Um, never mind.

First day back.   I tried to wrap up part of a unit before the break but didn’t make it, so I left the kids with an article to read and questions to answer, mostly to keep their heads in the game because I only wanted to do one day of review, then a quiz, then onwards to density and convection.  The pouring rain didn’t help attendance today, and many kids had not done the homework.  It was a sluggish and disjointed way to start the week back, but we made it through.  Quiz tomorrow and then some fun stuff involving liquids of different densities.

Mistress of the off-the-cuff-analogy, I found myself describing to the kids those sleep-over-camp chains where one person lies with her head on her friend’s belly, and someone else’s head on her belly, and so on.  Someone laughs and pretty soon the laugh takes off down the chain.  It’s not even a very good analogy for conduction.  The kids just stared at me and made goofy noises as I trailed off.  Win some, lose some.  I think a few of them were trying to figure out if I’d told them about something inappropriate.

Third run today in my 10K training plan.  I walked for an hour twice last week in addition to my two runs.  Today, miraculously, felt a lot easier, my legs loose, breathing smoother, much less desire to back off on the speed or just walk right off the treadmill.  Watched some awful MTV dating show called NeXt, gave it up when the caveman costumes came out; where is DanceCrew when I need it?

Um, WordPress?

Where do you get off listing “possible related posts” at the bottom of my posts without so much as my say-so?  Can I turn this OFF?  Sheesh.

Vacation is winding to a close,

and I actually have a fair amount to show for it.  I’ve been writing a lot.  A friend sent me a list of magazines and other outlets that pay for essays, and I actually wrote and edited a couple and sent them off.  I think one has a decent chance of being published, the other is probably a long shot but I’m treating this as a “getting your feet wet” moment.  (Just for fun, I also sent two “micro-essays” - 50 words or less, it’s really a form of poetry - to Common Ties).  I need clips.  Next year, I’m writing for a living.  Not all freelance, I will have a full-time job, but the freelance will be important for both financial and personal reasons.  It’s a little scary, this huge change that’s approaching.  I used to really disdain that idea that writers “have been writing since they could hold a pen” but, to tell you the truth, I have been writing, in one form or another, most of my life.  I wrote back and forth to pen-pals, kept (generally short-lived) journals, wrote fiction and poetry - lots of poetry - for literary magazines.  Sometime in college, maybe earlier, I realized I wasn’t going to cut it as a poet or fiction writer.  It wasn’t a disappointment, just a realistic assessment.  I gave journalism a try, writing for the Stanford Daily, but after the six articles necessary to get paid, I stopped accepting assignments.  The editor would call in the middle of the night, wanting something for the next day’s paper, coverage of an event happening that coming morning.  People who wanted it badly enough made it work.  Out of college, I wrote a little poetry again, and then I found blogging.  Here I am today, writing more of a need than it ever was.  Yet it still feels a little presumptuous to imagine that I could make a living at it.

But this post wasn’t going to be an announcement, just a recognition of the need to get some schoolwork done this weekend.  Two days left, then back to school.  I did a big chunk of grading early in the week, but that, by itself, is not enough, there’s planning and entering grades into the computer and ordering stuff for my chem enrichment class and a half-dozen little tasks that continuously get pushed aside.

I’m close to finding an apartment, I think, though everything could fall through.  I made the mistake of moving into one in my mind, a couple of weeks back, leading to devastation when someone else got the place.  Anyone out there live in Sunset Park or Bayridge and care to comment on your ‘hood?

Finally, because it’s that kind of year, I’ve decided to train for a 10K in August.  I haven’t found the race yet, just the goal.  I’m inspired by my sister, who ran “bandit” in the Boston Marathon this past weekend.  She did it in just under four hours!  That’s so impressive.  I’ve always thought pulling off a ten-minute mile for 26.2 miles would be an achievement; to give you some perspective, 10 minute miles would mean a 4 hour and 22 min. marathon.  My plan is to run two or three days every week, and to do one additional workout every week, whether it’s yoga or bellydance or walking or whatever.  I already ran two days this week, and walked for an hour yesterday.  I have that lovely tightness in my legs that makes you want to just sack out in front of the TV, to hell with exercise.  Push on.

Studying the masters…

Last week, at my writing class, our teacher brought in a friend and former colleague of his, Jeff Leen, who is the Investigations Editor for the Washington Post and has won several Pulitzer Prizes. I’m not normally star-struck - and I honestly hadn’t heard of him before meeting him last week - but he’s obviously very, very good at what he does, so it was exciting to have him in our class. He talked a little bit, and then we did what we always do, which is to read our assignments out-loud and then critique them, briefly. Mainly, he shared advice for writers which he finds true, a lot of it advice he himself picked up from writers before him: William H. Gass, Tom Wolfe, and so on. What was most interesting to me is a little insight he gave us into his own writing process. In the advice he gave, one piece was to study the masters, another that structure is the area that needs the most work from struggling writers. So a student asked him who are today’s masters, especially regarding structure. He said that he’s working on a book at the moment, about a famous athlete from many years ago, and he said he promised his editors it would be like Seabiscuit. And now, in the middle of researching and writing this book, he’s going back to Seabiscuit, teasing it apart, trying to figure out what makes it such a well-written book, to the point that he actually counts the number of words per sentence, figures out the ratio of reporting-type sentences to more lyrical sentences. To me, this is fascinating. Here’s this accomplished, award-winning writer and editor looking to the work of a much younger author, Laura Hillenbrand, as one of the modern classics, and studying her work as a text to emulate, and with such a microscopic focus. It’s not the age or experience piece that matters most - good writing is good writing - more the constant process of learning, of learning through imitation, of learning so deliberately.

