Holiday Greetings

November Calm

This was a lovely weekend. We did calming things. We read books. I'm going through the Maisie Dobbs series again. I read it piece-meal last time but I've acquired most of the series now in sequential order (up through 2007) and I'm rereading for consistency. Jacqueline Winspear creates a world during WWI and the Depression that simply absorbs the reader. Hubby is still pouring over his rereads of Robert B. Parker. Parker's death this year made Hubby go back for a third and fourth time to his novels.

We went to the movies and saw Morning Glory, a delightful film. We laughed. We held hands. We laughed some more. Harrison Ford as a curmudgeon just can't be topped -- except maybe by Jack Nickelson.

We visited the $200 store (Sam's) and only spent $95. We bought comfort food -- a roasted chicken, cookies, chips, milk, yams, and real butter (with salt in it -- to h*ll with high blood pressure).

I drank a quart of eggnog. Every year I wait with eager anticipation for the eggnog season to begin. For dinner last night we ate fresh sour dough toast with real butter, grape (for Hubby) or strawberry (for me) jelly and hot tea (Hubby) and eggnog (me).

Hubby started shopping for Christmas. He actually went on-line and found presents for his sister -- which caused the on-line store to send us a coupon for the exact item we had been looking at. We immediately ordered said item -- and then were so excited that we had finally started the process, we actually went "store" shopping for another Christmas present for his sister. We now have a half dozen Christmas presents ready for December.

Hubby baked a lovely pork roast and we boiled up taters for mashing and we've eaten that for the past couple of days. Delicious comfort food when paired with our Sam's cookies -- and a wonderful Sunday dinner.

We slept, of course. We napped on Saturday. We were in bed by 9:00 that night. Now Hubby is napping during the football games. He switches between violent movies and violent games -- but I hear him snoring away during both.

I paid the bills this afternoon -- and since Hubby had gotten us new debit cards, I activated them and changed over our online accounts to recognized the new numbers. We had used the old cards until they had cracked and folks were having to enter the numbers because they no longer swiped easily. I always think that the bill paying will be an onerous chore -- but sites keep getting easier and easier to use (and they remember more and more of your information so you have to remember less and less). And finally -- glory be -- the water company has moved bill paying on-line so I'm not now three months late in paying.

We needed to clean the bathroom. We needed to get the rest of winter clothes up from the basement. I'm sure I needed to do a load of wash. We needed to change the sheets. We didn't do any of those. We DID enjoy ourselves thoroughly.

10 Days before a vacation

First block started off with a fight. One of my SPED girls who has been spiraling down into angry despair, flew into World History where I collab with a nice guy who is never in class at the start, found her seat, raced across the room and proceeded to beat the pulp out of another kid. Honestly, for the first time in my career, I just stood there and watched.

Last Friday, the girl's aunt showed up for a conference with us and to announced that I had become the girl's "monster." The aunt has taken over guardianship of the child after a horrible transition that began last March when the family home burned. Since then the kid has been spiralling further and further out of control. I'm the "monster" of course because I'm trying to hold her in place and insist that she follow the rules and do the classroom assignments. The aunt believes the child should be allowed to make her own decisions -- regardless of the consequences. At the end of the meeting, we agreed that she could, in fact, make those decisions until they affected the learning of other students.

Yesterday, instead of agreeing to sit our advisory class, the child elected to sit across the hall in an empty room. Today, however, I allowed her to make the decision to beat up another girl which will, of course, force an entirely new series of events.

A behavior plan will now go into effect through her IEP (which has the almighty power of federal law behind it) and this child will no longer be allowed to make her own decisions. This will occur after a blessed 10 day suspension in which we all get to cool off. Then our little miss can decide to either work with me or go to the behavior discipline room where two huge guys hold sway and allow the kids out of the room only under supervision (no breaks, no lunchroom, no attending class -- all work is done in the smallest classroom possible). You get to pee only with a guard at your side.

