Just the "Facts", Ma'am

My students are right about to begin creating their own "news"papers tomorrow, so they pitched ideas for what themes they'd like to focus on in small committees. I suppose I could make them report the true facts of news in their school or town, just as real-live journalists do, but I enjoy the sixth grade imagination too much, so instead I'm asking them to pretend to be real-live journalists as they report on phony news in the style of today's newspapers.

As my students prepare to create Onion-style newspapers, whether their news and special features focus on sports, animals, celebrities, fashion, or even mythical creatures, I expect these kiddos to stretch the truth and flat-out lie in some cases, in order to create entertaining reading material for their classmates. Am I encouraging another Stephen Glass, known for falsifying news in a competitive writing field? It's notable to some, that his next chosen career is in law. Next up, I'll expose them to Mark Twain, who was run out of town for making stuff up and calling it truth.

I'll let my students know what happens to writers who lie and pretend like they don't, but for now, I want them to write and enjoy it along the way. Is that so wrong?

Good Sport

The kick-off for my birthday this morning was a run with my oldest; the baby came along for a free ride in the jogger stroller. It wasn't very long ago that my running buddy was in the stroller himself. Then he was big enough for a scooter, and we'd head out on the bike trail so that I could run (and walk) right along with him, my hand on his back as a support when he braved the hills. Next, he learned to ride a two-wheeler. He'd zoom on ahead, but stop to wait as I sprinted to keep up. I'd still grab those handles with him when the incline increased, and we'd push on to the top together. This morning, we ran side-by-side on one of the hillier trails of Teacher Town. We huffed our way up and down those hills together. Instead of my hand on his back, he put a hand on the stroller handle to push it for me.

When our destination came within sight, I said, "Let's sprint to the end."

"Nah," he said, but then he picked up the pace and sprinted on ahead. There was no way I'd catch up to him, his longer legs achieve a much broader stride then mine. As long as we were headed toward the same place, I was fine.

Sipping on Kool-aid

When I told some friends the other night that my oldest is rowing this spring, one remarked that the sport is like a cult. Well, after today's event, the first race (but not regatta)of the season, I'm ready to sign in blood, and I haven't even lifted an oar. It might have been the crisp air that reached us on the deck of the boat house, the way the kids respected the ritual of the boat, the lowering, the lifting, and of course the rowing in unison across the water's surface under the grand arches of Key Bridge. The coach let parents know that crew is the ultimate team sport, and I thought of the countless lessons my can learn by operating on a in a group where every role is necessary. Today, when the ice-cold, refreshing, strawberry Kool-aid was passed around, I drank it down and asked for seconds.

Separate and Equally Loved

I've got a problem with people who think that the middle child gets the shaft. I'm the middle child, and I happen to know I'm the favorite, so take that, believers in birth order characteristics. (Okay, feel free to interpret that statement as one suffering from middle child syndrome, if you must.) As a mother, I have absolutely no favorites. In fact, I could post in a three day rotation of odes to each of my three boys because my love for each of them would inspire years of writing if I thought an audience would care to read it. But my hunch is that the best audience for that adoration is my sons, and since they only occasionally read my Teacher Town posts over my shoulder, I will save my over-the-moon love letters for their baby books.

Meanwhile, I can't help but capture this evening with my son in the middle. The baby was snug in his bed by 7:30 p.m; my oldest was off devouring spaghetti and meatballs in preparation for his first regatta tomorrow; my husband, a wine guy, was pouring at a wine shop. My ten-year-old and I sat down to our own dinner on this quiet Friday evening, and we covered a wide range of topics, including tests, friends, substitute teachers, pre-school fire drills, baby vultures,  and even bullying. At one point he told me someone in his class called a classmate a "poop face". The same kid "must be close with the principal because he gets sent to his office at least once a week". This extended to my questions about fifth graders, who by his interpretation, need to be watched. As he ate his final meatball, he said, "You're really bulldozing my social life." I took note of both the warning and the use of figurative language. All was well when he gave me a tour of two elaborate Lego constructions and he bulldozed my own sense of good vs. evil by asking me which side would defeat the other. I'm usually wrong about such things, but I think that's part of the experience. He just seems to enjoy having the time to set me straight.

Whachya got there?

We're about half-way through this month's writing challenge, and I can already say I'm a believer. For those of my students who have taken on the daily (or almost daily) challenge, it's clear that the regular practice of writing is as nourishing as brown rice, as spicy as a taco, and as sweet as a mango. I'm getting to know those students on a level I wasn't able to reach before. They seem to appreciate the replies I post, but it also gives us more to talk about in person. For all of this, I can thank my good friend who walks her dog.

