Slow news day

The newsroom was quiet on the 31st. Rain on the rooftop had a soporific effect on the art department, music reviewer, astrologer, meteorologist, and more. March breeze, neither cool nor warm, blew Teacher Town drafts off the planning table from a window opened wide. Sheets of white, ink-splattered, bolded, some strike-through phrases, others victorious with a double-underline. All set aside on this last day of an annual challenge. 

Due dates floated like feathers, out of reach. Each article was a pitch, a swing, and... So many headlines, but not as many conclusions. The engine was humming on the ground floor.  We called on the spirit of Johannesburg Gutenberg to get this edition of Teacher Town out. Small town press may be better published on a once-weekly basis, for that matter. Subscribers only.

Spring breakers do it right

It was the “best day of spring break” and he's just halfway through. This breaking news from one of Teacher Town’s own. 

It started with a proclamation: “My mortal body has grown weak. I require sustenance.” (Fortunately, this earthly being can also reach the cereal bowl.)

Next up, bikes were loaded atop the car for a trek in the woods. Through the barren spikes of winter, leaves sprouted on branches above. Wheels bounced over tree roots and through a tunnel begging for a chorus of “Echo! Echo!”

Back in on road, a simple signal of “battery low” landed him at the bagel shop for another recharge. 

Build a bench without nails? Done. Mine diamonds on Minecraft? Done. Set the table for five because the big brothers came for a visit? Done and done!

Five days to go, and this one’s planning to make them all count.

Today’s Horoscope

Pisces, you are one with the water today. At the surface, you will take in the warmth of the sun’s rays, but don’t linger long. The depths await you, where you will find new reefs and sunken ships to explore. It’s may be colder there, but you find the chill and solitude invigorating. Your eyes are wide open—you’re a fish after all—to a new realm of possibilities far beyond craggy pirate’s treasure. As you contemplate unanswered questions, meditate in the weightlessness of space. Sea stars sparkle for those who swim to the other side of the cove.

Benefactor garners praise, some skepticism

Big business tycoon and philanthropist was caught slipping $50 bills into his opponents’ banks. For the betterment of society? To keep the game going? Is there a difference? After rolling doubles every other turn, a sense of responsibility has accompanied his good luck. 

With new home and hotel construction underway, he is still bound to crush his competitors. Meanwhile, it’s the poorest of us who get stuck with the luxury tax again and again. Sad irony, indeed. Unless we get a  free ride past go to collect $200, it’s all thanks and gratitude for the charity this time around the block.

Financial Times

Capitalism is kicking in Teacher Town tonight, and it’s a bull market. Cash is changing hands in rapid succession after many runs around the block in a mix of impulsive and prudent spending. Houses and hotels are going up left and right, and despite a depleted bank, the dice keep rolling doubles for one very lucky investor. In one tense negotiation, Virginia Avenue was traded for Pacific, plus a handful of cash. Too bad because there’s a whole lot of foot traffic around that pricey corner. Loiterers get sent straight to jail with only a sliver of support from the community chest. The market is on a short pause until morning. Buyers, brace yourselves and your pocket books. Now that Park Place and Boardwalk have been bought up, there’s no telling how long you’ll be able to stay afloat. Laissez-faire? C’est la vie in the game of Monopoly.

Ask Alice

Dear Alice,

The birds are arguing with the wind. They're in an endless back and forth--the chirping is nonstop and the wind's passive aggressive shushing is not helping. I'm thinking it might be the dinner hour, and the birds just want to pick up their seeds and berries without the hassle of them blowing to and fro. I get it, but we don't all need to hear their business. The wind, on the other hand, has a job to do. It's March, of course, and she's been waiting all year to take center stage,  but it wouldn't kill her to take a short break. Do you think I should meddle or mediate?