If you were going to pick one author who’s work you want to understand not only in terms of content but in terms of what makes the writing work, who would you study? Why? What piece?

A good deal of my writing these days is going into a little red notebook, and from there, onto this computer, and then, to class.

That makes two excuse posts in a row.

The teaching has been good…

We’ve hit a point in Weather & Water where it’s one fun experiment after another, starting with the old “differential heating” experiment, comparing how water, soil, sand, and air absorb heat.  The FOSS method for this experiment was subtly different from my old method, and worked a hundred times better.  I had the kids write lab reports, and while many did not turn in first drafts, those who did turned in really, really good first drafts.  I’m excited to grade their final drafts over vacation.  It’s interesting, the Science Expo really made a positive impact on their understanding of the process of doing an experiment and writing about it.  They are still awful at identifying variables, but I don’t sweat that because in part it’s their young, developing brains struggling with cause and effect and abstraction.

We also did an experiment with aluminum and steel bars, placed in hot water, with liquid crystal temperature strips taped to the top of each bar.  As heat moved up the bar, the temperature strip changed color.  It was dramatic, easy-to-understand, and simple.  Sweet.  Their understanding of heat, radiation, and conduction seems pretty solid so far.  Right now, I’m lovin’ FOSS.

Meanwhile, I have a double-size enrichment cluster on Fridays, with another teacher: Chemistry.  I’ve put together a fun series of experiments for them to do (it’ll cost a fortune in materials, even though many are household products, but it will be worth it) to capitalize on their excitement while still teaching solid science concepts.  Last week, we started off with the vinegar & baking soda experiment, because it’s everyone’s favorite, but they had to test different variables that might speed it up or slow it down.  It was a bit rushed but very successful.  Since it’s a big, excitable group and it’s Friday last period, I let them choose groups but those groups are going to be in a competition based on points earned for doing a good job completing the lab worksheets and for behavior.  This week will be a surprise for them when they realize that some groups earned 2 points per person while others earned nothing at all!  I think it will help them focus and get more out of it, while still working with friends and having fun.

This week’s revelations:

I like teaching science.  I knew that, but this year has been a lot of change in both curriculum and in the habits of the kids, and for a while, I lost touch with what’s fun and challenging - but also easy! - about my job.

My kids - minus a few with very serious social-emotional-behavioral problems - are starting to perform like kids at my school typically do in the fall of sixth grade.  This year’s group came in a bit behind, but the gap is closing.  The work is much better.  We’re moving forward so much faster.  Then again, the weakest students might be farther behind than ever, especially those with poor attendance or who have been suspended multiple times.  But that issue is so much bigger than me and my teaching, I have to let go a little bit.  I help them as much as I can, and I ponder the broader, longer-term strategies & policies that might help them, but today, this week, this month, I let it go a little.

I’m still digging out from the pile of work and obligations.  Posting will be infrequent for the duration, bear with me.

Whirlwind

So much going on…. more dramatic events with students (kids removed from the school in handcuffs for damaging city property), grades due last week, house guest last week, visiting apartments all over the city (though mostly in Brooklyn, which makes for at least an hour’s journey from where I am now to spend 10 minutes chatting with a stranger, only to decide the place is too small, not my style, too expensive, too fratty, too arty, too dirty, or in a neighborhood I hate), a couple of big tests/projects to grade, a friend’s thesis to edit, personal essay homework assignments to do… I barely have time to eat, let alone blog.  Change is time-consuming.  Also, why does spring keep teasing us?  I’m ready for a run of 4 sunny, warm days in a row.

God owed us a field trip to beat all field trips…

because everything was awesome.  SonyWonder, which is largely under renovation and not accepting field trip groups, had no problem with three “families” of one adult and four children.  We entered without incident, the kids had a blast playing Playstation games, designing a video trailer, and playing electronic “instruments” along with a video of BowWow.  Personally, I think the so-called creative elements of the place are actually quite limiting, mostly just following directions and, at most, choosing from a few options and combining them in new ways.  Maybe it’s better when not being renovated?  But the kids had a great time.  From there, we went to Chelsea to visit the studio of a man who makes violins, violas, cellos, etc. for concert musicians.  It was incredible… he had a real way with the kids, walked them through the process of building a musical instrument, answered their myriad questions with inspiring thoughts about the value of learning as many things as possible and finding a career that you feel passionate about.  Even the other chaperones were impressed by his talk, and time flew by.