Meanwhile, with sixteen days left to go, I see some lag in the writing ideas department, and I'm also keeping an eye on the kids who are about to fall behind on the required 10 slices for the month. I can relate to any sort of writing lethargy that occurs. Each minute of the day is packed full of tasks I "have" to do, and when I finally get a chance to write...I got nuthin'. In an effort to inspire my students, I created a Wordle, not unlike the graphic Two Writing Teachers posted to inspire us that included words like, "dreams, captured conversations, shoes, etc." I posted it in the "pocket" of our on-line writing community.

To introduce it, I asked the kids, "Do you ever find stuff in your pocket?" My items certainly represent my life: paper clips, pony-tail holders, hall passes, and Lego body parts. Their replies ranged from the ordinary to the bizarre (this is sixth grade, after all): lint, pennies, crumbled dollar bills that had already gone through the wash, their uncle's credit card, and a half-eaten sandwich. And as they happily shared their own pocket discoveries, I was reminded that these kiddos barely need my help. They are carrying their ideas around with them all the time.

Trust Me

Our school focuses on character education in homeroom, and today we were talking about the importance of being trustworthy. I passed out different scenarios, and since this group loves to perform so much, they broke into pairs and dramatized the scenes so that we, the audience, could determine how the breakdown of trust affected anyone involved. The first scene showed a guy who fell asleep on the job, leaving a store open to burglary. That one was fun for them to act out, but not all that applicable to their own lives. The next one showed a babysitter who decided to gossip on the phone while little Tommy scribbled on the walls and ate crayons. It was this one that opened up all sorts of stories of babysitters. There was the one who put a Capri-sun pouch in the microwave, throwing sparks everywhere. Another one started a game of hide-and-seek, but never went to look for the kids, which reminded another child of an uncle, not a babysitter, who accidentally burned his little sister's ear with his cigarette butt. It sure is challenging to talk about strong character when they're all surrounded by such questionable behavior. But then there was the one who convinced him that eating broccoli was cool; obviously, this babysitter was his hero. Perhaps there's hope in this wild world, after all.

Breaking News

Today was the start of a journalism unit in my class, and the activity I planned to get their minds in the right place was for groups to perform "live on the scene" broadcasts of fictional events centered around a prop they pulled from a bag. I collected items from around the house this morning: an ice cream scooper, a stuffed bat, a glove with little pink pigs on the ends of each finger, binoculars, and an old-fashioned empty coke bottle. The directions were simple: Answer the six big questions, the 5 Ws and how.

It was hilarious to see how reporting news came so naturally to many of them as they held the microphone out to the various witnesses on the scene. I heard a wide range of accents, saw expressive body language, and each story was unique. News, for my students, included scientific discoveries, natural disaster, crimes in the community, as well as bizarre malformations (born with pigs on hand). On several occasions, I was amazed to hear the voices of some of my quietest students broadcast their news with the confidence of Katie Couric.

I call my unit "Power of the Press", but I underestimated how empowered they'd feel when they got a chance to spread some news of their own.

March Madness

We had a late dinner tonight, on account of one of my son's hockey games, and a much-needed trip to grocery store that I neglected yesterday due to the fine weather. Because we were tired, we didn't care to move the newspaper off the table, so instead of forcing dinner-time conversation, our attention veered toward the brackets pictured inside the sports section.

I was raised by a basketball fan. My dad would take me to Georgetown games when Patrick Ewing was a star. He takes my sons, now. And the good news is that they've developed an understanding and appreciation of the game, more than I ever did. Tonight, the three of them (husband included) gave me their take on this year's tournament, but I couldn't keep up.

It may be due to my own March Madness happening right here online. Anyone else with me on this? Since my students started posting (several daily and many regularly) slices of their lives, I've been doing my best to comment on each of their slices (I know I'm not alone on this one). Some represent what a slice was meant to be, others are trying to pound out some words in an attempt to "win a fabulous prize". All of the posts seem worthwhile for my kiddos as they grow as writers. Meanwhile, I'm bleary eyed with all of the reading and typing.

I must have been mad when I said "yes" to this.

Taking Inventory

The other night, my boy in the middle made a list of words the baby can say. We were still sitting at the table after eating dinner, and he grabbed a notebook from the drawer to write them all down. With everyone's help, the list grew to thirty, including our names and a lot of nouns (ball, balloon, waffle, bird). His first sentence is a question: "Is this trash?" he asks many times a day, especially when I'm doing laundry and he zeroes in a bits of lint that filter from the pile. I say, "Yes, it's trash," to which he responds by promptly finding the waste basket to dispose of it. He's also polite, when we give him food and give him kisses, when he says, "Thank you."

