said something about how it was fun to make the books.
"I love you both already," I told them, "and I'm so glad you're here."
Those kids were darned friendly and I loved their openness and sincerity. Welcome New 5thsters!

The School

2012-01-18T21:31:00.000-05:00

Today I read a poem/song with some 3rd graders about the Erie Canal. Had a mule and her name was Sal. 15 years on the Erie Canal. Through discussion of the poem which was inscrutable to the kiddos, I taught them about canals, the cities of Albany and Buffalo, barges, hauling, and the art of navigation. And also mules. I have nothing against introducing new concepts. In fact I'm for it. Why wake up in the morning if you're not going to learn anything new is basically my mantra. But I'm going to need to bring in some visuals I think to really seal the deal on this. One thing I've got to figure out is this: Did mules pull the barges up the canal? How'd that work out?

The Sparrow

2012-01-16T09:48:00.000-05:00

I think I might just be coming out of the torpor that's been imposed upon me by the GREAT HEAD COLD OF 2012. Evidence: Saw a song sparrow this morning. Reading a beautiful little book called Missed Connections that everyone should read if they want. Stood and walked a goodly amount of paces with no tissue box cradled in my arms. Smiled a few times this morning.

Next steps: Actually considering making a plan or two.

The Pin

2012-01-14T21:02:00.000-05:00

I taught at Saint Angela Hall Academy in Brooklyn New York in 1984 and 1985. While I was teaching in that beautiful little school, I asked my mom to get some materials for me from the MLKJr Center in Atlanta and she sent me a film strip that I showed for about 20 years until film strip projectors didn't exist anymore, a set of post cards and posters that have been on bulletin boards in 3 different states and a small pin with Dr. King's image on it. I love this pin and wear it every year for much of January. On Friday we had our Dr. King convocation at school, which was v. excellent. After, I was helping corral kids to their lines. A little firstie came over and gave me a huge hug. Then she looked up at my pin and said, "Now who is that?"
"It's Dr. Martin Luther King, the man we've just been talking about!" I replied.
"Hmmm. We used to call him Junior," she told me back.

I explained that I had just left off the Junior part and that his name hadn't changed. What a sweet kid. My new book for the whole school is Martin's Big Words. I've read it now to 2 first grade classes, a 2nd grade class and a 5/6 combo class. They've all responded positively and I'm loving this project. So, thanks MOM for helping me share Dr. King's legacy with so many kids over the years! And Thanks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for reminding me to choose the path of love and non violence. Happy King Holiday, Everyone!

The Teacher

2012-01-11T20:16:00.000-05:00

Our friend Nance was in the paper yesterday. Nance's students had their writing published in an anthology. Her kids get published every year. Nance believes in showing kiddos what power their writing can have when it gets out in the world. Besides being a world famous writing teacher, Nance is just an all round great pal. If something needs to be done, Nance gets it done. If you need help, Nance is going to help you. If you just want to talk about everyone in the world who's bugging you, Nance is right there with you, agreeing and supporting. Nance is an inspiration to me, and to a few others around here. Thanks for being capital G for GREAT, Nancer. Love you doll.

The Classrooms

2012-01-10T20:53:00.000-05:00

Today I worked in 5 classrooms. The firsties are really starting to write now. After I listened to their pieces, I kept whispering in their ears, "Your writing is like a rocket ship that's flying all the way to the moon!" They did seem pleased with this creative simile. I wouldn't mind teaching first grade again. I love the way they learn how to read and they're mostly super friendly. I had fun with 3rdies and 4rthies as well today, making our thinking maps about the book These Hands. Those were my last two classes for the One Book One Fairview Reading project. The kids are starting to get into it. The 4th graders asked questions like, "What's taken you so long to get back in here?" and "Do you have the new book picked out yet?" I told them that I was probably going to read something about Dr. Martin Lurther King Jr., and they all cheered. So that settles that! I keep thinking I can turn this project into a nifty little paper, but I haven't gotten organized yet, so who knows. Maybe it will be just for fun, as they say in Akumal.

The Working

2012-01-09T20:12:00.000-05:00

I have gotten to work with grade level teams on a bunch of different tasks for the past two days. V. fun stuff. But sometimes we have to talk about sad stuff like low test scores. We all get through it, but it can be tense. And I hate adding to teacher tension. I want to be supportive, 100%, but I did have a cold today and had to blow my nose a lot, so I was probably blunter than I could have been. Sorry teachers, You know I love you all dearly and respect the hard work you do.

But here's the really big news. I've had 5 pairs of pants in my closet for months (one has been in there for over a year) because I never like to take things to be hemmed and I have short legs. But good news!!! I got them hemmed at a great shop and now I have 5 new pairs of pants. WAY to get the job done!

The Firsties

2012-01-07T14:19:00.001-05:00

I read this beautiful book to some firsties and some seconders yesterday. It's about a boy and his grandfather. The grandfather has a stroke, and slowly recovers with little grandson's help. The firsties were a little freaked about strokes as I read. They kept saying stuff like, "This is really sad." and "I'm scared to get old."
I intervened when I heard that last ageist remark, saying, "Getting old isn't scary. It's fun. Look at all my grey hairs. I'm getting pretty old and I'm having a great time!"
The kids eyed me suspiciously and then Little Cutie asked, "Have you had your stroke yet?"

I explained that not everyone gets a stroke and the kids calmed down a bit. We finished the story and they all cheered at the end. So I'm pretty sure they liked it. Kudos once again to you, Tomie dePaola. If you're reading this, let me tell you first hand that I love your books.

The Tweets

2012-01-02T19:52:00.001-05:00

Tonight I will live tweet The Bachelor, and so will 20 something Daughter. And maybe KC will too?
I guess you might say there's a certain amount of irony in the fact that at this very moment I'm reading a book about a society that matches its young people by partnering people who can create the healthiest offspring together. It's an eerie little book, but it has made me think more about arranged marriages. An arranged marriage reality tv show would be fun to watch. This might already exist somewhere. I'll investigate. Okay, this concept has already been developed.

The Fries

2011-12-31T16:40:00.000-05:00

For the entire year of 2011, I have not eaten french fries. I ate a ton of other bad foods, probably more so than usual because of my moratorium on fries, ttytt. I actually ate a ton of onion rings, which really can't be good for me any way you slice them. Streibie and I boycotted fries together, so I'm hoping we'll eat some fries together very soon. Possibly tomorrow. But now Streibie wants to boycott potato chips for a year. I'm telling you, this would be harder than the fries. Chips are my fave food, ttytt.

The Awareness

2011-12-30T17:24:00.000-05:00

It's weird to admit this, but until recently, I had it in my mind that after this 4 year college gig, 20 something would come home and live here again. It's weird to think that I was thinking that. Just one day it hit me that I was on the wrong track with my thinking. Most people know that after college, people find their own places to live. I brought this topic up with 20 something this afternoon, as we walked around cool, quiet Ogle Lake. She concurred that my new realization was closer to reality. So that's good.

It's not that I have nostalgia for times past. I've got my head on my shoulders there. For a fleeting second, I thought about grabbing a pal's kids to go see the Matt Damon Movie about the zoo. But then I remembered how little kids are pretty bad at watching movies and always want to leave at the good parts to go to the bathroom, or start asking when the movie's going to be over when you're only 20 minutes into it.

