Thursday, March 26, 2009

Comings and Goings

We've had a number of students move out this year. My teaching partner and I have had four students move out this year. Our last move-out was just a month ago. We got word today that the student will back on Monday. I guess life elsewhere wasn't any better? We're also getting a new student tomorrow, and one of the other teaching teams got a new student last Monday. I think it's a sign of the times. As families are impacted by job loss, their living situations change. There's always some moving around, but our grade level has had a higher number of move-outs than usual. And counting the return of the previous student, we will have 3 move-ins in 6 days. It's hard on the "new kid" and it's hard on established classes. By this time of the year our classroom routines are well-established, classroom chemistry and personality is set (for good and bad!), and new additions or losses affect how a classroom operates.
I'm surprised that a child is starting on a Friday. The student will be greeted by a test in science, and some other end of the week wrap-ups. I wish we had a more formal "orientation" program than we do. I think it would ease transitions. That's one of the problems of a set up where kids change classes rather than staying with one teacher, or even one set of kids.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a crazy week or two. Lots of school work and prepping, especially for science. I've been introducing atomic structure to my students, not exactly an easy topic, but I've first had to understand it myself. I really hate teaching a subject I'm not qualified to teach!! So far, so good, and I've learned a lot myself as I've tried sharing it with the kids. I also had meetings every day after school last week, and so far, I've had 2 this week. I'm trying to get a little ahead since we have a super special weekend planned -- more on that AFTER the weekend.

Spring is teasing us a bit -- it hit the low 50°s today. My front yard is still full of snow -- it's that coarse, icy stuff that looks so ugly. We have several huge plow piles lining the driveway. They will be there forever. Meanwhile next to the house, my daffodils and tulips are poking the tips of their stems up about an inch, and pussy willows are just about gone.

My knitting has come to almost a full stop. I'm really trying to heal my shoulder and rest my "trigger" finger. Very annoying though not to knit! So instead I've been reading. Here's the latest book I've finished. This is a great series!

Pardonable Lies: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Mysteries (Paperback)) Pardonable Lies: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
When is it better to lie than to tell the truth? There are many lies in this Maisie Dobbs' installment. Maisie must make some difficult decisions about what to tell a client, and she discovers that even those she trusts are capable of telling lies. Maisie travels to France to investigate the deaths of two WWI aviators. In the process she faces up to some lies she's told herself, and undergoes some serious soul-searching. Another engrossing read!


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Saturday, March 14, 2009

A Lazy Saturday Morning

I made homemade yeast-raised waffles for breakfast this morning. I was fairly virtuous in limiting myself to two; not so virtuous in the application of real butter and real maple syrup! Once in awhile, though, we treat ourselves. The recipe is straight from my Fanny Farmer cookbook and they're easy. The hardest part is remembering you have to start them the night before. I used to make them often when the kids were little, and I always had to double the recipe. Now for just the two of us, I have lots of batter left with the single batch. I make up all the waffles and freeze the ones we don't eat.

I love the light now-a-days. The sun is moving higher up in the sky and it's warmer and brighter. It is the beginning of our glorious MUD SEASON. Here in my corner of the world we have winter, MUD, spring, summer, and fall. The roads are full of frost heaves and potholes; it's easy to lose a muffler or scrape bottom on many of our roads. And the roads change on a daily basis, becoming spontaneous roller coasters as the ground unfreezes, and refreezes daily. My driveway has a seasonal sink hole that opens right in the middle. Luckily it's the diameter of the hole is smaller than the wheelbase of our vehicles so we can drive over it -- there's not enough room on either side of it to drive around it. Some of the dirt roads become impassable for short periods of time unless you have 4 wheel drive and high clearance. The sound of snowmobiles is replaced by the "Mudding" vehicles.

School this past week was long -- we started on Monday with a 2 hour delay due to ice and sleet and snow, and ended with very spring-like weather. In between I dealt with students who have decided it's okay to text each other in class despite our "no cell phone" policy in school. I just don't get how I grew up without a cell phone. One student of mine said that she likes cell phones because now it's easier to lie to her mom about where she is after school!! Mom calls to check in, and "Janie" says she's at the library when in fact she's with her boyfriend at McDonalds. And of course Mom gave her the cell phone to keep her safe! When I grew, Mom called my friend's house and I'd better be there!

Here's a book I read this week -- by a favorite YA author, Gary D. Schmidt.

Trouble Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a very compelling novel for older adolescents and young adults. Henry is the 2nd son of a prominent, very privileged New England family. His older brother Franklin is the "god" of his prep school and is critically injured in an accident. A Cambodian scholarship student, Chouy, confesses to driving the truck that injures Franklin. This novel explores some heavy issues - anti-immigration sentiment, race and class divisions, harassment,revenge, grief, and forgiveness and grace. It's not an easy read, either for the issues raised and for the way the author has narrated the story in two parts. I really liked it, but it's definitely not something geared for younger readers.


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And the book I've neglected all my Sat. morning chores to finish reading:
Loving Frank: A Novel Loving Frank: A Novel by Nancy Horan


My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
I couldn't put this one down. It's a well-researched, but fictional account of the affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick, told from her perspective. The novel covers the years between 1903 when Mamah and her husband Edwin Cheney commission Wright to build their Oak park home, and 1914 when the affair between Mamah and Wright comes to its tragic conclusion. I knew very little about Frank Lloyd Wright other than as the founder of a true American architecture before reading this book. I was fascinated by their relationship, as well as by how their relationship was perceived by the rest of the world.


