Feeling lucky? I can't believe what I just said---

If Johnny Depp couldn't bring this style back,

 no one can

Test today.  "Who wants to wear the lucky tricorn hat?" I sing.  After winning a brief roshambo game, M. dons the hat.

As the test goes on, I ask, "Can you just FEEL the luck seeping into your brain from that hat?" Tolerantly, she nods her head.

Soon enough, M. rises to turn in her test. "Can you just FEEL the A-ness of your test?" Instantly
I turn red, and I wish I could, like Cher, turn back time and say "A plus-ness," but it is too late. The class laughs, and pretty swiftly,  the kids return to their tests.

Cher is trying to turn back time

But I think I will put that hat away.

Last Day....AGAIN: the life of a military kid

Today was B's last day at DP today. He is a fun kid with a quick sense of humor, the kind of guy who gets along with everyone. Kind of lazy about work, unfortunately, but definitely a bonus in the classroom. I am going to miss him--we all will.

After everyone else left for lunch and I signed off his parting grade (a C, but you guessed that), he got as serious as I've ever seen him: "In all my nine years of going to school, this is the only class that I have talked about every day after school with my family, telling them cool facts..." My eyes filled first, I think, but his voice cracked and down his tears came. We hugged and he sobbed, "I don't want to leave!" I sobbed with him.

It's unnerving when perpetually cheerful boys sob.

He wasn't crying about my class. He truly loves DP. "I finally got to like someplace!" he cried. He is a military child who has to move because his dad serves our country. "B, there are some great people at this school who will miss you, but listen: good people are everywhere, and there are awesome ones at your new school who are gonna be so lucky to meet you! Until you know them, yeah, this move is so lame. Do me a favor, B, and figure out who they are. Choose your friends carefully, ok?" His face was tragic, but he nodded. "Jeremiah 29:11 is for you, B--God has plans for you!" He nodded again and gave me a teary smile--we first met last year in Bible Club. We both reached for the Kleenex.

I am so grateful that he purposefully took the time to give me his appreciation, realizing each second in my bungalow was a precious second away from his friends. He pulled himself together, and then sped off to spend his last lunch with them.


JEREMIAH 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

The Temporary Amnesia of July and the Mystery of Exciting Housework

I'd forgotten.

I'd forgotten how much grading is generated by thoughtful instruction. I'd forgotten how much time it takes to carefully read and respond to thoughtfully done work, to give meaningful, helpful feedback.

I'd forgotten how, faced with ten piles of work, I suddenly get the mad urge to clean the house, which in all fairness really DOES need a good cleaning. It is a triumph of will to sit and grade and not run towards the vacuum.

Suddenly MugBook is compelling. Words with Friends is frolicsome, even when all I have is auuwiio. On a beautiful day, I simply must remember that I am employed serving wonderful people doing stimulating work.

Mostly, I'd forgotten about the incredible amount of time. I remember now.



(Note that I am writing this entry as the ten piles glare balefully at me.)

Wasn't it Ella Who Sang "Too Darn Hot"?

I am TOO CRABBY to be flattered. Three kids came back to visit on this first Friday of the new school year, all happy and sweet and nostalgic, but NO. The back of my knees were sticky and there was an actual creek running down my spine. I was able to take about fifteen minutes and then diplomatically closed up the room and ended the visit early. (For being loving and diplomatic in my physical and psychological condition, I expect a major award or a Nobel Prize or something.)

Don't get me wrong--my kids are great. They are champions, sitting there on the plastic chairs that save their body heat and generously return it to them, reading about Jamestown's trials and tribulations. But that room.....

No Friday is good, but especially do NOT come visit me on a Friday when my bungalow's thermometer is at 92°.

Go away.

Ego, Ants, and Houston, We Have Lift Off

7:00 am The light guy is in my bungalow to fix two of the ballasts. As he leaves, he says that now I can see my pretty face reflected. Aw. Whatever that means. I don't care, he called me pretty, he meant it,  and I'm a hundred years older than he is. 

8:00 am So I open the first pie box in order to cut the pie into unequal pieces for my first lesson, and--oh no: I had bought pies that needed to be cooked first. The pie is all gooey pumpkin slush.  Pujols.