Bet I won't seem like such a "monster" after two weeks of this treatment!

And if you detect a note of glee in my words, you'd be right.

Next block a whole stream of staff (teachers, administrators, and I don't know who all) paraded through our junior English collab to see what a real collaboration should look like. We didn't know anyone was coming until 7:30 this morning when my collab partner was called by the vice-principal to announce the impending visitation. We had, of course, planned a parallel teaching lesson -- not the best for seeing how well we actually do collaborate. But we decided to do our initial bell work unit, do a brief discussion of MLA standards in which we actually did a team-unit, and then go our separate ways. The students are writing a term paper -- and we didn't divide the class by SPED vs general ed students -- we divided it along the lines of the topics each group was writing about. Some SPED were with me -- some with the English teacher. Generally my group wanted more hands-on help -- but I also had the five brightest kids in the room with me. We have 35 in the gen ed room -- so this division means we can work with more quiet and in a more one-on-one approach without falling all over each other. We wowed our observers (of course -- we really are a great team) by using both approaches in a 25 minute span.

We spend third block standing in a long line waiting to have our sophomore students hearing and vision checked by a staff of student nurses from the local university. Because no one had planned well, all third floor teachers showed up at once and the university staff yelled at the teachers that we didn't have control of our students and everyone was too noisy. They actually got in our faces and yelled! Meanwhile the kids stood around in long, long lines for 45 to 60 minutes waiting for the tests. Clearly ivory towers have little contact with inner city public schools.

With my world history collab partner we ended the day by planning to give a demonstration tomorrow of how true communism works -- facilitated by a huge pile of really realistic paper money. The kids will love it. But we will be noisy. Money calls for noise for some odd reason.

Finally Autumn Seems to Have Arrived

The midwest has been warm all through October. It just hasn't felt much like fall. But now the signs are here:

1. The trees began turning about 10 days ago, very slowly. The graveyard across the street from Hubby's house has gorgeous red, orange, and yellow oaks and maples.

2. We had the first freeze this morning. It felt lovely -- partly because this was a school holiday and instead of getting up and trudging about in the 4:30 a.m. cold, I was snuggled down with Hubby and two boys.

3. The last workday of October is a school holiday (see above) -- and since we've been in school solidly since Labor Day we so look forward to it.

4. My last permanent and serious hair cut was July 30. I got the new perm and hair shaving today. I'm ready for the holiday season.

5. We turned on the furnace. Why suffer proudly when you can just flip a switch and get warm air?

6. Hubby demanded a blanket on his side of the bed.

7. I began to put away the summer clothes. I also began to drag up from the basement the winter clothes. I hate this job.

8. Hubby sent Halloween cupcakes to school for my Advisory students. They cheered on Thursday when they saw them -- each had a huge Halloween ring stuck smack in the middle of the purple icing.

9. I went to the store this afternoon to buy myself my own bag 0f Halloween candy -- I wanted some candy corn. Now that I have it -- why do we eat this stuff? It has almost no taste and no redeeming value.

10. At the store I bought my first bottle of -- EGGNOG! I love eggnog!

11. This weekend I'm making Thanksgiving reservations for Branson.

12. I'm beginning to think just a little bit about writing the Christmas letter and addressing the Christmas cards.

13. Lucky number 13. Typical of me, I forgot that this year my conditional SPED teaching license was due to be renewed in August. Actually, I can't remember if I ever knew it needed renewing. Anyway, the SPED honcho sent me a very evil email yesterday saying my conditional certification had lapsed, she didn't think the state was renewing anybody at this particular time, and my contract would NOT be renewed if I didn't have certification. Again, typical of me, I went to all the bad places in my head -- but had the good sense to contact my grad school advisor with a frantic plea for help. Within 40 minutes she had the whole situation in control -- the SPED honcho had been put in her place, I was again calm and breathing, and my certification papers will be in the mail on Monday and Pittsburg State University will handle the whole matter for me. There are real advantages in going to a small school that takes an individual interest in their students (of course, that's only IF you have to go back to grad school). I have 9 more hours before I gain full certification (6 in the spring and 3 in the summer -- AND I'm done -- 36 hours of grad credit BEYOND my masters).