Meanwhile, the creative writing enrichment group was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, then responding to it in writing.  The pouring rain stopped before they arrived, and who was on the bridge but the entire NY Giants team, filming a commercial… The kids got to talk to the Giants!  And the entrepreneurship group went to Wall St. and visited the corporate headquarters of… SweetRiot - a chocolate company.  I didn’t hear much about the other groups’ experiences but as far as I know, everyone had a fantastic day.

Clearly, we had some karma coming to us.

How to survive a grown-up writer’s workshop, volume 1.

If the teacher asks you to write down the name of your favorite author and three adjectives describing his/her writing, for God’s sake, choose carefully! Maybe you freeze up, unable to think of anyone even though you have so many books listed on GoodReads that you were, briefly, in the list of most active users. If the name “Joan Didion” turns up like a deus ex machina, be careful: the next assignment might be to write an on-line dating profile in the voice of your favorite author. Not, mind you, that Jose Saramago would be any easier.

And on the ninth day…

the kids are preternaturally good.  And they ask questions.  If everyone on Earth gathered in one place and started running, and then stopped suddenly, would it affect the rotation of the earth?  (Help?!  My physics isn’t what it should be for this kind of question).  What is a black hole?  My dad burned his hand, do you know what to put on it to make it better?  How come we are so slow in making progress in science?  (Really: a sixth grader asked that.  Do you mean “we” like us in this classroom or like Us, I asked, waving my hands to indicate all of humanity.  Well, like the cavemen, that was a long time ago, but we haven’t made that much progress, he said.  Who are you comparing us to?  I asked.  I mean, how do you know we haven’t?  Then a little speech about change being hard, a bit of Galileo, it all led to a discussion about people in power sometimes making change even harder).  Some stuff edging up to My Church Doesn’t Believe in Evolution (and Neither Does God).  A bit from me about science and religion not necessarily being in conflict.  This is so much better than anything extrinsic.  Meanwhile, the temperature strips taped to the globe were not heating up, not changing color, in the light of the lamp meant to demonstrate solar heating and the angle of the earth.  It hasn’t changed color, I said.  Notice that I didn’t say, It didn’t work, I say, modeling scientific attitudes - no such thing as a failed experiment, just different results than what you expected.  But in my head, I’m thinking, Sh*t, it didn’t work!

I’m bluffing my way into Sony Wonder tomorrow with twelve kids.  Don’t ask, just pray for me.

8 Bad Days and Counting

1. Some kids are beyond reach.  Discuss.

2. No kid is beyond reach, but schools can’t do it alone and our society isn’t committed to doing everything it would take to truly help these kids, so for all intents and purposes, from the point of view of the school, they are beyond reach.  Discuss.

3.  All kids are within reach.  Failure to reach these students is failure of the imagination and commitment of the school administration, staff, and classroom teachers.  Discuss.

4. We’re rattling around in a box of our own making.  How to get out?  Time to blast this thing wide open with some new ideas.  What’s old is working so-so but not well.  Where can I get a paradigm shift?  Discuss.

5. Don’t worry about what you can’t control.  School culture is bigger than one classroom or hallway.  Children have baggage.  Discuss.

6. When you stop rattling and look at the box, you see the cracks in the walls.  Investment.  What have we done to invest the 65-75% of kids who don’t stand out in any major way, behaviorally or academically?  The swing voters, so to speak.  Is there a place in our school for more than behaviorism?  What about a little of this?  Do we have goals that speak to children?  Do they have goals?  Yeah, sure, we set goals, but do they have any power?

7.  Looking at the cracks in the box, again: Everyone talks a good game about “teaching kids to be good people” but what does it all add up to?  What does that teaching look like?  Is it happening in advisory?  I basically told my advisees today that they are hypocrites, who set nice-sounding little goals and talk about why it’s important not to be bullies, but then on the way out, trip someone intentionally. (I’m not feeling very nice this week).  They didn’t disagree.  When does the touchy-feely become real?  Cross that fuzzy boundary and start to mean something?  And why is it that when someone suggested to someone more important than me that we get some professional development on this stuff, on peer mediation, on running really meaningful advisories, the response was: no one should have to teach you how to care.  Oh.  Well then.  But just because you can keep a classroom of kids more-or-less safe and on-task doesn’t mean you know how to do the longer-term work that reduces rather than just suppresses the violence.  What does it mean, teaching kids to be better people?  Show me that.  Show me that when you’re on a mean block with kids whose parents occasionally say things like, I can’t help him anymore, I’m just waiting for them to take him away from me.  He’s ELEVEN.  He’s the sweetest child on Earth.  What a thing to hear from your mother.

8. My grades are due.  I have to work on that instead of this.  Anyway, I’m a little stuck.  It feels like a puzzle, something to be unraveled.  If you crack this code, if you figure out how to break through to the kids, all of them, or most of them all the time and the others most of the time, the world is yours.  Anything can happen.  But I’m stuck on this side of the code, I can’t see my way through it, resources are scarce, support is there but only for certain kinds of solutions which are a piece of the puzzle but not, in my mind, the solution.  I’m supposed to be a leader: what next?