8:05 am Head to Vons to buy ready-made pies. They have only apple. Apple pies are difficult to cut. Whah. I have no choice.

9:00 am The kids come up the ramp and we begin! The butterflies are there, but Teacher Mode kicks in and I remember how to do this. Um, there are ants EVERYWHERE. How do they find food so quickly? I move the pies to a safer, ant-free zone.

11:00 am I have my prep. It is the greatest prep ever--teach two, break, teach one, lunch, teach two. I can breathe and prepare for almost every class individually. I have time to file papers and put things away. This may just be The Year of Good Habits.

1:00 Lunchtime. My feet hurt. Why did I wear these shoes? Why is it a million degrees? Why is the lunch room so far away? Whah.

1:30 Class starts. I make a reference to when I was in 2nd grade and a kid mumbles, "That was forty years ago..." Welp, there goes my morning ego boost.

3:50 The first day is in the books! A girl from 7th period walks right up to me and says, "You taught us! Now it's YOUR turn to learn!" And she teaches me how to Dougie. !!! I know, right? Now I know how to Dougie (rather badly).

4:00 Time to get ready for tomorrow.

5:15 I roll out of the parking lot. While in the air-conditioned car, I make plans to go for a walk when I get home.

6:00 After laying inert on the balcony, I realize the walk isn't going to happen. I fight the urge to go to bed right away. I realize that dinner will be cold cereal.

6:30 I realize: if I want to go to bed early, what's stopping me?

All Aboard!

It really is often like this...

We are starting a new year and I need to remember my true calling and my true Captain. I can't stop reading this sonnet and applying it to the school year, especially the public school year. I haven't been excited AT ALL about this coming year, perhaps because last year was my best ever, but this poem inspires me in a way that nothing has so far, not even the aisles of The Container Store or the techniques in Teach Like a Champion or having a spanking-clean and ready room:

The Call of the Disciples 
by sonnet master Malcolm Guite

He calls us all to step aboard his ship.
Take the adventure on this morning's wing,
Raise sail with him, launch out into the deep,
Whatever storms or floods are threatening.
If faith gives way to doubt, or love to fear,
Then, as on Galilee, we'll rouse the Lord,
For he is always with us and will hear,
And make our peace with his creative Word,
Who made us, loved us, formed us and has set
All his beloved lovers in an ark;
Borne upwards by his Spirit, we will float
Above the rising waves, the falling dark,
As fellow pilgrims, driven toward that haven,
Where all will be redeemed, fulfilled forgiven.

(In search of more curricular inspiration, I will be watching Stand and Deliver sometime this three-day weekend before the ship sets sail on Tuesday....)

Teach me HOW to, Dougie....and I'm just wild about Harry

THE FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL: For many years I have believed Harry Wong was the only one who really knew how to write so that teachers would become better at what they do. He knew without good management skills, good teaching was near impossible. When he said to NOT do a fun activity to lead the year, it was water in my face--a shock. Really? Wouldn't that make kids excited about school? But he explains himself and he is right. I have read this book sixteen (16) (XVI) times and it's probably time for me to do so again. Wong always reminds the reader of how respectable our profession is, how indispensable, how wonderful. He makes me proud of what I have chosen to do, and he helps me do it better.

At first I thought that was it. This was the one really great useful book for teachers. Oh sure, there were lots of little inspirational ones, or little helpy ones that usually didn't apply to my content or whatever. But then our site decided to delve school-wide into:

TEACH LIKE A CHAMPION: Doug Lemov succinctly explains the best techniques that the best teachers use, and he shares how to implement them.  He cares about EVIDENCE, not trends, upon PROOF, not intuition. I kind of laugh when I hear some of our staff members say, "This is all stuff I do already," because, tee hee, "No it isn't. You do SOME of the stuff, and some of the stuff you do, you do in the way that he says not to do." Not gonna lie--I thought I was a pretty good teacher until I read this book. I have a long way to go and lots of room to improve, and Lemov's eminently useful book is going to get me farther in my journey to be an awesome teacher than I could have dreamed. I also bought the field guide to accompany the book but can't speak to that since I haven't cracked it open yet. Lemov makes me eager to see how much I can grow.