So there you have it. New reality-based awareness. Looking forward. Keeping calm.

The Arts

2011-12-29T21:56:00.000-05:00

You know that book called The Marriage Plot? Well this day was the day I read that book for 8 hours straight. So good! And you know that movie Breaking Dawn? Well this evening was the evening that I went to see the movie. So bad that it's actually quite good! I'm glad I devoted myself to the arts today. At first I was kind of nervous (Okay, I was totally freaking out) about not getting stuff done as I kept reading hour after hour, but then I decided to just go for it and chuck my plans out the window. Getting the chance to read all day is an opportunity that must be seized and cherished. Check out this book and this film if you feel like it. Probably Marriage Plot will please you more than Breaking Dawn, to tell you the honest truth, but still, you really can't go wrong either way.

The Team

2011-12-27T19:51:00.000-05:00

The team is back from a trip full of cheerful cheeriness. In short, we love our kin.

We got to see the new Mission Impossible film, starring Tom Cruiser. This is one of those movies that you should really see if you feel like it. It's full of gadgets and get up and go. You never know when a ghost protocol may be put into play and all you'll have is the team standing between the world and total annihilation. Something to think about.

The Talons

2011-12-22T09:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, here's what happened yesterday. I watched a Cooper's Hawk scoop down on Ballantine, scrubble through some ivy vines and kill a small bird with its talons!

Enough said.

The Books

2011-12-21T13:13:00.000-05:00

Psssssst. I shouldn't be blogging right now because I am mapping out this hour to do a little work. So, let's keep this on the downlow. Finished Henrietta Lacks. Didn't read the long ass afterward about cell tissue cultivation and ethics, but I did love the story. I think that Rebecca Skloot is a darned good writer. Here's the bad part. When I was reading the book, I marveled at how clearly she explained some tough scientific ideas. But after reading, when trying to explain these ideas to Husbandman, I couldn't really remember the important details. I see this as a failure of the author, not the reader. Now I'm reading a book called Buddha Standard Time. It's helping me let go of my anxiety about time and to do's. Temporarily at least. These books are good. You should read them if you want to.
Now I'm slipping back into my work mode. Fare thee well, mah fronds. For now.

The Meeting

2011-12-20T18:46:00.000-05:00

Annual downer meeting with the investment counselor happened to me today. I did my usual shtick of nodding and smiling as he yakked about why our meager savings never seem to increase, but are sure to do so in future some time. When Accountant asked if I was following everything, I said, "Well, no, but I'm getting the gist of it." He started talking to me like I was a total moron, pointing to charts and gesturing flamboyantly. Whatever buddy. As 20 something daughter said when I talked to her later, "That situation has gender performance written all over it." I think she's right and somehow I'm vowing never to display a lack of confidence to an accountant ever again. This is my solemn vow.

The Sandwich

2011-12-19T22:13:00.000-05:00

Piers interviewed Kathy Griffin tonight. He asked her if she could relive any 5 minutes in her life, what would it be? She said that she's had some really great sandwiches that she'd like to re-eat. This resonates with me as I myself had a really great sandwich for lunch today. It was from Jimmy John's. #6, light on the mayo.

The Cork

2011-12-17T17:45:00.000-05:00

2 things of not much consequence have happened to me in the last 24 hours. First off, last night I was at a friend's soiree. I asked the young man tending bar for a scotch on the rocks. Such a festive drink. I talked to Nance and didn't notice that the young man tending bar had filled the glass with about 4.5 inches of scotch. "Whoa, honey, that's a lot of scotch," I told him, trying not to sound discouraging.
"Just carry it around and drink it like a sprite," the young man tending bar said to me, with an unexpected tone of nonchalance. Geezlouise. It looked like I was drinking a glass of iced tea. I didn't drink it all. No one could have. No one on this entire planet.

Then here's the other thing that happened. I was making some ramen and didn't notice that a wine cork had rolled onto the burner until it had caught on fire. That burning cork has left a horrid smell in our entire house. Sorry, housemates. Sorry that I was such a dork with the cork.

Watching IU now. We're winning, but just barely.

The Groundhog

2011-12-16T17:23:00.000-05:00

Saw a groundhog walking along a front yard across the street from Artful School. Just today. What in the world is a groundhog doing downtown?

The Fandango

2011-12-13T22:55:00.000-05:00

I told firstie teacher today that we might try having LOUDKID sit in a laundry basket during read to self time. I saw pictures of kiddos sitting in laundry baskets on the Daily 5 web site. Come to find out cool firstie teacher had an extra laundry basket. LOUD popped in like he was born there. Read his books for many minutes. LOUD usually drives me crazy, but today I got to see his sweet side.

Spent the evening with GoodPal Menosky. I always love a good chat and fun dinner with Good Pal. Lots of holiday cheer.

The Monday

2011-12-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

Let's see. What happened to me today? I wore a beautiful beaded necklace from Ghana. I went to a most excellent violin concert put on by our very own students. Go tell Aunt Rhody. I read These Hands to some fun little fifthsters and we talked about racism at the Wonder Bread factory. Had lunch with some teachers and helped them grade papers. Co-Taught some reading to some little firsties. Got to hold little Hank Heffernan as he sucked happily on the Ghanian beads. His hands are starting to work and he can sit up straight and be part of everything. I love him so and I love his hilarious older brother as well. Then this afternoon, something extraordinary happened. Mitz and I met. We drank coffee and started outlining our next research project. It's going to feel so good to get back in the game, and any other sports metaphors we can throw in here. And be forewarned Ms. KCW, we're going to start doing a little bit of writing as well. Pretty big day for a Monday.

The Fun

2011-12-11T22:24:00.000-05:00

When we lived in San Francisco, we ate Chow Fun fairly regularly. But Indiana either has bad chow fun or no chow fun at all. BUT GOOD NEWS! Come to find out, a new restaurant in town has quite tasty chow fun. Answer to my prayers. We ate it for dinner this v. evening.

The Shot

2011-12-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

Winter's coming on and I can feel it in my sleepiness on the weekends. Yesterday I was fully dressed, hair washed, ready for an outing, when all of a sudden the couch called me over for a morning nap. It felt good to get more sleep (rose), but then my hair looked weird for the rest of the day (thorn). But I still went out to the movies in the afternoon to see the new Clooney. So good, so sad (thorny rose). But then we got home in time for the IU game and my energy level soared through both halves. I was almost having a heart attack. When Watford put in that three at the buzzer to win it, I was screaming like a person on fire (bouquet of roses). Even if you don't live in Indiana, you should get a video of that game and watch it because you will be so happy after you do. Here's a fun video of everyone at Nick's watching the game. This video screams EXCITEMENT AND FUN! Check it out.

IU Upsets KY - Celebration at Nick's English Hut from Tarun Gangwani on Vimeo.

The Coaches

2011-12-09T19:09:00.001-05:00

Come to find out, I was required to drive up to Indianapolis to attend a meeting for coaches who work at really high poverty super low performing schools. I was not really looking forward to this, ttytt. A chiding by the state? No thanks, I'll pass, Ricky. This is the kind of thought I was pondering as I drove into the sunrise, drinking coffee and listening to an audio CD about living a more enlightened life. The morning session was not great, but lo and behold the afternoon was awesome. I heard 2 coaches speak and they were smart, lively, hard working and innovative. I learned a thing or two from these coaches. Kind of wished the state had required I drive up to hear these peeps 2 years ago when I started coaching, but I'm trying to live my life with fewer regrets, so I'm simply looking forward to trying a few new approaches to coaching next semester. Why not?