Back in June, I posted First Words when the little one learned to say "ball".  Even since our after-dinner record, the list has about twenty additions, some inspired by us as we point out details of our surroundings, "I see the moon." He replies, "Moo-?" His new words are also inspired by books, which is why he can say "Oscar" from the Sesame Street book or "duck" and "frog". Tonight at bedtime, he said "shell" and "turtle". Without books, it could be a long time before he realized that such things even existed on this planet. You don't have to be a baby to get benefits like that. It's also worth mentioning that as I read, he manages to fill in his own story, "words" that only he truly understands, but that he enjoys babbling as much as he enjoys listening the the words I read.

My students have been very busy as they write memoirs, learn new comma rules, and sharpen proofreading skills. We've been highlighting posts from Slicers of Life each day, too. But what I haven't made time for, lately, is reading for pleasure--time to read about people, things, and ideas that they'll never know about without picking up a book. Tomorrow, I plan to let my writers read.

Buzzer Beater

I'm stealing the title of a student's slice today as I slide in with fewer than thirty minutes left to post. It was a full day (aren't they all) and the truth is that I was all set to turn out the lights when I remembered what I'd neglected to do. Between an early wake-up with my babe and a night out with my older two to see Annie Get Your Gun, I also managed think a lot of about teaching.

Now that I'm at the bottom of a 90 file stack of portfolios, I can't help but rethink my approach to assessment. Beyond my questions about the efficacy of my comments and ratings, the value of their own self-evaluation, and the readiness of (some) students to access what I'm trying to teach them, I've been making a list of what to teach my young writers before they leave at the end of June. What is useful? What will they remember? What is engaging? What's the point?

I won't attempt to answer these questions tonight. For the moment, I'm simply aiming to beat the buzzer.

Kiss and Tell All

Not only did my students think it was perfectly fine to post about their game of Truth or Dare for the Slice of Life Challenge, but they were also 100% comfortable sharing the details with me in English today. I limited our audience (they would have loved to call the news from a mountain top) and collected details from the event. Who? What? Where? When? WHY?! and How could you?!

One of the girls who was eagerly filling me in, completely unaware that she may be viewed as a snitch, said, "Kids just shouldn't be playing this sort of game until 10th grade."

"Or never," was my suggestion, for I believe there is never a good time to kiss a boy on a dare. It's not that I've never been in a similar situation, it's just not an experience I would ever recommend. Dominque smelled someone's armpit. Joey licked the back of the seat. Kayla kissed Andrew on the cheek. Kayla was also absent today, so I couldn't have a heart-to-heart chat with her. I removed traces of their mischief from the SOL site, even as they learn about 1st amendment rights in social studies.

As it turns out, a father and a mother of the girls who led the questionable game were sitting at the front of the bus the whole time as chaperones. I'm so happy it's Friday.

Kiss and Tell

As it turns out, there was a game of "Truth or Dare" going on today on our field trip to Montpelier. No, I didn't catch anyone in the act during on of my routine trips down the aisle. I was simply made aware of the event because two students were so impressed by the event that they chose to post a slice about it. They posted it for anyone who might have missed this event to read. And now I know, too.

Sometimes my colleagues from other departments say, "It's so nice that you get to know your students through their writing." Back when I taught social studies, I remember feeling some envy toward the English teacher for knowing our students' lives in a way I couldn't. Tonight, I just wonder what I'll do with this information (not unlike the evening I contemplated the "cinnamon challenge"). I may have claimed that my job should be envied, but I never said it was easy.

Rooftop View

One of my sons has a hockey skating lesson on Wednesdays. We head over a little after 5 and drive up the spiral ramp to the eighth floor of a parking garage to find our local iceplex. The baby and I watch the lesson from above, and the glass wall overlooking the rink has the same meditative quality as an aquarium. Skaters in multi-colored skirts and tights, helmets and gloves, trench coats, legwarmers, and hats look like fish swimming around and around a fish bowl. The glass masks any noise the skaters might make, as if the mute button has been pressed on the television.

The little one always watches for a few minutes. Then he prefers to travel across the wide expanse of floor where rug turns to concrete, and he asks me to hold him in front of the window to the outdoors. This window, which also muffles any noise from the other side, shows tiny cars below. Their red brake lights shine in the night as they stop and go. Windows in the office buildings and high-rise apartments glow. And the moon, waxing gibbous, a perfect, yellow disk in the sky, has the grace and wisdom of a grandmother. The baby's eyes and mine take it in.

