Here comes the sun...

Day 14 of 31 at Two Writing Teachers!

Here comes the sun

warm breezes wafting through the windows
short sleeves
silky light shirts

Here comes the sun

open moon roof, windows down
find a cheery song and
crank up the radio

Here comes the sun

spring air smooths the knots out of my back
time for track and field
and "Can we go outside today?"

Here comes the sun

milkshakes, ice cream, smoothies
bare toes wiggling
freedom is coming

Here comes the sun


All afternoon, I was planning on writing a poem about the GORGEOUS weather today. (And so I did!)  That was going to be my whole slice, until I was walking out of the building after school.  On the way out, I passed my current principal in the hallway, talking to the assistant principal. Waving, I said a cheery hello and planned to continue walking.  Instead, he took a step toward me, looked me straight in the eye, and said "We've had all the conversations here now.  We are good to go."

For a few seconds, I was confused.  He repeated, "We are good to go," with a slight nod of reassurance. Then it hit me and my face lit up.  "Oh!  Thank you!"

Translation of Mr. Kind-But-Gruff Burly Country Guy: my job is safe.  They had finished talking to everyone who was going to lose their jobs in the RIF and I wasn't one of those people. I don't know if he was telling that to everyone he saw, or if he just knew I was nervous. (I was pretty sure I would be ok, but I thought I might be close to the cutoff. Plus, my program is being cut, so I know I won't be doing this particular job next year.)  I'd like to think he knew I needed reassurance.  Even if he was just passing the word to everyone he saw, I'm glad he took the minute to do it.

Now the Beatles are cycling through my head:
"Here comes the sun / and I say: / It's alright..."

Yes Ma'am

Day 13 of 31 at TWT!

This trimester I have a student who constantly calls me "Ma'am".  She's the second student I've had who does this, and it cracks me up.  (Remember, I live in Ohio, not the South!)  Consider the following conversation from before class yesterday:

me: "Wow, you're early today!"
M: "Yes, ma'am, our teacher let us out early last period."
me: "Did you have a good weekend?"
M: "Yes ma'am, it was real nice."
me: "Me too.  Did you do anything super fun?"
M: "Oh yes ma'am!  We went to the outlet mall and had a cookout!"

and so on...

On one hand, I think it's awesome that her family has obviously taught her to be very respectful to any adult.  In addition to the "ma'am"-ing, her whole tone of voice and body posture change when she talks to me (vs. how she addresses other kids).  Not in a bad, uptight way, but just a show of respect.  It's like the American version of using "Usted"!  There are many kids who could certainly improve upon the way they treat others (no matter their age!), and this girl is a fantastic role model of respect.

On the other hand, it makes me feel OLD!  This "ma'am" sounds like somebody way older than me... You see, I've always looked really young for my age.  So young that people are constantly misjudging my age: (yes, these are all REAL examples!)

• Wondering if I'm a new student...when I went for my first day of a 5-week in-service during my M.Ed. program. (It was a K-8 school!)
• Asking if I'm old enough to use the exercise machines at the rec center... when I was home from college one summer. (The age limit was 13 and up!)
• Guessing I was a student teacher... when I arrived at School #2 during my first year in this position.  (It was my 3rd year of teaching!)

This has played into my identity for so many years that I automatically think of myself as the young one in most groups.  I'm pretty sure I still look really young, since most strangers middle-aged or older (cashiers, waitresses, the custodians at all my schools, etc.) still address me as "Honey", "Hon", "Sweetie", etc.

However, it's as if young customer service people suddenly know that I'm a "grown-up" now!  Lately, high school / college-age kids in those types of jobs have started calling me "Ma'am" instead of "Miss".  The first time it happened I wanted to run to a mirror!  Do I look older all of a sudden?  Nope, don't think so... Maybe it's the clothes?  Is this only happening when I run errands in my teaching clothes?  Perhaps I should start a scientific experiment tallying when and where... 

It's not that it bothers me, but it just feels really funny!  Of course, I suppose it could be a good thing that the outside world is starting to finally recognize me as a "real adult" -- considering I've been one for 5 years now!

One Box of Cookies

Day 12 of 31 at TWT!

Lately I guess I've been tasting my memories.  Food certainly can be a great way to remember the past' savoring certain flavors and scents just sends me flying backwards through time.

Last week our Girl Scout cookies arrived. I'm so excited for weeks of melt-in-my-mouth chocolate, peanut butter, coconut-and-caramel, mint, lemon...Ohhhhhh yummmmmm!  The first box is almost gone already!

For me, the best part of Girl Scout cookies isn't even the taste, despite how gloriously delicious they are!  It's the memories.  The box designs, the names of my old favorites, the shape and color of the cookies...

The familiar names roll happily off my tongue: Samoas, Tagalongs, Thin Mints.  I can picture each kind of cookie and each style of box as I say them.  I also know their names just by looking at the box color!  Suddenly I'm a scrawny little girl with my blonde hair pulled into a side ponytail braid, reviewing orders and sorting boxes with Daddy.  He loads up his orange dolly and I proudly put on my Brownie sash over my all-pink outfit. I slip my little hand into his giant one, hopping and skipping beside him as we head out into the neighborhood with our deliveries.

