It’s always a thrill to peek into my comments bin during the week to see what words are coming forth for the Day in a Sentence and, as much as I love seeing the returning names (please keep contributing), I also love that new folks are joining in as our community slowly expands. It’s a wonderful thing.
With further ado, here are your words:
Ben, who lets us know he is new to blogging but invites us to visit his blog, had this to say about his week as politics began to take center stage across the nation and in our classrooms: “The moment I heard my kids argue about Obama’s experience and Clinton’s capacity for change, the poetry and prose of each campaign and the effectiveness of either on leadership, I knew I had my hook for the rest of the semester.“
Barb, who is part of a past Collaborative ABC Movie Project, had week of highs and lows. “Excitement comes in the form of an emotional rollercoaster with the loss of two of my students who were removed to South Carolina after the death of their caregiver on Monday to the high of my daughter’s wedding and the gathering of family on Saturday.”
Melinda finds herself in a reflective mood. “Expectant: I am sitting in a still, warm summer evening in Sydney ready for a gorgeous week’s holiday with my children and extended family (beginning tomorrow) with a year of work close on its heels – where did Christmas go?“
Angie started the new year out on a positive note, even though a few of her students apparently had a difficult time keeping track of their papers (maybe they used them for airplanes?). She writes, “New (and improved) schedule, two new (pleasant) students and positive signs of improved organizations skills in three paper-loosing boys in my class has made my first three days into the school year uplifting and refreshing!“
Connie continues to blaze a trail in social networking with her students (and with the world). She explains: “My students, who are completely immersed in their ning net-work, have happily settled into a collaborative learning community, sharing their multi-media, multi-linked current events productions; we’re viewing each other’s work with awe.”
A friend from the Dakota Writing Project (no name left in the trail but anyone from the writing project is a friend) shared this thought (although I think there may be a typo — is it an eight-year-old uncle? who has money to loan?): “A trip to North Carolina (organized by my eight-year-old uncle, who gave money to my son for college) in the midst of completing our Writing Project site grant really added spice to my week.“
Liza worried about the Grumpy Teacher Blues as she returned from holiday break, but what she found was the opposite. “I was so worried that this week would be too hard with tired, whining students and a grumpy tired teacher but the break left me energized and ready to work and seems to have left the students with a need for structure and learning — hurray!“
Delaine had to scramble with a field trip fiasco that apparently turned out OK in the end (for one group of students, anyway): “The senior marketing class did not get their permission slips in on time for a field trip next week to our local baseball stadium thus causing us to cancel their trip and offer the same thing to the junior class who immediately took us up on the offer.”
Poor April suddenly realized that she is not a superhero after all, although her thoughtfulness and reflective nature should qualify her for a nice cape and mask, in my book. “Cramming grant writing, night classes, and letter of recommendation writing into one short week, I realize I’m not superwoman; in fact, I’m not even Lois Lane — which means, of course, that I need to concentrate more on teaching and not the myriad of tasks surrounding the education field.“
Matt, who graciously hosted the Day in a Sentence last week, had a strange epiphany in the lunch room. “Back from break, I sat around the lunch room with a bunch of teachers and found out that the favorite vacation activity of each of us at the table was cleaning our houses.“
Elona admits that her week was so crazy, she almost forgot her sentence, so she emailed it off to me. I hope she buckled up. “I was reminded again that life is a roller-coaster ride — sometimes you’re on that exciting ride to the top and then suddenly you’re on that scary ride down.“
Bonnie had one of those experiences as a presenter that you hope never happens (but it also happened to my friend, Susan, this week) — a sea of blank faces. “Generally my moments are high points but this week the climax on Friday was truly low, working with a group of teachers who did NOT want to be working with me, with our writing project; it was hard to get beyond the frozen faces who refuse to believe that reading/writing connections will move the formulaic essays to a new place and imagine, elementary kids come to their classrooms without any life experiences beyond TV watching…a tough crowd for sure…but the sun is shining and snow is on the way…“
Mother Nature and the Guv are conspiring against Gail. “Last week’s big storms across California caused major power outages and zapped a few school systems and servers, including the gatekeeper and border controller that allow me to do videoconferencing from my district’s K12 classrooms. That, on top of the Governator’s prosposed $4 billion cut to schools, has not made for a great week…ah, but the sun is just now making a spectacular appearance in the Sierra foothills, bringing with it the promise of a better week to come.“
Sue has been tinkering with recipes as metaphors for learning (I’m not sure I want to try her recipe but a few friends in college were on that diet). “To be creative is to live life with an open mind and in return receive the opportunity to more fully experience the unfamiliar and grow from it! (The example I share with my students…Who would have thought that ketchup and mayo would make Thousand Island dressing!)“
Yes to RSS! Michaela discovers its potential. “Discovering and utilizing the ease of an aggregator this week has helped me restructure my daily stay-at-home-mom routine radically- here’s to being a late bloomer in technology’s garden!“
Nina has her hands full of the Web 2.0 World. “After chatting at Tapped In and Skype for over an hour with webhead friends while doing laundry and drinking delicious coffee provided by my dear husband, I plan to participate in the EVOnline kickoff at Worldbridges/Skype, after which I will take a Greek artist friend to Washington, D.C. to visit the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, but sometime today I also have to help my daughter prepare for her upcoming exams, so it’s going to be a busy day indeed!“
Jeff is in the same time zone as me, watching the weather channel and thinking that a snowstorm would be wonderful and awful (for me and my week of activities). “It’s so hard to grade projects when there’s a forecast for a major winter storm tonight.“
Nancy is cleaning up, getting her memories together before her BIG transition out of the classroom. “One week to go and I’ve been cleaning out my classroom, and wrapping loose ends before my last day with the kids.“
Christine also had a California story (like Gail) and not so sunny. (She also provided this link for us to enjoy): “Teaching in California is discouraging; it’s like playing for the Cubs.“
And Larry, who almost passed this week, added his sentence at the last minute and we are richer for the experience. “I took my grandkids to see the movie ‘The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep,’ which is the only movie ever made which shows a fictional seat monster suffering from wartime-inflicted post-traumatic stress syndrome.”
Wow!
That seems like a record number of entries!
Peace (in sharing),
Kevin
Writing and teaching and parenting aren’t the only things on my mind these days. My football team — The New York Giants — slogged through to another victory last night and are on the way to the Superbowl to face the fearsome Patriots. Living here in New England, but growing up in Southern Connecticut, I am constantly in conflict with the fans around me (Yankees, UConn Huskies, Giants — the trifecta) and those fans include my own kids (Red Sox, UMass, Patriots).
