Miscellaneous Missives

Three of us headed to Saint Paul today for Small Business Saturday.  It was a delightful day. Garden of Eden, Cooks of Crocus Hill, Ten Thousand Villages, Trade Winds, Bibelot, The Red Balloon, and Creative Kids Stuff Good company, good stores, and good shopping...

The morning started with a beautiful sunrise and breakfast with a high school friend.  We solved some of the problems in the midwest, but you may not have noticed our efforts.  After breakfast I took my book of American Indian trickster tales to read while I was having my hair colored.  This was a wasted effort, and I knew it when I took the book into the salon because I always spend the entire time chatting and catching up.  Knowing this, I still took it because I really need to figure out what trickster tales I plan on using.  I only read a couple of pages (not even a full tale) while my color was being mixed.  When it was time to pay I set the book on a chair, so I could get my phone and wallet out of my purse.  Upon arriving back in Minneapolis, I realized I had left the book on the chair. Immediately, I checked to see if there was another copy at the library.  No.  Next, I checked Magers and Quinn (the local bookstore). No.  Th...

RethinkChurch.org i thank You God for this most amazing day i thank You God for most this amazing day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes (i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay great happening illimitably earth) how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any–lifted from the no of all nothing–human merely being doubt unimaginable You? (now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened) e.e. cummings 1894-1962 Although this is not my story, I thought it was worth sharing.  Last night I didn't feel well enough to decorate for Christmas as I had planned, but I did feel well enough to order candles for the holidays online.  As I was ordering, I wondered if I should wait for the madness of the holiday season and perhaps free shipping. ...

I decided to get a bit of nourishment, so I drove to Whole Foods to get some soup.  As I was checking out the mother and her son in front of me were having problems with her credit card.  I could tell that their total bill was a little over twelve dollars.  The mom was looking at the young son as if he had the answer to their problems.  She had cash although it was not enough.  Looking at the young boy and his mother, I knew how to solve this problem, so I told the cashier that I would pay for their bill and handed him my credit card.  The lady was so thankful that she hugged me and thanked me profusely while handing me the seven dollars cash she had in her hand.  The young boy was grinning ear to ear.  Even though it's cold outside, this made my winter a little bit warmer.

I'm thankful this is a short work week, only two days with students.  Tomorrow is a workshop day, but I called in sick.  It's legitimate; I'm really sick.  Maybe it was the stress of preparing for Boston and the end of the trimester.  More likely, it's the lack of sleep and frigid temperatures.  At any rate, I feel like crap.  In fact, now that I've made my Animoto video of Boston, I feel I can go to bed.  Before I go to bed, however, I would like to share the kindness of this week (well, last two days).  Monday I was greeted with a box of mini candy canes.  I love candy canes especially when I can fit the entire candy cane in my mouth and talk to my honors class.  Yes, it really happened although the students weren't really impressed.  I, of course, was impressed by the candy canes.  Monday also brought random people asking me about the conference.  One teacher even came up to me a bit surprised that I had presented wit...

Perhaps not the most flattering outfit or photo, but this is it. Our presentation today was at 1:00.  As we readied and watched people leave for the airport, we discussed going to get something to eat if no one showed up at our session.  It was a serious possibility because it seemed as if no one was around.  Instead, we ran out of hand-outs.  The attendees seemed pleased with our presentation. After almost losing a student journal last time we presented, we decided not to bring student journals.  Instead we photocopied some examples.  I did, however, bring my journal from last year and this year to show the beginning pages of resources.  Since we're going one to one next year, and I didn't want to carry any more than necessary home, I had already decided that last year's journal would be recycled at the end of the presentation.  One of the attendees, a first year teacher, had many questions, comments, etc.  I could tell by talking to ...

                               Anyone who has attended the NCTE annual conference knows the input of information can be overwhelming.  During one of my final sessions, I heard Ralph Fletcher was speaking in the last time spot.  I ran to attend only to find he was presenting in a room that only seats 50 people.  Crazy!  He was presenting with Thomas Newkirk and Rebecca Rule.  The three had wise words to say about using narrative in the classroom even though the Common Core doesn't emphasize narrative writing.  Not only did they say it, they showed it by telling amazing stories.  I laughed frequently and literally had tears in my eyes.  The power of story...

                                      Our first outing in Boston was The Freeom Trail.  We had a wonderful app that told us about each stop on the trail.  As we were debating about going into the first cemetery, I witnessed a man urinating among the headstones.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo.  It would have been a great addition to the days pics.  My favorite part of the trail was actually the holocaust memorial.  At first it seemed strange that the memorial, would be close to the trail.  The inscription explained.  Basically, we were asked to think about the consequences of one group persecuting another as we walked the trail.  It was powerful.  The columns each represented a concentration camp (smoke stacks).  On the glass was a quote.  Behind the quote were numbers representing the numbers tattooed on each individual.  ...