On the way home, I heard Nat King Cole singing his Christmas song. I was surprised to learn it was written by Mel Torme. Mel must have made a bundle on that little # because it's supposedly the #1 Christmas song of all time. The song's about 65 years old this year. Hats off to Nat King Cole and Mel Torme. Job well done, sirs!!!

The Worry

2011-12-08T22:17:00.000-05:00

I thought I lost my phone today. But I didn't.

The Garden

2011-12-07T21:31:00.000-05:00

Today I WORKED with TEACHERS on CURRICULUM! We talked about works of art and inquiry centers and original creations. Miro, Jansen, Chihuly, Calder, Bernstein, Tinguely. This is stuff I dream about. I LOVE (note use of capitals for emphasis) doing this kind of work. Talking with teachers, planning stuff, revising the plan, then revising it again. The artful units people are writing are going to be spectacular learning experiences for all of us. I loved that a big part of my day involved staring at this painting, pictured here, above. I loved that teachers included me in their planning conversations. This was a fab day. A buzz, it was.

ps. fyi. I've been pronouncing Joan's name incorrectly for about 30 years. It's like this: Jwan Miro.

The Writers

2011-12-06T19:51:00.001-05:00

Lots of work with young writers today. Some of them were excited to be writing. Gleeful even. I want to support the peeps who are still trying to crack the code, but it's so hard not to be jazzed when you can actually read the writing of the kids who are starting to figure it all out.

Little Red Head took awhile to get writing. I told him to get busy, and he drew a huge X in the air, basically right in my face. I whispered to him, "I'm going to tell your teacher you just did that."
"Okay, sorry!" he said, as he picked up his marker and got back to work.

One other, unrelated event: I was asked to help out in the cafeteria today, so I grabbed my water bottle and headed into the fray. Set my water bottle down and walked about, supplying napkins, ketchup, and some words of friendship to the littles. When it was my time to leave --- no water bottle. Come to find out, hunterman threw my waterbottle away. He said he didn't know who owned it so he threw it away. And the trash had been removed already. I forgive Hunterman, but that waterbottle was one of my best waterbottles.

The Haircut

2011-12-05T21:45:00.001-05:00

Eventful day, peeps. What can I tell ya? An eventful day.

First, Little Redhead was standing about 20 feet away from me, right down the main hallway, as I talked to a colleague. He stood perfectly still, staring at my face, rubbing his hair with both his hands. It was clear that he wanted me to notice his new haircut. When the colleague was done talking, I directed my attention toward Little Redhead, asking, "Did you get a new haircut, Little Redhead?"
"Yes, I went to Walmart first, but they messed it up, so then I went to the other place called the barber."
"Well it really looks nice, buddy," I told him.
"I know," he said as he sauntered casually down the hallway, back to kindergarten. This kid kills me.

So that's one of the things that happened today. The other thing that happened is that I worked hard to reflect on ways I'm helpful to others at school, and to celebrate my helpfulness. I got this idea out of a cheesy leadership book I'm reading. Though the advice in the book is cheesy, it did help me to feel more positive and to stay calm til christmas. I helped some 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade readers and a few teachers too. It feels good to be helpful. And I celebrated this by acknowledging it, and by having some wine with Mitzi, at the Uptown.

And here's the other thing. I gave a reading inventory to a bunch of 3rd graders and they had to read a passage about HANGNAILS. No one knew what a hangnail was. Not even me, it turns out. Some thought it was a nail you hammer into the wall to hang stuff on. Others thought it was a hanger, for clothing. Come to find out, upon reading the passage, we all found out that a hangnail is just a piece of dry skin hanging off your cuticle. It can get red and sore because of rubbing against fingers and various other objects. Now, I've always thought a hangnail was your actual fingernail cracking in a weird painful way, and just hanging off from where it normally should be. But I have learned otherwise. Just a piece of dry skin. Near the cuticle. Do not bite it off! Use nail clippers, but don't do anything if you are a very young person who could hurt yourself with clippers. Just try to ignore it.
PS. Husbandman rejects this definition, and the linked photos, of hangnails. He does not believe that these are hangnails. Weigh in on the controversy if you find yourself with some extra time on your hangnails.

The Spree

2011-12-03T22:21:00.000-05:00

I'm addicted to this Tom Perrotta novel called The Leftovers. Can not stop reading it. But good news! I forced myself to stop reading for a few hours and did some serious shopping. Seriously put a dent in the long distance list. Feeling pretty darned good about this. I was going to head to work tomorrow for long overdue DATA ENTRY, but now I'm thinking, let's just get into the holiday thing and go and get the tree tomorrow. COME ON! Just get the TREE! It's a startling new concept that can only be described as cutting edge.

On another note, Tonight we had a great dinner celebrating One Woman's 50th birthday at a lovely local restaurant. Everyone there asked me how I was doing with the Calm Til Christmas Initiative. And here's the thing. Haven't been doing well with this of late, but I'm back on track. This week actually sucked big time, BUT I'm back in the game dolls! CALM til CHRISTMAS! Or, more appropriately pronounced in a level 1 whisper voice...... calm til christmas. it can (and will) be done. Oh yes, it can (and will) be done.

The Movie

2011-12-01T22:45:00.001-05:00

Whole day literacy cohort meeting today. I showed a little movie I made about some awesome teachers at Artful School. It was a pretty good movie, with some exciting ending music. Now I'm watching one of my fave movies of all time, The Fugitive. I should be going to sleep, but there's no way I can stop watching this movie once I catch a glimpse of it on the television set. And now I'm watching a movie preview ad for a movie that looks pretty dumb called War Horse. 3 movies, past, present future. That's what today's been all about.

The Glove

2011-11-30T23:16:00.000-05:00

Poor kiddo lost her glove today. I wanted to get her gloves out of the social worker's office, but I couldn't find any. Lots of underpanties and socks, but no gloves. What the hey? This firstie-girl feared her mom may have mixed feelings about the missing glove. We searched, but in the end, there was nothing to do, but send her out in the cold with her little hand stuck into her coat pocket. Later a little kinder had spilled spaghetti sauce all over his nice white polo. His teacher asked me to help him get a new shirt at the social worker's office and that I ask someone to launder the polo. I didn't even know we had laundry services. The dryer's broken today come to find out, so the kid was stuck with a black tshirt, that he desired to wear with his polo collar smartly displayed outside of the tshirt collar. Do you get the look I'm going for with this description? Anyway, I wish I had the magic power of replacing lost or soiled garments, in a small amount of time. That would be pretty neat. And even useful.

The Snow

2011-11-29T22:04:00.000-05:00

Let's see. What happened today? Well, for one thing, today we had a fabulous snow, but it didn't stick to the ground. While I waited for Husbandman to pick me up at artful school, I stood out in the falling snow for a bit. The night felt cool and lovely. Super dark with shiny flakes floating about. Then we zipped over to Cafe Django for some snowy jazz and nutty noodles. #1 sounded great. Snow. Jazz. A good day. And we still have a few hours left. I kind of don't want anything to happen though. That was enough.