Sincerely,

Porch Potato

Dear Porch Potato, 

It's tough being in the middle, but breathe deep and put your feet up. Instead of butting into nature's quarrels, flip the script. Are you sure this conflict isn't between your ears? The birds you hear are warming up for Friday serenade. The wind saves its best gusts for the late afternoon, but the rest of her evening will be devoted to whispering a lullaby. The sunset is minutes away from painting your evening shades of tangerine and gold. Soon enough, this wild world will settle down. And so will you.

Sincerely,

Alice

Help Wanted

Cartoon strip artist. Seeking individual with the power to prompt laughter at the end of a long day. Can nurse a spark into a roaring bonfire--simple, happy drawings with small jokes that pack a lot of power preferred. Prolific doodler with a trailmix folder of drawings and math problems in each handful. Also experienced in coaching writer on daily slice of life posts. Contracted position, two to three strips, bonuses available, a.k.a. chocolate. 

Local weather report

The rain was coming down in sheets as students and staff scrambled into the building this morning. Even with the best gear, water dripped off backpacks, sending a decent spray across the linoleum tile. Kids wiped droplets off their temples as they took stock of the board; teachers stepped away from drenched coats stretched across their chairs to dry. On the screen, Teams displayed a few faces of the kids at home. They called out greetings--a daily check of the audio settings. 

"Hi." Check.

"Testing." Check.

"Whoa, it is pouring out," one commented from the cyberverse. "Can you all hear that rain outside my window?"

In the classroom, they turned to see the gray sky turn grayer. The air from the vent sent a chill down their damp spines.

"Uh, yeah. It's raining here, too," was the school-side reply to those calling in from warm, dry homes. Thought bubbles appeared above heads with memories of pajama bottoms and socked feet, cereal bowls and bedhead concealed by neat Teams initials.

Concurrent learning. Students learning the same lessons at the same time from different places. Some things are the same. Others are very different. 

Pyrotechnics and classroom library loans

Fireworks could be seen from a second-floor classroom window when teacher Allie O'Malley started passing out books. Hard copies of books with bold covers and intriguing summaries on the inside flaps. Books by energizing authors, such as Nicola Yoon, Nic Stone, and Marie Lu. Books that reveal aspirations and adventures, struggles and successes, challenges and changes. Books that were previously stacked willy-nilly on shelves, then papered over like they pulled a blanket over their heads and said, "Wake me when it's over."

Well, it's not over, but real live students sat within four actual walls, listened to in-person book talks, and jotted down titles that turned their heads. They browsed with their eyes and ears before reaching out with their hands--policy, you know--but with each book that left the room, the sparks flew higher and brighter. Shooting stars in pink, gold, and silver shot from Room 224 signaling the world of this breathtaking celebration.

As students stood from their sanitized desks and filed out with books in hand, their teacher looked on in awe and said, "Oooooh, aaaaaah."

Monday highlights

It was non-stop catch up on this asynchronous Monday in Teacher Town. It was a toe-tapping time skipping from tab to tab in a hopscotch across a slide-deck-crafting, LMS-building, and hyperlink-embedding kind of day. It was leaning into office hours for a let's-chat-about-assignments, then a how-to-make-this-even-better, and a wow-teaching-one-on-one sure-is-easier kind of way. Later, it was an I-see-the-finish-line sprint to zero ungraded assignments with some rubric-clicking friendly-note-writing, and a one-more-hill chant before I shut down my laptop, if I may.

Birthday special

Reservations are available at St. Ursula's Bistrot. Named for the patron saint of teachers, this deserves be your go-to spot for a feast. Call in today for a guaranteed two hours of fun in one of our street-side, pandemic-friendly bubble booths. Order the biscuits with more butter than an Irish dairy farm. Try a prawn the size of your head. Roasted broccoli has the power to erase any memory of wanting to "get the vegetables over with" because this divine dish has everyone asking for more. 

It's been one long year away from anything resembling Sunday brunch in the city. So go ahead, blow out that candle on the chocolate mousse, and make a wish. We won't even have to ask what it's for.

