Teaching and the Many Hats I Wear

I have now taught my students almost ninety days this school year. Some of you have asked "What do you teach all day?" Being in a school of about 200 students K-12 I definitely wear many hats. Originally when I arrived at my school I was hired to reorganize the Title I reading and math program, which is a federally funded program to support students struggling in reading and/or math. The program has staff pull students for tutoring or move into classrooms to provide learning opportunities. We also coordinate a summer school program. I now have another teacher and three paraeducators as part of this program.

Once the program was in place, I asked to add classroom teaching to my "duties as assigned"! I really missed working with students of my own in the classroom. Now about a third of my day is working in Title I and Learning Assistance Program K-12 and two-thirds is spent teaching sixth grade writing, and seventh grade and eight grade language arts. That pretty much fills up my day. Of course there are times that I charge iPods, wipe tears, listen to stories students need to tell, and do playground duty. We are busy and the days go fast. One advantage in our school is small class size. None of my classes have more than seventeen students. I also loop the same students all through middle school so I know them pretty well by the time the finish 8th grade.

I love this time of year at the end of the first semester. I can sit back and reflect on student learning and celebrate the growth my students have made. I look forward to the next ninety days. I also look forward to the day there aren't ice chunks outside my classroom door and kids don't need assistance walking from the basketball court to the door over the ice!This is the ice that has not melted yet outside my classroom door.

Praise Song for the Day

photo by Callie Shell/Time magazine

Inaugural Poem, January 20, 2009

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise.

All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day.

Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day.

Praise song for every hand-lettered sign;

The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national.

Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

by Elizabeth Alexander

I could only find a transcript so I don't know if this is how it is organized by lines. I wasn't able to watch the inauguration,but later I appreciated the mix of words. I loved the sound of brink, brim, cusp. I loved the image of dirt roads, raising bridges, and figuring it out at the kitchen table. I loved the feel of "love that casts a widening pool of light." It was a praise song for "walking forward in that light." I thought the picture above captured our president and president elect walking forward in the light.

Winter Tour: Fortunately, Unfortunately

I love the picture book Fortunately by Remy Charlip. This week-end I was finally home when it was light outside so I could tour the property and survey the effects of winter. This book kept coming to mind.
Fortunately the snow is still piled high enough that Shelby can still play Rin Tin Tin and watch over the neighborhood.
Unfortunately it is still almost impossible to get the car in the garage.Fortunately the ivy under the eaves has survived the winter.
Unfortunately some climbing roses got hit with the snowplow and we don't know the damage.
Fortunately the trellis is still standing after it was covered with snow for weeks.
Unfortunately one lawn decoration didn't get put away and it is buried in this frozen snow bank. I spotted the pretty copper color glinting in the sun. Fortunately there are actually buds coming out on the lilacs, forsythia, and serviceberries in the yard.
Unfortunately they may be buried in snow again in a week. Fortunately this crabapple tree has food for the birds.
Unfortunately the feeders are impossible to fill right now because of the snow. Fortunately we had snow shovels when they were a scarce item a few weeks ago.
Unfortunately that meant JEJ had to use them! Fortunately the sun came out and the sky was blue so we could get some Vitamin D.
Unfortunately I was sequestered in the study grading tests and scoring writing to be ready for the semester end this week.

4X4 Photo Meme: Bucket of Fire

I saw this meme in many variations as I visited blogs this week-end. My sister Silver Valley Girl sent it this way so I'll try it. The only difference with the others were the number of the folder and picture.

So here are the rules:

1. Go to the fourth folder where you keep your photos.

2. Post the fourth picture in that folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag four fellow bloggers to join in the fun.

All fellow bloggers.... join in and let me know so I can come peek!Here is my fourth picture in my fourth folder. This is not a new fireplace for our gazebo. When the weather was so cold the smoke stopped going out the top of the chimney. I thought I was doing something wrong in building up the fire when JEJ was gone. The whole sunroom filled up with an awful smoke. The same thing happened to JEJ. He took the burning firewood out of the stove, put it in a coal bucket and placed it in the snow. I had to take a picture of it because it did look like a bucket to warm up while shoveling or building a snowman. This cute fire burned a long time. The problem? When the weather was so cold the moisture on the mesh around the top of the chimney combined with soot froze and the smoke couldn't get out. JEJ hit it with a snow shovel while removing snow on the roof and once again the sunroom wood stove worked beautifully.

Sibling Assignment #88: Fog

Raymond Pert gave the sibling assignment this week. It was one word: Fog. You will soon find his here and Silver Valley Girl's here.
A found poem is created by taking lines, phrases, and passages from other sources and reframing them as a poem. This poem was created by pulling lines from a variety of poems on the theme of fog.

Found in the Fog

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

Open the door now.
Go roll up the collar of your coat
To walk in the changing scarf of mist.

Light refracting and pulsing
new frost clinging
shrub and nettle,
goldenrod and milkweed
blanketed, crystallized
ablaze
in frozen fog.

A heavy fog clings like cobwebs to the naked limbs of winter’s trees.

It cushions away the sounds of life;

All morning bathed in a dovelike brooding.

Living without faith is like driving in a fog.

The Sun took down his Yellow Whip
And drove the Fog away.

Like a deep rich fog
so is the grace of God
ever present in our lives.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

a found poem created by InlandEmpireGirl

photos taken at home and around Lake Roosevelt

Stay Gold

One of my classes is reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. When students have time to read in class you can hear a pin drop. Students really relate to Ponyboy, Johnny, Cherry, the Greasers and the Socs. To help them understand the period and location of setting of the book I introduce the unit with the first part of the movie. The Outsiders opens with Stevie Wonder singing "Stay Gold." Students are used to seeing a theme throughout a movie or at the end. This surprises them. Some aren't familiar with Stevie Wonder and the song seems a bit "cheesy" as some remarked. After immersing ourselves in the book then watching the whole movie the song makes sense. Of course, it ties in nicely with "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost, which Ponyboy recites after he runs away. Today the song took on a whole new meaning. One of the contestants trying out on " American Idol" sang it last night. I don't watch the show, but there were certainly enough of my students that heard it last night. I was surprised they remembered the song! I found a live performance by Stevie Wonder that reminded me how important this song is to the theme of the book.

"Stay Gold"

Seize upon that moment long ago
One breath away and there you will be
So young and carefree
Again you will see
That place in time...so gold

Steal away into that way back when
You thought that all would last forever
But like the weather
Nothing can ever...and be in time
Stay gold

But can it be
When we can see
So vividly
A memory
And yes you say
So must the day
Too, fade away
And leave a ray of sun
So gold

Life is but a twinkling of an eye
Yet filled with sorrow and compassion
though not imagined
All things that happen
Will age too old
Though gold

If you haven't heard him perform this song for awhile... enjoy!