The Work

2011-11-28T23:09:00.000-05:00

Artful People came to our school today to help us with our upcoming units. Some people get a little annoyed with the Artfuls because they really push us to think about our units in new ways. I know I'm not a teacher writing a unit, but I love these conversations. I love the point where the tension builds to a pretty intense point and then dissolves when we all find ourselves coming around to a new idea through consensus. It's tough stuff, and great work.

The Exits

2011-11-27T18:47:00.000-05:00

Let's see. What happened today? Nothing too much, except that my first born child got on an airplane and exited the state. She'll be back in 17 days, so I guess I should just stop whining. Still, this exiting the state thing really sticks in my craw. And #1 Son has applied for some out of state colleges, verily, this very day. Even though I begged him not to do so. I don't believe in pressuring the children, EXCEPT when it comes to exiting the state. That kind of behavior really goes too far.

The Turkeys

2011-11-26T17:12:00.000-05:00

Our time together was too short, but also too much fun.

The Gratitude

2011-11-24T22:41:00.000-05:00

Dia de Accion de Gracias. One for the record books. Food, family, fun. Festivity. Gratitude galore.

Tomorrow, I will blog about the big hand turkeys we made. They are amazing.

The Youth

2011-11-23T17:20:00.000-05:00

Twenty Something Daughter arrived today. And so did WonderNeph. It's nice having the youth around. We took a walk on campus and visited the IU Art Museum. Saw an exhibit of posters that were made in Iran during and after the 1979 revolution. The poster makers were not huge fans of the U.S., let me tell you. Cool posters though, nevertheless.

The Hallway

2011-11-22T22:08:00.000-05:00

A medium was sitting down outside of his classroom door this afternoon, which usually means someone's taking a little time out from classroom life. "I suck at behavior," he told me as I walked by.
"We all have things we're working on, Bud," I assured him. He really does suck at behavior, but he is charming in lots of ways. I have to admire his critical consciousness. And the amazing patience of his teacher.

The Stuff

2011-11-21T23:43:00.000-05:00

Stuff was happening all over the place today.

Probably best thing that happened was getting a new book in the mail from Good Pal Menosky. She read on my twitter about my new pin that shows the title of the new book ONE LOVE, (remember it's adapted from the Bob Marley song) and SHE SENT ME THE ACTUAL BOOK. I sang it with my home visitors this very evening. I am so jazzed to think of GPM, far away in Michigan, reading my tweets in the first place. Then to get a book out of the whole thing was an awesome bonus. I want to work on #bookaday over the winter break, so I'm stacking up the picture boks a mile high. Thanks, GPM. SO MUCH! The book's beautiful.

Another good thing that happened was that we got some home visitors. Sister In Law and Brother in Law to be exact. And we went to an IU basketball game. It was a great game. Big lead for IU. One problem was that I didn't know the name of the team we were playing. So all through the game, the announcer kept saying, "Foul for Gardner Webb" and "3 pointer for Gardner Webb." So about halfway through the second half, I said to Sister IL, "This Gardner Webb does it all. You can't stop this kid. But it seems like he would be fouled out by now." That's when she told me that Gardner Webb was the name of the team, not an actual person on the team. So that was a little embarrassing.

Another thing that happened is I got another horrid visual migraine from 2:25 to 3:05. Really messed up my work.

And now back to the great things that happened. I got to spend time giving a reading inventory to a little girl who kept stopping the inventory to teach me songs and tell me stories. At one point we were reading about sisters and she said, "My little sister is really nasty. She eats grease off the comb!"
No one's ever said that to me before, and right away I recognized it as something I probably would never forget in my entire life.

So that was a day for the record books.

The Rubbing

2011-11-20T18:37:00.000-05:00

Got back from 4 glorious days with JUDITH in Chicago at NCTE to find that some deer who's in rutting season has RUBBED and SCRAPED my tulip tree that I planted from a sapling. Okay, I didn't plant it from a sapling. Someone came and planted it for me when it was pretty large already, BUT, this tree is our up and coming tall tree for when our other dying tree next to it actually dies. SO ANNOYING! I give everything to those deer. And this is how I'm repaid? Couldn't rub and scrape the dying tree. If that tulip tree dies, there will be hell to pay.

The Lunch

2011-11-19T21:26:00.000-05:00

Yes, had lunch with miscellaneous missives today. Is that wild or WHAT? Two bloggers, who have never before met, come together for lunch at a Greek restaurant, in a city far away from their residences. MIND BLOWING! It's called the power of the internets, mah fronds, the power of the internets. And now I've learned, from using my literacy skills, that MM had her birthday yesterday. Geez, I wish I had known that pre-lunch.

Also went to a lot of great sessions. And ate some deep dish pizza, aka Chicago staple.

I've spent 45$ over the last 3 days to use the internets. I take the challenge seriously, and I'm ready to put my money where my blog is.

The Profession

2011-11-18T18:43:00.001-05:00

I went to a hell of a lot of great sessions today, but probably my favorite was called something like, "Where would we be without Paulo Freire?" Most everyone reading this knows about Freire, but if you don't, skim this and realize his awesomeness. There were 5 people on this panel, educators doing absolutely phenomenal work in schools. All the speakers talked about the power of a teacher to make a difference in people's lives. I started crying because sometimes I feel I've downplayed the power of a teacher in my own mind. I've even told my own two amazing children NOT to go into education. I've let my frustrations with the educational system chip away at my own sense of self worth as an educator. NO MORE, MAH FRONDS! Today I listened to the words of amazing critical educators and I felt inspired by them, and proud of my own attempts to make some small difference in the ways schooling works for kiddos. 20 something daughter, and #1 Son, If you want to be teachers, you really should. It's a tough gig, but an amazing one. And of course I will proudly support you no matter what you choose to do!
So, what happened to me today? I rededicated myself (ONCE AGAIN) to this beautiful job we call teaching. NCTE does this to me every time! Now, off we go to Bin 36!

The Hotel

2011-11-17T08:51:00.000-05:00

Come to find out, there's a new blogging challenge. I read about it at Indiana Rock, but the initiator is Pronto Pup. (Thanks, Pronto. This is going to be awesome!) It's all about writing things that happen to us each day. Nothing's happened to me so far. I've been quietly and with great consideration for others checking email in the dark because my ncte roomie, judith, just keeps sleeping. I've been up for hours. It got to be 8:30 and she was still silent as a cadaver. Finally I whispered to her, "Judith, you've got to wake up. I want coffee and I don't want to go without you. I'll be too lonely."
Now the good news, Judith is in the shower and soon, rollamos.

The Packing

2011-11-15T22:52:00.000-05:00

Problem with packing. How many times have we gone through this? I'm going to get it done and then I'll be on the trip.

Today I wrote with some suave seconders. They were a boisterous crew, but I loved being back in action with writer's workshop. One kiddo didn't want to write. He asked to go to the restroom, but I told him to write a few sentences first. He went over to a corner and cried for about 20 minutes. Then he came back to his table and wrote a sentence. I compromised and sent him off to the restroom. When he came back he was carrying a huge piece of wet paper towel, which he was laying over his face while still simpering. "I need to go to the nurse now," he whinged. "I'm not feeling well."
"Not going to happen pal," I told him. So the crying began anew. Luckily, recess time came and he cheerfully went off to play, with nary a care in the world.