Bicoastal workouts, not just for physical fitness

Allie O’Malley’s Saturday run had barely begun when the New York Times Daily playing in her ears was interrupted by a San Diego number. Who says friends can't meet for a jog in separate time zones? The girls compared notes about COVID conditions through Mile 1. They processed emotions about the latest news through Mile 2. By Miles 3 and 4, they were on a quest for truths about life, slaying dragons of the past, and sharing the weight of Thor's hammer against the giants of the present. Finishing up Mile 5, they were filling each other in on family. 

Nowhere near to closing the conversation, O'Malley returned home to pick up her dog. Their running duo became a trio for a couple more miles, and the sun shined as happily on Teacher Town as it did out west. 

Week 1 winds down

Do you hear the music? Because there's a dance party in the kitchen. Dough and toppings line the counters. Mozzarella and morels, tomatoes and thyme. Come on home for a good old fashioned pizza night, a much needed reward for surviving--too soon to say thriving--the first week of concurrent learning. Kids, power down your iPads. Parents, don't even read the class newsletter just yet. Teachers, this is your night, too. 

The oven is hot. Stand back and let it perform its magic. Because everyone in Teacher Town waved their wands enough for one week. 

Another word study victory in hybrid class

The Teams call had ended, and the desks were wiped down. One student turned to his teacher to ask, "If two lasagnas are stacked one on top of the other, is it plural? Or do you just end up with one huge lasagna?"

Week 1 of hybrid classes is not even over, but the dam has broken and deep thoughts like this are flowing by the gallon. 

After posing the question to two classmates, sitting six feet away, the three considered other ways to apply the concept. "How about a Big Mac? Two burgers, one sandwich."

"How about a Dagwood sandwich?" asked the teacher, who added, "Do you know that reference?"

So it seems that youngsters don't know about Blondie comics, which is maybe for the best. That's okay, they still got the rundown on the allusion to the Bumsteads (with only a brief reminder of what an allusion is).

The students put online resources to work and presented this definition:

sandwich: an item of food consisting of two pieces of bread with meat, cheese, or other filling between them 

 "So what, is it against the rules to put a piece of bread in the middle of your sandwich?" The boys were stumped...until they struck gold. "Not unless you count bread as a filling!" 

"Mmmm, everyone loves a good bread sandwich." They all agreed with this conclusion. With that, they were dismissed for lunch.

English classes experience the word of the day

"What does the word 'concurrent' mean?" This was the warm-up question in a Teacher Town English class on their first hybrid / distance learning day, in which both teaching models are wrapped up in one cozy bundle. 

Not a single student seemed to know what it meant. In fact, one asked, "Is this a new word made up for COVID times?" But they appeared eager to learn, one major highlight of the event.

Between 2 and 10 students per class arrived with smiles beneath their masks. About the same number of students attended class from home. While Allie O'Malley flexed her webcam, students called "testing" from opposite ends of ends of the concurrent classroom. For the most part, there were a lot of thumbs up when it came to audio-visual effects. 

"It was a huge relief," she said. O'Malley was right to worry. It's a tremendous undertaking to meet the needs of both groups at once. One teacher, two classes, one period? The dictionary definition reads 'existing, happening, or done at the same time.' Since the school board didn't approve time machines in the tech kits they recently supplied, this is going to be long four months for a lot of teachers. 

"I'm trying to focus on the definition in the context of math: two or more lines meeting at one point." O'Malley continued. "Plus the prefix--con. It means together. Can we just learn together?" 

That's the hope! Kids turned on their cameras in greater numbers. The two groups talked back and forth. Both groups played a few rounds of Quizlet live...yes, in unison. Then they waved good-bye to each other for the change of class. That's a vocabulary lesson that's going to take hold.

"Tomorrow, maybe we'll explore the word 'depleted.' I mean, it was fun, but now I'm exhausted." 

Crime Report

At 6 AM this morning, an iPhone mysteriously went missing after its owner snoozed the alarm for the nineteenth time. It wasn't until twenty-seven minutes later when morning light woke Allie O'Malley, teacher at the local middle school. She was relieved that today was an asynchronous Monday, so disruptions to her routine were minimal, and she was able to log in on time. 