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Saturday, March 7, 2009

Of Two Minds

The Graveyard Book The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a very odd book. I did like it, but I'm also troubled by it, and I'm trying to figure out why! Neil Gaiman borrows Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book premise : an orphan wanders into an "alien" world and is raised by that world's inhabitants. I think what troubles me is the opening of the book - the villain is described as wiping his knife after murdering 3 members of a family and he is searching for the last family member, a baby. If this book is intended for kids, I'm troubled by the violent image. They are all too exposed to violence and I'm not sure it's a great idea to introduce a book with more. I guess I'd be much happier overall with this if it were marketed as a YA or adult book. Instead, it's won the Newbery for this year, and it will have a prominent place on most school library shelves. So that's what bothers me. Otherwise, as an adult, I thought it was very clever, very sly, and I did enjoy it!


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Thursday, March 5, 2009

Since I'm not Knitting, I'm Reading -- Book #27

The Serpent's Daughter: A Jade Del Cameron Mystery The Serpent's Daughter: A Jade Del Cameron Mystery by Suzanne Arruda


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another very enjoyable read! Suzanne Arruda has created an appealing heroine in Jade del Cameron. She is feisty, daring. clever, and pretty lucky! In this 3rd installment of the series, Jade is in Morocco, reluctantly, with her mother. They have a difficult relationship; Jade isn't the daughter Inez wishes for, and Jade feels she is never able to please her. Events move swiftly: Jade's mother is kidnapped, Jade is captured by a set of mysterious miscreants, there's a missing amulet, drug smuggling, and is Olivia Lilith Worthy back? This series reminds me a bit of Indiana Jones' films with Jade filling his role, not as an archeologist, but as the rough and tumble adventurer out to avenge all wrongs.


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Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Another Maisie Dobbs

Birds of a Feather (Maisie Dobbs Mysteries) Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this second novel in the Maisie Dobbs' series. It's 1930 and still WWI dominates both England's social landscape and Maisie's life. Maisie is hired to find a missing daughter. Her investigations lead her to a series of murders that are motivated by the actions of the victims during WWI. It also leads her to uncover a secret kept by her assistant Billy Beale, and ultimately to a greater understanding of her relationship with her father. It's once again a fascinating read.


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Monday, March 2, 2009

Disorderly Wilderness Thoughts

I've been thinking about the "wilderness" quite a bit this week since the lectionary for this past Sunday included Jesus' time in the wilderness (Mark 1:9-13). Mark's version of the story is quite spare -- a few lines only. In fact, the whole "temptations" part of the story is summed up in verse 13 --- " He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him." I love the spareness of Mark.

I am in the wilderness now, in several ways. I've been here before, I will be here again. I don't like being here, but I don't fear it quite as much as I used to. I know that eventually (as long as keep my wits about me!) I will emerge into familiar places, or "civilized" places, and that I will emerge a stronger, clearer self. It's the meanwhile that's difficult.

What is about wilderness? We like to think we enjoy wilderness. We want to vacation in it --- camping out in the woods, roughing it in the wild, photographing wildlife, retreating from the noise and clamor of our workaday lives. Yet we fear it too --- and we worry about getting lost, losing contact, what if there's an accident?

Being in the wilderness allows adventure and trailblazing -- trying new things. Nothing is set up and working, you have to build it yourself. Some things work, others don't. You learn a lot in the experimentation. You also learn what's important, and what's not. What you really need and what you only think you need. It can be lonely, devastatingly lonely. You find yourself talking to yourself. You discover what you don't like in yourself, and what you do like. On those rare occasions you meet another wilderness traveler, you may be given new insight.

Sometimes it helps when you are with others in the wilderness. There is strength in numbers, and you can support each other in your endeavors. Sometimes though your mutual fears can debilitate you and turn you down the wrong path in your fear.

The thing is, even when I am most lonely, most desperate, I remember I am not ALONE. God is present, and I sincerely feel, is guiding me. I don't know where I'm being guided, but I just have to remember that there is a map for me, a GPS for the spirit. I just have to use it.

#25

Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs Mysteries) Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
One of the main "characters" in this first novel is World War I. Maisy

Dobbs served as a nurse at the front, and her first case takes her back into that experience. Jacqueline Winspear evokes this era superbly, and has created a unique protagonist in Maisy Dobbs. It's 1929 and Maisy Dobbs is getting started in her own investigative agency in London. Maisy is the daughter of a costermonger and spent much of her life as a housemaid. However, she had the unique advantage of an enlightened employer who recognized Maisy's hunger for education and made that happen for her in the form of a unique tutor and a university education. Maisy is intelligent, intuitive, observant, and has studied Jung, Freud, Kierkegaard, among others. I really enjoyed this book.


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Sunday, March 1, 2009

Book #24

Death on the Lizard (Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries, No. 12) Death on the Lizard by Robin Paige


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
An interesting novel, but not nearly as engaging as the China Bayles' books. This book is co-written by Susan Wittig Albert and her husband under the name of Robin Paige. I learned a lot about Marconi and some of the problems with early wireless communication. I was also especially interested in the Cornwall landscape as I had the great good fortune to spend a week there last spring.


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