14. The district issued new contracts this week -- and I happily signed on for another year at a very pleasant (not rich, of course) salary.

15. Hubby did the winter-tune up on the Lincoln. For a car with 162,300+ miles, we only needed a few minor things repaired (at this time).

16. The boys are getting longer monthly hair cuts from the groomer. No more shaving off leg and belly fringe -- they need a little hair to keep 'em warm.

17. We've been gearing into the concert season. The last couple of concerts -- especially the Baroque by Candlelight -- were fabulous.

18. Hubby and I went this week to the last soccer game of the season. My school's team made it to the regionals -- but then we got slaughtered. (The soccer coach is the same teacher who made us the wonderful spaghetti sauce.)

19. The kids in my Advisory are already asking about the annual Christmas party.

20. Cider. Cocoa. Donuts. Homemade pumpkin bread. Pumpkin spice cream cheese muffins from Starbucks. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Time

I suppose that in autumn my thoughts turn to endings. Warm weather ending. Wearing sandals without socks ending. Going outdoors without a coat ending. Leaves on trees ending. Daylight savings time ending. Tornado warnings ending. Chilled tuna salad and watermelon for dinner ending.

There are beginnings, too. Rainy, dark mornings beginning. Finding those beloved cheery red happy pants beginning. Wearing new suede shoes beginning. Planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas vacation beginnings. Chili for dinner beginning. Thinking about starting grad school, AGAIN beginning.

Endings. Beginnings. The cycles of my life keep speeding up. I'm getting dizzy.

Life's Little Pleasures

Today my school teacher neighbor, the man I share a classroom wall with, came into the lunchroom carrying a large sack from Whole Foods. Al is known for bringing little treats to us -- usually a pie or a cake. Today he had a lovely banana layer cake which helped make Monday just a bit more palatable. But his huge sack contained another surprise.

Al is old school. An Italian immigrant, his parents brought him from Southern Italy when he was 12 years old. Not knowing a word of English, they immediately threw him into public school -- way before the days of ESL classes. From a family that never believed in complaining or failing, Al made his life a wonderful success. He raised three children with his beloved wife. He has taught school for over 40 years. Three years ago his wife, who had been the provider of fabulous homemade treats for our lunchroom, caught the flu. Within 19 hours she was dead. Al, never complaining, carries on. Now his treats are store bought. Every time he brings them we fondly recall the delicacies his wife used to make us.

At 67 years old Al can still beat his soccer team up the four double case flights of steps. They've learned not to challenge him. He agrees that on the straight away the boys can beat him -- but not charging up those steps. Some nights he's at school until 11 p.m., head coach of a group of immigrant boys struggling with English and in love with soccer.

Two summers ago, his son flew him back to Italy first class to reconnect with his relatives. We're still sitting through the picture shows of that trip. This past summer, with his mother now 92, Al spent the summer in Omaha learning how to make his favorite Italian dishes. He came home the master of spaghetti sauce.

Over the weekend, Al went to Whole Foods and got all the freshest ingredients. Then he made his mama's sauce -- organic tomatoes, fresh oregano. He also bought two packages of Italian pasta and pretty good sized wedge of parmigiano reggiano. Then he spent four hours making mama's sauce.

In that lovely shopping bag was dinner for Hubby and me. All homemade. All fresh. All made with love. Pasta, cheese, and a gleaming, fragrant jar of real Italian spaghetti sauce. What a pleasure!

Still Trudging Along

A note arrived in my inbox from my beloved sister-in-law in Houston gently reminding me that this blog has lain fallow for nearly a month as I slog through school readjustment. So here's a very brief update for family and friends.