The Advice

2011-11-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

2 bits of advice I'm trying to integrate into my Calm til Christmas Initiative. This one guy said that it's important to manage your energy as opposed to managing your time. So when I feel my energy being ZAPPED by some energy zapping event, I try to move on and do something nice for myself for a few moments, recharging, so to speak. And this other guy said that we should all have To DON'T lists that we treat with reverence. Today my To Don't List I wrote, "WORRY!" And when I felt myself pulling back into a worrisome mood, I would take some breaths and try to remember that for today I am not going to worry. It works temporarily.

The Trip

2011-11-12T17:20:00.000-05:00

I'm obsessed with a Chicago song right now. "Hold me now. It's hard for me to say I'm sorry. I just want you to stay!" I was never a huge Chicago fan, but somehow, in hindsight, the songs sound kind of good and weird.
It very well might be because I'm going to Chicago on WEDNESDAY !!!! V. excited about NCTE. I've spoken at NCTE for the last 10 years in a row. This year I'm not presenting and I thought I would feel anxiety about that, but I really do not. Not speaking at NCTE has really helped me with my goal to stay calm to Christmas. That initiative is going v. well by the way. I'm having fun and getting it done. And Chicago is 4 days away.

The Braggadoccio

2011-11-10T20:39:00.001-05:00

#1 Son and I (and Husbandman) were in the paper today. #1 Son was selected as one of the Arts STARS! from our local high schools. I was listed as his mom (and husbandman was named as his father). I feel v. proud. Along with a list of great musical accomplishments, #1 made a nice comment about how important music is to him. I've noticed that. The kid's either playing music or listening to it pretty much all the time. Tonight he played a gig at the Convention Center. And right now he's in bed reading about a musician, Miles Davis. Congratulations, Arts Star! BASSically, we think you're FAB!!!! Get it??? BASSically??? BASS????

The Centers

2011-11-09T20:10:00.000-05:00

Teachers worked on Artful Learning units today. I worked with 3 different grade levels. I'm excited about their inquiry centers. With the 3rd grade team, I am helping plan an inquiry center on "food systems." I want to compare fast food and slow food systems. With the second grade team, I'm going to try to put together an inquiry center about Bloomington's first settlers. I spent hours thinking about these centers today and really haven't started putting anything together. I'll figure it out. I like doing this kind of work. But it takes time and a lot of brain work. So much easier to just teach someone something than to set them up for learning it on their own. Wish me luck!

The Prayers

2011-11-07T05:33:00.001-05:00

Friends, Our Good Pal Dorothy Menosky has put in a request for prayers. Her wonderful sister in law Georgine has recently been diagnosed with cancer. Dorothy can probably tell us more in comments. But for now, send some prayers, vibes, heart sensations, loving thoughts, out to the world for Georgine today.

The Adult

2011-11-03T19:23:00.002-05:00

20 something daughter turns 21 today. She's a grown up person now. And for some reason this birthday of hers has brought me a deep sense of accomplishment throughout the day. Happy Birthday, 20 something. Now you are really 20 something, and not 20 nothing. You are so loved. And so loving. We are feeling v. lucky around here, just knowing you and knowing you'll be home in less than 3 weeks.

But here's the bad part. We've got a chipmunk running around in the house. We see it every few days, darting here and there. It ate a package of ramen in the laundry room/pantry area. And it's freaking me out. Turns out we have a live trap, but come on. I'm supposed to pick up a cage with a live chipmunk in it, gnashing its teeth and growling at me and throwing its body against the cage walls?????

The Blog

2011-11-02T19:24:00.001-05:00

I've been driving up to Indianapolis for a conference every day this week. It's not the greatest conference, but it's not the worst conference either. At one session we got to "backchannel" which is basically just twittering with the other peeps in the room during the lecture. It was fun, but I wish the speakers had interacted with our comments a bit. Seemed like parallel play. I checked my emails/blog/twitter/facebook during the talk and found out that WordSavvy met a blog reader who is neither friend nor kin. An actual, detached reader, out in the world. Reading about this reader made me want to pimp my blog during the backchannel so badly. I kept thinking about how I could work it into our chat about educational shifts toward 21st century skills. In the end, I showed restraint and did not pimp this blog. That was tough stuff, but I decided to stay focused on the talk, the backchannel, and my twitter feed and just enjoy the moment.

The Holiday

2011-10-31T20:52:00.000-05:00

Kids don't come to our home (have never come even one time) for trick or treating because we live on a busy street with no sidewalk.
We don't even buy candy anymore because we would just eat it all ourselves year after year after year, back when we were hoping for trick or treaters to knock on our door. So Halloween is kind of a ho hum hum drum kind of night around here. When an artful learning kid asked me what I was going to be tonight, I told him, "I'm going to dress up as a woman wearing pajamas, laying on her couch, watching TV." It surprised and amused me when a teacherpal of dutch origin with 2 small children (train engineer and friendly witch) heard my plan and said, "Now that's living the dream."

It's all a trade off. When you're with the littles, you get to party down and dress up, several days in a row. Sure there's crying and freaking out and dental decay. But when you're with the bigs, you get to spend an evening doing absolutely nothing, thinking about all the antics that are surrounding your neighborhood, so near and yet, so far.

Husbandman says this entry is a bit melancholy. I was aiming for bittersweet.

The Leaves

2011-10-30T22:01:00.001-05:00

Good news! I rearranged my office space. Now everything looks roomier and more organized. I'm thinking of having an office warming tomorrow. Bagels? Orange Juice? I want to do it right. Make the space a place of warmth and hospitality and just some old time fun. A place where colleagues can plop down, munch on some healthy food items and remember that we all work together for the good of the little squirrel nutkins that attend our artful school, and for the good of one another. Lofty goals, but doable ones. I invite you all. Please bring some type of office warming gift with you, so that I'll always remember you.

The Triptych

2011-10-30T10:07:00.001-05:00

Part 1. Greatest Movie Ever Made, Probably.
Watched Jane Eyre this past night. Fab movie. You should see it if you want to. You can get it for free on your iPad too, in book form. Well done, Charlotte Bronte. Your legacy lives on.

Part the Second. Identity Crisis
I've been missing 20 something daughter and #1 son lately. 20 something's far away, doing her best and forgetting the rest. She will return soon and we are all counting down the days. #1 lives right in this very house, but leaves for stretches at a time, our only communication being occasional texts and tweets. This is a hard time in the land of parenting, but it's all part of the deal, so I'm trying to focus on mature acceptance.

Part 3, Denouement of Sorts. Search for Certainty
This week we got a brand new preschool at Artful School. I'm in there a lot because we have some staffing issues. On Friday one of those littles curled up in my lap as we listened to their teacher reading a book. About halfway through, the Little looked up at me and asked, "Where are we in this place?"
"We are in a school called Artful School," I whispered.
"Artful School? That's where we are right now? That's the name of it?"
"Yes, Bud. We are all in a place called Artful School right now." He snuggled back into place and I hoped I brought him some peace of mind. It's hard to not know where you are, I'm sure. And the conversation made me a little sad. What a way to live.

