My first Literary Love

I realized that I probably needed a followup to my previous post. This is the first book that I absolutely treasured. I wonder sometimes if my animal rescue tendencies may spring from my love of this book. Now the first book I remember reading on my own was Alice in Wonderland at the age of four. No, I was no prodigy. Just bored. But it certainly started something. This was way before cable and the only cartoons were over by 8 in the morning and only on in the afternoon from 3-5. In our small small town, there were very few kids my age and my brother was mostly a squalling annoyance at that point. I was blessed by a grandmother who compulsively bought books for her grandchildren, especially Newberry Classics. Oh, and lots of ice cream too. FTW. My youngest and I spent a wonderful Friday night at the bookstore last week. I couldn't think of a better way to spend it. We also got ice cream of course :)

Read It Day

Today, in every single class, we get to spend the first 20 minutes reading. Knowing my kids, I grabbed a mighty armload of books this morning from the library for those students who were inevitably going to walk in w/o a book despite all the announcements and fanfare. I also found a gem for myself there. Ironically, it is about a discovered book. Here is an excerpt:

Once, in my Father's bookshop, I heard a regular customer say that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a place in our memory to which, sooner or later-no matter how many books we have read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget-we will return.

Zen and the Art of Powerpoint Maintenance

I was so proud of my PowerPoint presentation. It was visually stunning. I had Indian Buddhas, Chinese Buddhas, Yin and Yang symbols overflowing into pictures of golden temples and crouching Chinese dragons. I was precise in my language, organized with my notes and primed to teach my eager students. "Bwahaha"cackled Murphy the God of Perversity in his divine jealousy towards the attention I was paying towards other beliefs. It flopped. If there had been tomatoes, I would have looked like I'd had a V-8 poured over my head. It wasn't ugly. They were awake and staring at me but no brain cells were involved in synaptic processes. It was like Zombieland in my classroom. Without the cannibalism of course. So, I punted. That lovely powerpoint went back to the dens of my flashdrive and we read and highlighted in my other classes. Or as I paraphrased: "we collected information". But today, a teacher's dream. We took that information and we collaboratively synthesized the data and we drew conclusion and we restated the information. In other words, we worked in groups, we took quotes and decided which philosophical school they belonged to and we rewrote it in our own words. It was awesome. Absolutely a great teaching moment where I just facilitated and nudged them along while they taught it to each other. Was all the time I spent on the PowerPoint a waste of energy? No. It helped me to refresh my own knowledge of the subject and more importantly, it put me back on the "Dao" or "the Way" that I know kids can learn better. It's all good.

The Tao of Pooh

Everything has its own place and function. That applies to people, although many don't seem to realize it, stuck as they are in the wrong job, the wrong marriage, or the wrong house. When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don't belong.
Benjamin Hoff

"The Tao of Pooh"

A Teachable Moment

Today I was lecturing about the Aryan Invasions into India and the rise of Hinduism. Students always get into invasions and when you throw in religion too, they always seem to pay a little more attention. Most of our focus was on my shoes however. Because, according to one of my favorite students known here as J, "Ms. 100 Farmers could have conquered India with those shoes that she is wearing". Somehow the use of iron in superior weaponry and comfortable utilitarian black flats are just what you need for empire building. So, I went with it and I showed them the conquering path that my shoes and I followed through the Hindu Kush mountains and my shoes' elitist influence in establishing the caste system in India. It did get a little surreal when my shoes' bad actions in life caused such bad karma that they were reincarnated as cheap flip flops. This may have been the funniest lesson I've ever presented. Hopefully they will actually remember all of the facts and not just about footwear reincarnation.

Having a Window Changes Everything

Sometimes

Sometimes there are things in our life
that aren't meant to stay.
Sometimes change may not be what we want.
Sometimes change is what we really need.
And sometimes saying goodbye
is the hardest thing you think you'll ever have to do,
but sometimes it's saying 'hello again' that breaks you down
and makes you the most vulnerable person you'll ever know.
Sometimes change is too much to bear,
but most of the time change
is the only thing saving your life.

First Day

First official day back and am horribly frustrated because I want to jump in and get everything ready but my body is not letting me. My stupid surgery site keeps reminding that all is not quite well but only after I've done something like climbed up on a desk or pushed file cabinets down the hallway. It's nice being downstairs with the rest of the History department but am already missing my buddy upstairs. Suddenly though, I am being patted on the back and a part of the department after two years of being hid up in the attic with the rest of the 9th grade teachers. I'm a bit worried about the teacher that switched teaching assignments with me because she seems a bit freaked out and lost. I'm kinda stuck in an awkward position because I want to help her as much as possible but probably need to hint more to her that I'm teaching a new subject also. I just don't have time to spend every moment with her when I'm trying to get ready myself. I am throwing every piece of paper, powerpoint and book that I have at her. Trying to spin it positively though and thinking of it as good training for the student teacher who shows up in two weeks. One definite negative note: am assigned the icky co-teacher from last year again. Methinks she is not too pleased either. One final positive note: My new room is long enough that I can put a desk for her at the other end from mine.