The Heat

My head's sweating a lot these days. I think I might be moving into perimenopause, but I'm not sure. Maybe I just have sweaty head syndrome. Last night, Husbandman was reading next to me while I worked on a sudoku. I asked him if he felt hot and he responded yes while still looking at his papers. When he glanced up at me a few moments later, he burst out laughing and said, "Not hot LIKE THAT!" Then he went to get me a towel to wipe my head off. It's a little embarrassing.

The Groups

Our university has a good summer program for kiddos who are first generation college attenders. The students take a few classes, get some writing tips, and meet new friends. The university has had good success with retaining students who participate in this program.
I wholeheartedly support it.

The Fish

We have this great fish weathervane on top of our downtown courthouse. It's from pioneer days when our town first got going. The blacksmith, I think his last name was Seward, made it. I've read it's six feet long, but when you're standing down on the street agazing up at it, (as I was doing this very evening) it seems hard to believe that it could be that large. As I stood beneath it tonight, I imagined myself, were it actually six feet long, stretched up on top of that fish, peering calmly down on the townsfolk walking to and fro below. I realize that's probably never going to happen, but if it could happen somehow, I think I'd really enjoy it, for however much time was alloted to me. Even a few minutes would be memorable.

The Shining

We saw Little Miss Sunshine last weekend and really enjoyed it.

The Rock

Some little kid at the compound hurled a rock at one of our doors and it cracked into a million pieces. The party line is the kid didn't intend to break the door, it was an accident. The sixers looked at me like I was insane when I shared the party line. "How can hurling a rock at a piece of glass and breaking it be considered an accident?" one asked me. I just shrugged. I felt a bit complicit because a little kid of roughly the same size threw rocks at my window last week and I just told him to stop. He was also chewing on a huge hunk of weeds. I told him to stop eating that too, but he just ignored me. If I had done more, things may have turned out differently for that door today.

The Search

I have a really cushy gig with my math class. 15 cincos, all into school big time. Today I sent them out of the class to search for examples of rectangular arrays. I told them to return in 15 minutes. They came back right on time, with their notebooks filled with examples. Then they did some math in their workbooks. Then they used calculators to correct their problems. I've only taught math one day so far so I should probably avoid the leap into Conclusionland. Anything could happen at any time in the compound so I'm trying to lie low and act like I have high expectations and am not fascinated that people are actually doing what I'm saying. But it does feel odd.

The Folds

If you ever want to create extreme anxiety in a classroom, ask los studentes to fold a paper into sixteen squares. Even as you're demonstrating, the screams that emanate from them as they try to follow are pitiful.
"Stop! Please, wait for me!"
"Hamburger or hotdog? Hamburger or hotdog!!???"
"Start over, I beg of you!"
I walked them through therapeutically, reminding them to breathe. I started over repeatedly and reassured them that no child would be left behind during the folding, but they were rattled for the rest of the period.

The Bling

My homeroom houses 14 sixers and about 15 fifth graders, here after called los cincos. We are a split class, so los cincos scoot around to the various classes with sixers all day. I've heard some sixers say some rude comments about los cincos, so we talked about being in a split class and how it was for the kiddos. Many cincos expressed that they were nervous about being with the sixers, but they do feel more confident now that they've been a few days in the compound. One announced that she finds the sixth grade teachers to be much nicer than the fifth grade teachers. "We are good, aren't we?" I commented. After our class meeting we headed out for recess. One of the sixers asked why I was wearing two silver chains today and I told her that sometimes I just feel like some extra bling. Then I turned to her friends and said, "Bling is another word for jewelry. Just fyi." Finally one smirked a bit, but for several seconds they looked at me as if I were the freak of the century. I love it when that happens.

The Fullitude

Today was my first day working full time in about 15 years. No sixers in the building yet, just meetings and more meetings all day long. At one meeting I gave a spiel about how more people should join the union, doing my official union rep song and dance. The only person to sign up was a student teacher who will only pay a nominal fee for a few months and one teacher dropped out of the union completely. That was disappointing. After that I kept feeling sad that I really couldn't leave because this is my job and I'm basically required to stay in the compound for the entire day. In the past, I probably stayed just as long each day, but I always knew this was a choice I was making. I wonder if I'll ever get over this sense of being invisibly and relentlessly constrained.
So far I'm not crazy about full time at all.

The Finale

This weekend marks the end of summer. It's probably good. I'm starting to have a hard time entertaining myself. Months of travel, restauranting, sleeping in, leafing through magazines, reading blogs. I mean really, how long can that go on? It probably actually could go on for a bit longer, but I have an attitude of gratitude for the summer fun I've had and I'm ready to play with the minds of a whole new batch of sixers starting next week.
Foto Credit: Good pal Dave. This is Ruby. She dug that hole and was surprised when the tide snuck in behind her.

The Presentation

Months ago I agreed to give a presentation on writing at another school. Today's the day and I have to head out in about 5 minutes. My talk's about an hour long, but a few days ago, the principal emailed me that I was going to have almost 2 hours. I'll talk slowly. It should be fine. People will complain that I'm finished early? I highly doubt that.