And of course, I can't eat a Thin Mint without laughing about Uncle Mike.  Known to my friends as "The Funny Uncle", he put me into innumerable giggle fits throughout my childhood.  (Ok, so he's just as silly now as he was then -- HE certainly hasn't grown up a bit!)  Every year, I'd ask for his Girl Scout cookie order, and every year, he'd tell me "1 box of Thin Mints".  A giggle fit would ensue, because Uncle Mike's "1 box" was really one case (TWELVE boxes)!  I got such a kick out of delivering his huuuuge "box" of cookies every year.  Plus, I knew Uncle Mike's order would put me well on the way to earning the next level of prize!  I honestly miss selling cookies just because I'd love to take his order again and have our special joke continue.

Instead, I'll just giggle the next time I bite into a Thin Mint.

Shopping with my mom

Day 11 of 31 at TWT!

When I was little, I definitely did NOT like shopping.  My mom and her mom would draaaaaag me through endless rows of shopping racks and changing rooms.  My feet got heavier and heeeeaaaavier as they perused shirts, pants, dresses, skirts, suits, shoes.. aaaaa!  I would anxiously peer around towering mannequins and piles of clothes, hoping to catch a glimpse of my quarry: one of those elusive chairs that department stores sprinkle around to satisfy exhausted husbands and children.

Moreover, it really wasn't any better when we were shopping for me instead of them. They'd pull out the ugliest, most embarrassing clothes in the store: "Do you like this?"  "Look, isn't this sweet?"  "Oh, you would look adorable in this!"  My mom now swears that this is an ongoing curse passed from mother to daughter: she always felt exactly the same way about things her mom would pull off the rack for her!

However, something gradually changed as I got into high school and college.  Perhaps it was just the fact that I now was interested in clothes (instead of toys).  Or maybe it was that my mom was now becoming more of a friend as I grew to an age where I could relate to her better.  Maybe a little bit was the fact that, once you start having to buy things with your own money, any chance to have your mom buy you something is welcome!  Whatever the reason, shopping suddenly became... fun!

Now that I'm a teacher (my mom was a teacher for many years and is now a principal), shopping with my mom is a special time.  I get new clothes to wear to work (I now understand that it's totally no fun to wear the same things week after week), and I get to talk to my mom about school and life.  Plus, it's a fun break from doing housework or schoolwork or feeling like I SHOULD be doing one or the other!

Today we've scheduled the whole afternoon for shopping at the local outdoor, mini-city-like mall across town -- a step up from the normal mall we usually go to.  Mom loves to spend money on me and we love to spend time together, so I'm looking forward to an afternoon of stories, laughter, and hopefully some new purchases! 

Even if my feet might still get a little heavy by the end of the day, it'll be worth it.

A very green tradition

Day 10 of 31 at TWT!

Our town's slogan is "Irish is an Attitude".  You can't help but feel Irish here, whether you are or not!  Of course, this really comes out at two times of year: St. Patrick's Day and the first weekend of August, when we have what I'm pretty sure is the biggest Irish Festival in the country.

As long as I can remember, I've bounced out of bed on the Saturday nearest St. Patrick's Day to put on every green piece of clothing I own.  "Green syrup, green syrup!" I chirp to myself (much to Husband's annoyance).  It's time for the Pancake Breakfast! (Ironically, this year, although St. Patrick's Day is ON a Saturday, we had it a week early because next Saturday will be the first day of Spring Break.)

Childhood memories on a plate!

Even in high school, when I had to get ready to march in the parade, my parents and I would go down early to the Pancake Breakfast (held at the middle school I attended) so I didn't have to miss my pancakes with green syrup! It's a beloved family tradition that I look forward to every year.  I'm pretty sure the only year I missed it was the year I was studying abroad in Spain.

After the breakfast, there's a parade that includes all the high school bands, Irish dance troupes, local kids' groups, drum & bagpipe corps, and Irish wolfhounds. Of course, there's also all the usual parade elements: fire trucks bellowing their giant horns, kids scrambling for candy, silly clowns, politicians in fancy cars, horses, and even some big helium balloons.

My mom says that I was first in the parade when I was two, as part of a little gymnastics club.  In elementary school, my girl scout troop spent several years in a row bundled up in our snowsuits to waddle down the street, giggling the whole way.  Through my four years of high school, I proudly marched with my band in the midst of swirling snowflakes, every year!

Today it was so sunny I got a little sunburnt as I sat on the sidewalk.  Now, I'm the spectator and I always spot several of my students in the parade!

But those green pancakes were just as delicious as they have been for the past twenty-some years.

Una escuela amable

Day 9 of 31 at TWT!