Yesterday afternoon, I met with the wonderful person with whom I'll be presenting next Sunday at the NCTE (National Conference Teachers of English) Annual Conference.  Even though we are presenting the same information which we presented in Birmingham at the NWP (National Writers Project) Urban Conferences, we spent a couple of hours reformatting and updating our information.  It may not seem like it since it took us two hours, but we tend to work well together. Tonight, I spent longer than needed making my reserve plans for next Thursday and Friday.  I am lucky to have an amazing teacher in my room for the two days.  Today I informed the students of my upcoming absence.  I also informed them that they "would learn" while I was gone, and with J in my room, they will learn! I know many people have presented at NCTE, but I'm getting excited about it.  This is new for me, and I think it's kinda cool.  Now, I'm trying to remind myself that  it'...

These are the pj bottoms (fleece) that I went to buy at Old Navy tonight.  They cost $12.94.                                                              This is the pile of clothes (two sweaters, two thermal shirts, and three pairs of tights) that followed me home.  They cost another $90.00:( The cat was not part of the purchase, but he may be for sale.

Last night I went to Talking Volumes to listen to the author Pat Conroy.  I thought I had read the book with the shoes on the front (My Losing Season), and I wasn't excited about listening to him.  After listening to him, I question if I've read any of his books.  Also, I found him engaging and interesting.  In fact, I left wondering about his books.  Has anyone read Pat Conroy?  Should I give him a chance?  What book should I read? Tonight, I have book club, and we are discussing The Zealot.  It should be interesting although at this point, I'd rather stay at home and eat my Angie's Salted Caramel Popcorn. Anyway, any readers that have any information about Pat Conroy, please send it my way.

Guatemala Theme for English B by Langston Hughes The instructor said, Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you-- Then, it will be true. I wonder if it's that simple? I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. I went to school there, then Durham, then here to this college on the hill above Harlem. I am the only colored student in my class. The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem, through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas, Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y, the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator up to my room, sit down, and write this page: It's not easy to know what is true for you or me   at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what  I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you: hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page. (I hear New York, too.) Me--who? Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life. I like a pipe for a Christmas present, or records-...

                                     I've once again been using the Chrome books in my room.  One class is using them for research, the other classes are merely doing word processing, and the after school group is using Feedly and Blogger.  Weird things have been happening especially with online websites and easybib.com.  After sending several emails to the school tech guy and media director, I started taking screenshots and mailing the screenshots to show the problems.  Since the problems are intermittent, it's a bit difficult to explain.   Last night, as my after school kids were getting ready to get their computers, the district tech guy comes.  He doesn't say anything to me and randomly starts opening the computers.  It seems as he's not versed in the problem because he doesn't seem to be opening the browsers.  When I tell my kids to be polite and ca...

Today as I drove into worked I was irritated by the sign on the crazy house's lawn.  I'm used to seeing crazy republican signs, but today's sign mentioning public taxes made me tense.  My concentration was on the public taxes, as opposed to private taxes.  Since it was the start of the day, I knew I should relax before I started to teach.  When I opened my email, a fellow colleague emailed me about the sign.  It seems I was so upset about the ignorance of public taxes that I missed the misspelling of school.  At least it wasn't spelled skool.  Obviously, school didn't work out so well for the sign maker. When I went to vote tonight, I failed to follow directions and voted for two people in one column instead of the required one.  The new voting machine spit it back out and described my error.  I was able to put my ballot in the spoiled ballot folder and obtain a new ballot.  As I apologized profusely for not following directions, the mac...

I'm super excited about this news since all of my reading material is on my iPhone or iPad.  Typically, I feel cheated out of reading time since I can't read for forty minutes of the flight.  On my flight to Boston, I'll be able to read the entire trip.  Thanks Delta!   Fall is leaving too soon since snow is expected tomorrow.  It's crazy.  Part of me feels cheated by fall.  When I say part, I mean a major part.  It's too early to be in the I can only wear boots and sweater mode.

                            I had this morning all figured out.  Since I'm back in God's Country, my primary plan includes catching up with dear friends.  At 7:25 I left at dawn (perhaps predawn) to walk two miles to meet J for breakfast... Two miles in, great conversation, two miles back... Perfect.  My plan was to then do schoolwork before meeting S at 12:30.  It's 12:00, and the schoolwork hasn't happened because I've been sitting on the couch, enjoying the sun streaming in, and geeking on the internet.  Tomorrow, I'll take care of the schoolwork tomorrow...