"I didn't even set eyes on it--I barely realized it was morning already" she recalls, and her spouse promptly confirmed. He, too, appeared out of sorts from disrupted sleep. 

Rubbing his eyes, he recounted the variety of ring tones she had programmed. "Presto. Radar. Radiate. Also, slow rise." 

"I've had a lot on my plate. So I set a bunch of alarms to make sure I don't oversleep."

"Oh, her phone also plays 'I'll Fly Away' from the Oh Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack," he added. O'Malley insisted that she's been meaning to update that since the film was released in 2000.

When findmyiphone app yielded no results, police were called onto the scene. They spent the afternoon gathering suspects. Based on the open window on the opposite side of the bed, they have only one.

Arts and Style

What's the best remedy for a grumpster rolling out of bed after an hour has been mercilessly ripped from her groggy hands? A mid-day trip to the ice cream shop is sure to boost spirits for even the most stubborn of the anti-DLS camp. Take a stroll through the neighborhood and choose the sunniest side of the street. Linger on the menu as long as you like. Brambleberry crisp, salted peanut butter, rainbow with sun sprinkles. Cone or cup. Everyone's a winner when the outdoor seating is open. 

Go shoulder-to-shoulder with a loved one or two, and compare scoop reviews. Watch passers-by and admire the well-dressed wonders who know how to seize a Sunday. Then take pride in your sneakers because you made it out on the town today with a smile. Now, that's what we call style.

Help Wanted

Seeking assistance in coping with a 23-hour day. Optimists preferred with expertise in time management and self-regulation. Expect mild to severe irritation at the timing of Daylight Saving 2021, when in fact most regular days barely suffice for tackling the typical responsibilities and general futility of a work-life balance. Duties may include laundry and assorted weekend chores, but are more likely to include meditation exercises and patient listening. This is a temporary position set to end after sunset when the employer has been rightfully tucked in for an early bedtime.

Last minute pep

The seating charts have been made, and a gooseneck camera is clipped to the podium in room 224 of Teacher Town Middle School, but eighth-grade English teacher, Allie O'Malley, has realized that one crucial element will be missing when she goes in-person next week. She's energized by the prospect of teaching outside the home, but as she filled her portable mug this morning, the realization made her blood run cold.

"How am I going to get enough caffeine with students in the room?" 

She's not the only one with concerns about wearing a mask all day. Some complain of the elastic around the ears. Others report that it can hard to breathe. It can get hot. Hearing one another can be a challenge.

O'Malley insists, "I don't care about any of that. I've been drinking at least three cups of coffee each morning of every teaching day since March 16, 2020. I begin the warm-up, take a sip, coach students through a mini-lesson, take a sip, form breakout groups, take a sip. I'm pretty sure sipping that much during class will no longer be appropriate."

The middle school day starts early, making this is a valid problem for other teachers as well. Doctors advise tapering caffeine intake in preparation for the transition, but for many, this advice comes too late. To avoid withdrawal symptoms, O'Malley is working on taking large gulps so that she may consume the proper amount between classes instead. She recommends removing the lid and holding the cup at a 50 degree angle while counting, one Mississippi, two Mississippi. 

"It might require some weekend training, but it will be worth it."

Sunshine soothes sore souls

Many in Teacher Town have been asking, “Do you remember what you were doing one year ago?” Nearing twelve-month mark since the world found itself in the grip of a pandemic, there has been a call to reflection. Recognition of lost lives and lives altered. Gratitude—some guilt too—for making it this far with only bruises. Whatever the extent of the hurt, no one is unscathed. Balancing strides toward normalcy with watchful vigilance, the community wonders what it will take to heal a wounded world.

Today was the third day of take-off-your-jacket joy. It was all on display on a late afternoon tour: a bicycle parade; a mother blowing bubbles at her baby; a gentleman in a lawn chair, eyes closed and smiling.

Look back with reverence and ahead with care, but enjoy the sun while it shines.