The Anticipation

2011-10-27T18:02:00.001-05:00

I'm watching the news and the anchor just said, "Up next. Two whales and a kayaker in a photo so spectacular we thought it might be fake." Obviously I'm going to stay tuned for that. I love whales. I'm going to wait through all these stupid commercials.
Now they're back and they're not showing the spectacular photograph yet. And I have to learn that BP is allowed to start drilling in the gulf again, in deeper water than the original well. Hard to stay calm hearing that. Next, puppy on the top of a freight train. Here it comes! Yes, it was fab. Well worth the wait.

The Sandwich

2011-10-25T21:54:00.000-05:00

Today I ventured into the art room, as I heard a bit of a ruckus in there. Come to find out, the firsties were drawing pictures of "witch sandwiches." A witch sandwich might have eyeballs, worms, or blood in it. Drawing these pictures got the firsties pretty hyped up. They wanted me to see the bones, toenails and pink hair in their sandwiches. "Disgusting!" I repeated to each firstie, emoting with dramatic flair. My flamboyant gestures and horrified facial expressions got them screaming even louder. One firstie screeched at me repeatedly to look at his sandwich. When I made my way to his table, he pointed to each part, proclaiming, "Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. It's all cheese." I didn't know how to react because a cheese sandwich is one of my fave lunches, so I just murmured something ridic like, "That's one cheesy witch sandwich, Mister!" I wanted to ask him why he made a cheese sandwich for the witch, but I was late for my next class and I wasn't thinking too fast on my feet. That cheese kid threw me for a loop. Who does that?

The Work

2011-10-23T12:07:00.000-05:00

I'm trying something new this Sunday. It's called Working at Home. I'll let you know how it work's out. So far, Working At Home involves a lot of Bravo viewing. Working At Home has potential, but it needs to live up to its potential.

The Lodge

2011-10-21T20:57:00.000-05:00

Family Fang. Finished reading it about an hour ago. It's about a family of performance artists. The novel moves between performance art events in the past and the two grown children's lives in the present. I liked the children better than the parents, so I was more interested in the present day parts of the story. Lots of thoughts about art and its seductive and destructive aspects. The ending was v. strong. Overall, I have to say I liked it quite a lot. If you want to read it, you should.

The Basics

2011-10-20T19:41:00.002-05:00

Have you ever had a Thai Massage? It's weird, but basically wonderful. Today BodyMiracleWorkerGal was basically doing a handstand on my back. Not sure why that feels good, but it basically does. I ended the day with a celebratory visit and dinner with Good Pal Menosky. (Yay, she basically approves of my new camera)!!! I'm on fall break, so I'm feeling cheerful and buoyant. Even before fall break though, I've been staying fairly upbeat of late. It has to do with the goal I've been working on lately. Basically, I'm staying calm til Christmas. Basically, I'm calling this initiative the Calm Til Christmas Initiative. Massages and dinners with good pals are basic subgoals that can help with the implementation of the Calm Til Christmas Initiative. Everyone who comes in daily contact with me basically has the opportunity to help out with this important initiative, which if you recall is basically all about staying Calm til Christmas.

No it's not going to be easy, but let's all do our part to keep me Calm til Christmas.

The Choices

2011-10-19T08:22:00.002-05:00

Well, I did in fact turn 51 yesterday. My workday at artful school was filled with meetings up til 630pm, but then we ventured out to a marvy tasting menu dinner at terrific Tallent. What a dream that was. Today is the day Husbandman turns 52, which is happening right now. I'm actually considering cooking something for him. It's been years since I boiled water, so this will be an exciting new adventure.

Yesterday I was making some books with some kinders and to be cool and hip I let them choose markers, colored pencils or crayons. They all love markers so that's the route they took. The problem with markers is the kinders love to draw on their bodies with them. LittleRedhead, whenever he would hear me correct another kinder for bodydrawing, would put both arms under the table, obviously drawing on his arms, all the while staring straight into my eyes.
"I know what you're doing, Little RedHead! Please stop." This went on and on for some time. . When CuteArtistGirl used the blue for lipstick right in front of me, I told her to wash off her face. Sure enough, when I looked over to check out LittleRedHead, he was doing his under the table markering shtick.
"Listen LittleRedHead, you're back to CRAYONLAND!" I told him, but not unkindly.
He instantly burst into tears which is one of his amazing talents and whimpered, "I don't want to be in CRAYONLAND!" Really hard to reason with LittleRedHead so I calmed him down and we finished up our books. I decided to ignore his arm markering after that.
When it was time to leave the cool kinders, they gathered round for a birthday picture and LitleRedHead hopped into my lap.
"HappyBirthday Doctor H!" He screamed smiling into my face.
"Thanks LittleRedHead, I'm 51."
"I'm 52!" he shouted back.
"You're very old, sir."
LittleRedHead is someone to watch. You'll probably read about him again here some time in future.

The Lennon

2011-10-17T20:46:00.002-05:00

I read John's Secret Dream to the sixers today. It's a picture book about John Lennon. The text is interspersed with song lyrics, most of which I sang aloud in my best effort singing voice. I ended up telling the sixers many stories about my love of The Beatles and my Beatlemania book collection and my trips to Beatle conventions and my grief on the night John was murdered and my trek to the vigil for John on the Marina in San Francisco. How we held candles and sang songs together for hours in the cool night. When I asked the sixers, "What reasonable statements do you think can be made about this man, John Lennon?" one of my old faves from 3rd grade said, "He wanted peace." John did want peace and his songs and bed ins and bag ins and bill boards showed us some funky fun ways toward ending war, if we wanted to. This is a powerful book and next time I read it, I think I'll make a tape of songs to play as I read. I thanked the sixers for listening so kindly to my dream filled reading about John. I'm not sure they were that into John, but they seemed to be giving me space to feel my strong feelings and I thought they were ultrahip for doing that. (Ultrahip is a word I looked up with a sixer today and it's pretty good here).
Another powerful book I read to k - 2 kids is We Are All In the Dumps With Jack and Guy by Sendak. I told the littles about street children and how they live without families. Sendak wrote Jack and Guy after learning more about street kids in Brazil. It was hard to come up with a response that could be considered critical with the littles. Some made signs about helping kids. Some make picture books about helping people and animals. Some just made pictures of the moon in the sky. They all took it seriously and seemed to like Sendak's work. This is another book we should all read if we want to. The artwork is phenomenal. Thanks to Maurice Sendak. Well done, Maurice.

The Cataracts

2011-10-15T16:14:00.001-05:00

Today we went to Cataract Falls. Largest falls in Indiana, which really isn't saying much. There's a covered bridge there too. We headed over to Cresent Doughnuts where they're celebrating their 50th anniversary. The guy behind the counter was talking to 2 doughnut buyers. He was pretty surly, saying stuff like, I'm not the boss here and I don't care about 50 years. If I was the owner I'd make some changes around here in no time flat. I'd fire 4 people today!" I hope he can calm down and get into the spirit of the 50th year birthday accomplishment. There are probably very few 50 year old doughnut shops in the whole world, if you think about it. 50 Years of Doughnut Making is a feat that's hard to beat. Happy Birthday to Cresent!