There is a lot of beauty in my everyday, but it is the silent wonder of this beauty that I enjoyed the most.

The Power of Observation

When I came back from a year-long maternity leave, I was welcomed back to work by an all-new administrative team. While much has remained the same about our great middle school, there are also some big differences, including a more frequent presence in our classrooms. I'm somewhere between eleven and twelve years of teaching, and in that time I've had five principals. Four of those five supported me, stopped in for scheduled or required observations; although I made it through those years without a negative report in my file, the infrequency of their visits left me inexperienced in teaching for an audience (other than my daring sixth graders, of course). I can't seem to forget our superintendent walking through for a visit. He paused a the door to listen in to what was happening, and while I managed to keep teaching, I don't know how I did with the roaring of blood through my veins and the pounding of my heart in my ears.

My team had a meeting to discuss the anxiety of a student, a selective mute. The school psychologist stated that many people fear public speaking more than they fear death. How strange that a teacher might fear public speaking, but I know I'm not alone when I say it's easy to talk to my students all day--it's the idea of standing in front of a bunch of adults that sends us into a panic.

This year, I can count three visits already. Visits where either my new principal or assistant principal comes with a notebook, to my English class or homeroom, and takes a seat for comfortable viewing. The good news is that every visit has resulted in immediate feedback, fortunately all positive, all acknowledging good things going on in my classroom. The better news is that my heart doesn't race when my "boss" walks in anymore.

I do have thoughts about the value of their feedback and whether this approach to involvement works for our teaching community. But for now, when I think of visitors in my room for the future, I say, "Bring it on."

Envy Me and on the Flip Side: The Cinammon Challenge

Perhaps I'm persevorating on parent-teacher conferences, but I have one more anecdote to share involving a mother who meant well when she said, "I don't envy you..." in regards to the days I spend with middle school children.

"Oh, but you should--we're having so much fun," was my reply. "This job is definitely enviable."

And then there is the moment when I realize what kids are doing with cinnamon for entertainment. Of course, I turned to my oldest son for the story.

"What do you know about the Cinnamon Challenge?"

"It's where you eat a spoonful of cinnamon."

"You eat it?"

"No, I've never tried it, but yup, it's all over Youtube. You stuff a bunch of cinnamon in your mouth and look like fool. Every Youtube idiot has done it."

Fortunately, I don't need to troll Youtube for golden nuggets like that. I just need the Slice of Life Challenge, where I learn that this is what some of my sixth graders are doing out in front of the school for fun. So there's THAT aspect of teaching adolescents. And yes, I still think the world should envy me.

Together Time

It's an annual occasion, usually during the first week of March, that my husband leaves for a work trip to Oregon. Back in the days when it was just me and the two boys, it was a little trying, but I had the routine under control. I can't say the same about this year with the addition of my third little one, who attached himself to me like a koala bear as soon as his Da da waved from the airport. None of my mornings ran smoothly, school days were never enough to get it done, afternoons were a series of speed races to wherever we needed to go, and I worked late into each night. And despite the fact that the two older boys stepped up to the challenge with me, let's just say I was pleased to see the week come to an end.

Now as we prepare for the week ahead, our calendars are synced and it's not just up to me to absorb those heaping spoonfuls of sugar I referred to a couple of days ago. I feel more content knowing that I have someone to back me up. (In fact, he just offered to bring me my water bottle that I forgot downstairs.) And our baby koala bear has returned to his normal state as a baby human. One who wants his Da da, too. And for that, we are all thankful.

I'd Rather be Reading

We just finished parent-teacher conferences at my school. Leading up to the event, my team spent hours coordinating schedules, setting and confirming appointments, sharing information, filling in gaps. My conferences started Thursday evening, where I met with parents from 4:30-7:45, back-to-back, for 15-minute conversations. Then I returned on Friday morning for seven more meetings starting at 8 a.m. There was a lot of good news to share. I shared grades and some comments from other teachers, and an anecdote or snapshot from their child's day to give a picture of what they're like at school. Most of the meetings included a lot of smiling and thanks. There were a few concerns shared, but in all cases, it wasn't news to either party because teachers with concerns had already called home.

By the time it was over, I was depleted, reflective, and bitter. I already know what a parent wants to know about their child, and I didn't find it on a spreadsheet. This weekend, I've begun reading my students' Slices of Life, each one a gift on the screen providing insight into each writer. I'm so tired of the drudgery that can accompany teaching, the drudgery that has nothing to do with teaching. Next time, I'm simplifying the conference prep: I'll read my students' writing instead.