   

at Latinaish.com

(A note to my fellow "slicers": Every Friday is Spanish Friday!  Please use Google Translate if you don't know Spanish.  Husband uses it to read my Spanish Friday posts, and it does a fairly decent job.  Hopefully it'll do well enough that you can get the gist, since I don't have the time or energy to write this twice!)

(P.S. I loved that some of you translated your comments into Spanish last Friday!  ¡Qué divertido!)

Escuela #3 es una escuela divertida.  Si yo quisiera dibujarla, la dibujaría con un gran sol sonriente arriba del edificio.  Me encantan los maestros en esta escuela.  Son amables, simpáticos, trabajadores, y positivos.  Además, son muy unidos.  Es una comunidad especial que siempre me da una bienvenida amistosa.  Y estoy seguro que los alumnos se sienten el ambiente positivo también.

Hoy es viernes, por fin.  El martes, me sintió como si no fuera posible sobrevivir hasta el fin de semana.  Pero lo hice, y mi recompensa fue un viernes que demostró el carácter de Escuela #3.

Para empezar, los viernes por la mañana siempre hay un desayuno especial en Escuela #3.  (Y también en la Escuela #1, pero no en la Escuela #2.)  Cada semana, un grupo diferente de maestros traen alguna comida para todos.  Nos sentamos, hablamos, y relajamos juntos por unos momentos; ¡buena manera de empezar el día!  Siempre me siento menos el estrés después de un desayuno así.

Hoy fue aún más divertida, porque los maestros de 6o grado tuvimos una fiesta durante el almuerzo para el cumpleaños de una maestra.  Alguien trajo unas pizzas, otra persona una torta, y otra el helado.  Todos disfrutamos de esta comida especial, y me pareció una manera concreta de decir "Te nos importa" a la maestra con cumpleaños.

 Mientras me serví un poquito de helado, una maestra me abrazó y me susurró: -- Ahora sí que te alegras de estar en esta escuela, ¿verdad? -- Sí -- le sonreí.  Me encanta esta escuela, aunque no tengo aula.  Me encanta la gente aquí.

My Adventures on a Cart, Part 3

Day 8 of 31 at TWT!

Yesterday I gave you a tour of my cart, Rollsie.  Yes, she's undergone an official name change, thanks to Elsie!  Now I can think of Slices of Life and smile while I'm careening down the hallway, dodging kids to get to my next class in the 2-minute class change window!  (Which, some days, is really more like one minute -- or zero minutes -- or negative one minutes, by the time I throw everything back into Rollsie, answer some kid's question, and/or listen to a story another one just HAD to tell me!)

Anyway, today I have one more glimpse to share of my life with Rollsie.  How do I function without walls of my own?  No whiteboard with which to create a homework-posting area and display the day's scheduled activities.  No walls to hang posters on for student reference or developing curiosity. (I love Linda's idea of hanging a poster on my cart and changing it every week, but none of mine seem to be the right size, and Rollsie's already so full I don't know where I would put it that wouldn't block something essential!)

To solve the homework board problem, I just got a portable whiteboard and re-created my homework board on it.  Since I'm rather obsessed with color coding, like Diana, I always color-code the board.  (I like to pretend that it helps the kids, at least!)  There's not much on it this week, but usually red is required homework, blue is optional homework, and orange is for when assignments are due.

the traveling hw board, easily set on any small piece of board tray I can get my hands on!

Unfortunately, there's just no logistical way to also have a place to write the plans for the day, so I just have to live without that.  Too bad, because the kids acquire significant vocabulary from the posted plans (I always write them in Spanish) -- they really remember words like "game", "video", etc!  Sadly, that's just one of those things that we have to do without.  (For myself, I carry the plans on my clipboard, as I mentioned yesterday.)

The other big essential item is the daily routine board.  When I got this job three years ago, I spent an entire weekend (no really, the WHOLE weekend) covering a tri-fold board in contact paper for durability, putting Velcro on it for each question and answer, and laminating/cutting out all the paper pieces.  Husband and I (poor thing, he always gets stuck helping!) were ready to collapse by the time we got it done, but it's been AMAZINGLY durable and easy to use.  Even when I've had a room, I've just set it up on a whiteboard tray and kept using it.

Every day we do feelings, weather, days of the week, the date, and the time (7th graders only).
The board also displays the word of the day and important classroom phrases (i.e. "Can I go to the bathroom?") for reference.

One student runs the routine each day.  He or she finds all the answers first and then asks the questions, calling on other students to answer and putting up the answers as they say them.  When I have a room, all the possible answers (and weather pictures) are in bins on a nearby table, but when I'm using Rollsie, they're in bags on the back flaps of the board.

the routine board closed up, showing storage on the back flaps

Best of all, both the homework board and routine board are the perfect size to fit on top of Rollsie for transportation.  (That was really just a fortunate coincidence -- I'm not THAT organized!)

Ready to roll!  (The routine board is under the hw board.)

Hope you enjoyed these peeks at my "rolling room-away-from-room"!  Have you ever traveled between rooms?  What tips and tricks do you have to share?