The Promotion

2011-10-13T21:35:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I attended an academic vocabulary workshop. It wasn't that fascinating, honestly. But the presenter did share some good web pages. Then she told us to go around the room sharing one of our fave webpages. She said it didn't have to be about vocab, so I shared info about alittleleeway with many in our school district. Everyone assured me they would visit, but I've seen no increase in the stats and nary an extra commenter has appeared. So I guess what we've learned is that we have a bunch of liars teaching our kids.

The Bee

2011-10-07T21:03:00.001-05:00

No big fanfare today, but this is the tenth anniversary of our invasion of Afghanistan. I brought an article about it up to the sixers, who are studying "conflict" and "resolution." We weren't too impressed to read that in 2014, "most" of our soldiers in Afghanistan will be heading home. Ten years is literally a lifetime to the sixers who really didn't even know we were at war. Most of them wrote on their response sheet, "Why is this going on for so long?" We'll talk more about it next week. I'm enjoying the sixers. They're mean and hateful one minute and in the next they're talking about books and articles with enthusiasm and verve.

After I left, I headed down to help out in the cafeteria. En route, I noticed someone had ripped a cardboard bee picture off a bulletin board. I picked up that bee right away, and quickly put it to work as I cruised around the noisy tables. Holding the bee aloft, I would ask kids at various tables, "Are you BEEhaving?" Or I would say something like, "I sure wish you would BEE seated." Kids would stare back at me and then I would say, "Get it???? BEE?????" The littles would give a little chuckle. The bigs would smirk, but I could tell they thought I was hilarious. I was amusing the heck out of myself, to tell you the truth.

Sad talks, funny talks. All in a day's work at artful school. It's been a long week, but a pretty good one.

The Squirrel

2011-10-05T19:45:00.001-05:00

One of my colleagues at work is a hunterman. Today I asked him if he ever ate squirrel. Come to find out, he's eaten squirrel a ton of times. He fries it up. He says it's really good. Last night he shot 19 doves, and then he breasted them, wrapped bacon around the meat and made kabobs out of them. I've eaten neither squirrel nor dove. I don't eat animals, but I have a certain admiration for Hunterman's get up and go. When he saw me heating up my lean cuisine in the microwave, he looked concerned. "That stuff'll kill ya, Doc." True, I thought, but at least I don't have to kill it. It's conveniently waiting on the other side of that 5 minute nuking.

The Papers

2011-10-02T10:23:00.001-05:00

Blogging the Sunday Papers

In the Herald Times: Our town has been called the 3rd poorest city of its size in the US. If I didn’t work at poor school, I probably wouldn’t believe it, but there are a heck of a lot of v. poor people over where I work, so I do believe it.

100 people marched to remember a mom who was brutally murdered a year ago. Her daughter goes to my school. A teacher marched with our principal. I’m grateful they participated. I didn't. I went to the zoo. Saw the baby elephant, Kalina. V. sweet.

Moved on to the NYT Front section. Nurses who get PhD's want to be called Dr. So and So, but this seems to be confusing people and annoying medical doctors. Pshaw I say. People in Portland Maine don't like a work of public art. It's coming down. A plane crashed into a ferris wheel in Australia. No injuries. Coupon sites are not doing well. I'm finally learning about these, but it would seem they'll be on their way out soon. Sunday puzzle. Aced in record time. 33 minutes. In partnership with Husbandman.

Lives piece at the back of the mag. Some of our soldiers stole someone’s cow in Afghanistan and ate it for dinner. They refused to pay for the cow later. Why couldn’t they pay for the cow? How do they think that’s okay? Disappointing.

Picture spreads in the mag about fams eating dinner together. Not crazy about the family dinner scenario, so I feel guilty as I look over the close knit families around their tables, enjoying each other. Interview with Anita Hill. She’s still fighting the good fight, ignoring nonsense.

Arts and Leisure, nothing too fascinating. Except someone just released an Oscar Peterson album. Used his old tapes and with new technology, the recording has been highly praised. Footloose has been remade too. Not sure why I want to see it, but I do.

On to Sunday Review. Articles about fat politicians. Let’s just leave them alone. Letters about the death penalty. Opposing views. No chance of middle ground. Learned about Vivekananda, the Indian monk who brought yoga to the west. His birthday's coming up. I should do yoga. Read over signs and hand gestures restauranteurs use to communicate in code to one another during service. Read a bit about compassion fatigue. Overall sense that we are not becoming less compassionate makes me feel somewhat better. Small piece by Tina Rosenberg on Rapid Results, trying to make social change in 100 days. Maybe the people at school would like to read that? Maybe I should do a 100 day Rapid Result social or personal change program. Might be a possible blog challenge????

Book Review. Several reviews I want to read, (Mahler, T.S. Eliot) but it’s getting to be shower and then head over to the artful school time. Quick check of bestsellers. Keep wondering if I should read Cutting for Stone. I have read 6 of the paperback 20, so that makes me feel pretty darned good about myself. Family Fang should be on there. What gives?

Gotta wrap this up. Farewell, print journalism artifacts. Thanks for your contribution to my pleasant Sunday morning.

The Fruit

2011-09-25T22:06:00.000-05:00

We're just trying to get up on their poles, but were
left out of the whole shebang. They don't even think we can an do this. Hello! I did aerial performance in grade school in Miami Florida.

The Sisters

2011-09-25T21:37:00.002-05:00

We saw these Quebe Sisters at Lotus. They are fiddling sisters with sweet voices. I'd follow them around for awhile if I wanted to. They seemed to know what they were doing.
This week I had visual migraines. The first one happened when I was sent in to substitute in a special ed preschool where 4 dear kids with autism hang out. The kids are sweet and strange and I feared that one of them would bite me at any moment. A bite is something I prefer to avoid at all cost. Anyway, I sat on the rug blowing bubbles for them, and we were all feeling pretty chillaxed, when the visual migraine with the zigzaggy lines appeared. What a pain. Did the children with autism give me a migraine? Hard to tell. Then today when I was typing stupid things on my computer for 3 hours I got another visual migraine. Zigzaggy shiny lines impeding my vision and my productivity. Lasted 30 minutes. Had to stop using the computer. Moved on to opening boxes. Lasted for 30 minutes.There may be a kind of pattern here. These visual migraines seem to be happening at MY JOB!!!!! What? I'm going to live the rest of my life BLIND because of my working environment? I don't think so. Not this chump. I'll set up a tent out in the recess area. Or I'll just work out of my car. It's a Kia Soul. It has me covered.

The Allington

2011-09-22T19:16:00.000-05:00

Oh goodness gracious, Richard Allington came to our district today and gave a talk to about 200 teachers. I thought he was hilarious. He kept saying stuff like "If you don't move around your room you should be fired," and "Earn your paycheck and start teaching all the kids in your room, not just the smart ones" and "Maybe it's time to learn the stuff you were hired to do and start differentiating instruction for all kids," and "If someone gives a kid a book that's too hard for her, that teacher should be hit in the head with a baseball bat" and "Never have xerox machines in schools. Worksheets are total crap" and "When I see what kids are made to do in intervention groups, I just want to commit suicide."