Saturation Point

My middle son, Will, just finished a fourth grade science project. Does sugar or salt grow larger crystals? To be clear, I can't be sure of the integrity of the experiment, but he and a friend decided (with the help of our online resources) to base the quantity of sugar and salt in water by the saturation point. As it turns out, only 4 tablespoons of water will dissolve in water before grains are visible at the bottom. Sugar? More than 3 1/2 cups can be added to water on the stove top before it ceases to dissolve. Perhaps you've already developed your own hypothesis, but alas, that is not the point of this post.

As a sixth grade English teacher and a mother of three boys (at three different phases of life) I typically juggle responsibilities of all sorts from day to day. Heaping spoonfuls are added to my day, one after one, and as it turns out, I accept a LOT before stray particles begin to appear at the bottom of the pan. Homework, field trip permission, fundraising, spirit days, uniform orders, project nights, conferences, and potlucks, not to mention bathing, eating, laundry, sleeping. One or two or three spoonfull at a time. And finally, I reach my saturation point. Are all of these tasks coming from the sugar bowl? If so, I suppose it's better than taking those four tablespoons of salt.

From an earth quake to the earth quake drill

Remember the earthquake in Arlington last August? I was with my son, Will, in our living room. The baby was asleep in his crib upstairs--Will was waiting for a ride from a friend. Suddenly, the walls shook, and the frames rattled against the wall. It sounded as if a boulder was rolling toward us, or maybe a boulder-sized meteor landed in our backyard--we just had no idea what it could be. Of course, we soon found out exactly what it was.

Yesterday morning, Will and I had a VERY hectic morning. It was my job to get him to school and you all know that elementary school starts later than middle, but the friend who he was supposed to stay with before the bus came got sick. Will ended up with me in STAR to hear about "mum ball" and "visits to the copy machine, not the coffee machine". A substitute arrived to my classroom as 1st mod began, so I could run him down to the bus stop. Just as he pulled his backpack onto his back, a voice came over the loudspeaker, "Ladies and gentlemen, please take your positions for the earthquake drill." For a moment, I thought we'd both get trapped in a locked room, sitting on the floor under the desks while his bus drove away, but no! We looked at each other and made a split decision, "Let's go!" We ran, full speed, out the front door of the school and down the street in the rain. He made it to school on time.

Our hectic morning definitely didn't shake the earth, but I felt a bit shaken. Fortunately, in both cases, no one got hurt. In the end, we both laughed about it instead.

First Words

My munchkin is learning to talk. I yelled down the stairs during bath time, "Baby said his first word!" and his brothers and dad came to listen.

"Ball." It was clear with nice emphasis on the b and a soft ending on the l. He was holding one in his fist at the time, red with yellow stars. He lifted it to his mouth, as he does with just about everything and made another sound. "Baby said his second word!" I yelled again. Or maybe he was just saying, "Ball, ball..." because as he placed it over his mouth again and again, it sounded like he was saying, "Bubble." Hey, we were in the bath tub, so it's not so far fetched. Either way, I'm obviously quite proud.

This is my third baby, so it's not the first time that I've nurtured and observed speech development in my home. I'm still struck by the natural progression. From those early vowel sounds to consonants, I've seen my infant sons experiment, moving their little mouths into various shapes to form words. I've seen them all stare intently at our mouths as we talk and then they'd break into laughter at their favorite sounds. We could always get our first son to laugh by saying, "Cous-cous." Our next son responded to, "Shaky, shaky." This week, Munchkin can't contain his excitement when we fake-sneeze, "Aaaah-choo!" Then there's always the delight he gets from hearing lines from a book. The giggling was contagious last night when he laughed to the rhythm of, "Dum ditty, dum ditty, dum, dum, dum," a line from a board book called Hands, Fingers, Thumb. He's learning by listening, watching, experimenting. We make it fun by giving him fun words to say.

I can't help but connect this process with an activity I've done with my English students to enhance writing instruction. I call it Writers Read, tapping into the idea that writers learn by reading.
It started years ago when I realized that overall my sixth graders were more eager to get lost in a story than they were to put words on a page. Some of the same kids whose hands pressed against their foreheads before their blank paper were the ones who stood by me in the library with book recommendations. I worked to build a bridge between their cherished stories to their own writing. How does the author let you see it, hear it, feel it? What words jump off the page? First, find a book you want to read. Next, uncover what draws you in. Talk about it with your friends and with me. Now try it yourself.

Just as a baby watches his mom form words before he speaks his own, we can invite our students to observe published authors. The key is to draw them in with writing that pleases them. A ball, a bubble, a book. Whatever we put before them, it sure helps if they like it, too.