Teaching this year is so hard. Much harder than in any year since I started teaching -- and this, gang, is my 27th year of being an inner city classroom teacher. Physically, I'm so exhausted that I haven't seen a TV show or read anything other than a magazine with more depth than People in a month. I'm even too tired to eat. I'm so exhausted that a couple of cheese cubes satisfies me for lunch. A handful of grapes can be dinner. A bottle of diet sweet tea sustains me all afternoon. It's just too much effort to get the food into my mouth and chew it. This is creating problems for Hubby, who is the lunch-putter-upper but he's manfully trying to create something to give me a little energy and not have me just shrug off the meal (tuna fish seems to be the staple right now). I've quit trying to "look pretty" before I head out the door at 5:15 a.m. every morning -- it's just too wearying to figure out how to apply makeup when you're eyes are glued shut. Clean clothes seem to be my biggest fashion statement. I have meetings every single night after school -- even on Fridays. I also have a meeting on Monday morning at 6:30 and the onerous metal detector duty on Friday morning -- which means that on those mornings I get up half an hour earlier. Every night I'm in bed -- and asleep -- by 7 p.m. However, because I now can no longer sleep longer than three hours at the most at a stretch -- at midnight, I'm back up trying to figure out if I can eek out three more hours of sleep before I need to start dressing for the day. Did I say I was falling-down exhausted?

Sounds awful, doesn't it?

I'm having my most productive year of teaching since I started the college prep program back in 1984 (which ended with the demise of Paseo High School in 1990). I work with a fantastic cohort of junior English teachers and they are open and willing to use my ideas for curriculum development. Somehow, without even realizing how it came about, I turned myself into a really good lesson plan writer -- I can scaffold skill development so kids have a foundation on which to lay a solid build up of learning -- and they understand and retain my lessons. My cohorts are open to the process and we have, together, taken my basic lessons and turned them into really dynamic units for the new curriculum that our district is trying to implement. More than any other group in our city, my cohort is showing ease with the new processes and test scores reflecting our achievement. Everyone -- including me -- is astonished and delighted. The acclaim we are beginning to receive is even more amazing.

The collaborative teaching assignments that so worried me before school started have turned into dynamic, innovative, and wildly successful ventures. Both teachers have been open and welcoming. Both teachers have made accommodations for me, physically and intellectually. Both teachers have seem me as an equal teaching partner and made the students aware of my status. Both teachers share my love of kids and we have similar teaching styles. The English teacher (the one I worried about most) and I also share the same discipline style. I love working with her! We aren't best friends, but as equal professional educators we are so in sync! I love collaborating! And the kids love having me in the classrooms.

My social studies collaboration has not been as visible to the district, since I'm not part of the social studies professional meetings (I'm stuck with English) -- but my collab partner has been open to my creating our social studies teaching units and then he has been presenting them at the district meetings. We got a call this week from another high school asking to use my material at their school.

This week we had our first district mandated testing session to see how well we were implementing the new curriculum. The tests were written on ACT level and administered by computer. We were not permitted to see them before they were given. The process did not go smoothly and by week's end we had teachers in wild disarray and very angry -- all the teachers but the ones in my English cohort who showed some of the highest scores in the district. We came close to already meeting the high norm set for the district (80% passing). Okay -- our ESL students scored quite low. In our collab English classroom we have 31 students -- and 21 are ether SPED or ESL. The two students from Nepal with almost no English did quite poorly. But my SPED kids -- 60 to 70% scores for the most part. Now that's an achievement! And using my curriculum -- the gen ed students were scoring in the 80 to 90th percentile. WOW! Our principal stopped by to congratulate us on what is currently believed to be the highest scores in the district!

So -- the year is hard! So hard! So tiring! So much work! I'm writing curriculum for both World History and English 3 from the ground up. I'm working my butt off inside the classroom. I'm loving the kids -- and the kids are loving me back. I'm so impressed by the openness of my collab partners. I'm working with intelligent, professional colleagues in a mutually respectful environment. It's okay to be tired when you're actually accomplishing something wonderful.