I was laughing away, but some people got a wee bit ticked off. I like boldness. I like outrageous people with smart opinions. His basic plan for improving reading achievement is having kids read for many hours a day, books they can read and want to read. And kids should have literate conversations with other kids in literature circles. And kids should write stuff that's meaningful to them. And teachers should know a lot about books and pass info about books on to kids.

Can't really argue with this stuff. Kudos, Richard Allington. You probably won't be invited back any time soon, but I enjoyed your talk very much.

The Gifts

2011-09-20T20:41:00.001-05:00

Today I moved from teaching kinders to teaching sixth grade. The kinders heard Frederick by Leo Leoni and they made some little ripped paper mice. The kinders were so cheerful and kind and silly. The only huge disaster was some kinder holding his milk carton upside down and letting all the milk spill onto the table and floor. Annoying as heck, but a fantabulous assistant teacher was there and she took care of the whole deal.

The sixers were neither cheerful nor silly, but they do have a kindness about them that I love. They were a bit ticked off today for some reason but they followed all my directions even as they scowled at me. The sixers talked about a Langston Hughes short story about a robbery. They wrote about personal connections. Most had something stolen from them. One sixer was walking in his neighborhood and someone stole his cologne. I asked why he was carrying cologne and he said, "I can't remember. I guess just to freshen up a bit." I was sad to read one sixer's writing about having her Xbox 360 game stolen during the night by someone who visited her home. She never got it back.

At recess I went to a first grade class. Most of them misbehaved for Officer Friendly yesterday so I came in to help them practice their listening skills for 5 minutes before walking them down to recess. I pretended I was a police officer talking about safety and those firsties just listened like I was the most fascinating person they'd ever met. We all got out to recess in plenty of time for some fun.

The Bees

2011-09-18T20:16:00.000-05:00

Saw a bee documentary tonight. Song of the Sun I think it was called. Basically the gist of this movie is that we have to help honeybees ASAP. By becoming bee keepers. This is going to be a huge pain in the neck, but it can't be avoided. If you want to see this movie you should. As they sing in the film.....All we are saying is give bees a chance.

The Blind

2011-09-15T19:44:00.002-05:00

Today I went to a ridiculous workshop about student engagement. The "experts" told us to have a sense of humor when teaching, to talk to kids, and to use games for instruction. I was like, Doy. Then we had to watch a video about the POWER OF WORDS. It was about a blind guy trying to get money from passersby. At the end a few people at the table were crying. My friend LifeAsPerUsual cries pretty regularly so I said, "Come on, Life as Per! Why are you crying about that?"
Through her tears she said, "My grandmother went blind before she died."
For some reason this made me start laughing hysterically. And luckily Life as Per began laughing as well. It was at this point that my boss begged me to go stand out in the parking lot until I could pull it together. I tried to pull it together and after awhile I was able to stay at the workshop with just occasional snickering. So there you have it.

The Clock

2011-09-14T20:37:00.000-05:00

Today I got to hold this little child for about an hour or so. I walked about with this child saying to everyone, "Ha ha! Ha ha! He likes me the best!" Not sure why I had to be so "in your face" about having this kid in my arms, but I just have to say I felt a strong bond with this kid. His name's Hank so I told everyone, "His name's Hank Heffernan. He lives on High Street." None of this was actually true but I just loved holding this little guy. He loved being with me too. I gave him fine care.

When the littles ran up to me to see the child, I would encourage them to tickle and twist his toes. They were so happy to get to perform this treat. Some of them were shivering with glee. I have about 1 month before I turn 51 and I've read that 51 is about the outer limit for having a kiddo. May be getting pregnant within the next 4 weeks. That could bring some shenanigans into my life. I'm basically looking for some fireworks.

The Milk

2011-09-11T21:27:00.000-05:00

Saw FARMAGEDDON tonight. If you want to see it you should. It's about how our government keeps raiding small family farms that are trying to sell raw milk to people who want to buy and drink raw milk. I'm a little bit on the fence about this. The movie made raw milk sound like the best thing since sliced bread. But I'm partial to the whole pasteurization process due to the social conditioning I've experienced since birth. Here's my question. Do you, or would you, drink raw milk? I can't decide about this. Because of ecoli.

The Gift

2011-09-10T13:01:00.001-05:00

Today's a jammy day. Going to finish reviewing an article while watching Federer beat Choke-ovic. I wish I could just write something like, "I don't care for this article, but if you want to publish it in your journal you should."

If I finish that article review, I shall give myself a gift of some sort.

The Jobs

2011-09-07T21:34:00.002-05:00

Jobs I would not like: fire fighter, pediatric surgeon, roofer, principal.

Jobs I would like: New York Times reporter, Ambassador, Primate Language Researcher, truck driver.

The Lack

2011-09-05T18:26:00.001-05:00

Sometimes when I meet new people I get nervous. And because of this alleged nervousness I don't listen very well. I get all worked up about how I can't think of anything to say. Come to find out, when I first meet people I can not think of one thing to say to them. It's weird since I'm a talkative person. But that's how it is. Can't explain it and not even going to try.

Today I got to hang out with some friends of some friends. I've met these Fs of Fs many times so I finally felt ready to step up to the plate in the conversation department. It's been years after all. Any way, turns out I had a ton of misconceptions about these peeps. I kept saying stuff like, "Now what kind of law do you practice?" to someone who's in the medical profession. I got another gal's kids totally mixed up. Pointing to one sweet kid, I said, "So your son is in high school now?" Turns out that kid isn't even her son. I've got to shape up and pay attention. I know I can do better. I'm v. embarrassed about my lack of savoire faire.

The Pills

2011-09-04T09:18:00.000-05:00

It's finally cooler. Maybe I'll venture outside. I'll keep you posted.

Z

2011-08-30T19:31:00.000-05:00

Some blog entries have been whiny diaries of my woes and weaknesses during this challenge. My fave entries are when I really explored a concept that tied in to the letter of the day. But then I liked the 2 fiction entries as well. Tonight I wanted to make an entry kind of like Savvy's S, where I learned about Sikhism. So I read up on the history of the zipper. Here are some key facts:
Elias Howe, the sewing machine guy, created an early zipper. He called it the automatic continuous clothing closure. That was in 1851.
In 1917 a Swedish American guy named Sundback patented the separable fastener. He worked for a fastener company in Hoboken. Later, someone at B.F. Goodrich came up with the zippy name of Zipper. They put zippers on galoshes. Zippers became popular on kid clothing and were said to promote independence for kids. When they became used in men's pantaloons, they were praised for excluding "The Possibility of Unintentional and Embarrassing Disarray." Before 1937, most guys had button up pants.

So, this is my report on zippers.

Y

2011-08-29T20:23:00.000-05:00

Yakimoto Mosely lived with his wife in a duplex down on 2nd street. They lived separately, each in their own half of the duplex. No one knew this about Yakimoto and his wife. When they had visitors, everyone assumed that they owned half and rented the other half. But that was not true. The place everyone saw was Yakimoto's half. Neat, tasteful. The other half of the duplex was his wife's abode. His wife, a hoarder, lived in squalor. Indescribable squalor. Yakimoto accepted this about his wife. He loved her and deep down in his bones he knew he could not live without her. At the same time, he also knew that he could not live with her.

Thus, the duplex. And the yellow, yucky secret they kept all to themselves.

Up to now.