From the depths I return

I finally found a way to get Edmund and its been keeping me sane during these interesting weeks of prepping a brand new classroom by oneself not knowing who, if anyone, will be working with me and then having the person who would decide to work somewhere else so they hire a person who can start working but only on the very first day of school (and who speaks no english while I speak no spanish) so okay at least they found an assistant who knows how to be with the children but turns out she got accepted to graduate school and could only be with us for two weeks but hey they found someone else who (for what ever reason) decided this past week that the best way to heat up english muffins for the children was in a glass tray on a stovetop burner.

So yeah: Edmund Black Adder has been a spot of all right. Well that and seeing Nick Cave last night :) What a fabulous show.

Recently read:

Crossing to Paradise, Kevin Crossely-Holland

Chalice, Robin McKinley***CV

summer time

Summer has begun. While many of us head in different directions we will be all reunited in the fall. When asked by a parent did I have any plans for my vacation my answer was: sleep.

Perhaps teachers hibernate in the summer so they can growl throughout the winter?

One child surprised me by giving me a farewell hug. But then this is a child who has matured greatly over the past year. From trying to figure out why children couldn't take over the class when there were more of them then the adults to what he is today.

celebrate

Tomorrow is the end of the year party in which we not only celebrate our year spent together but we welcome sixteen new children into the class. This means that there will be 55 children. Have i mentioned that three of the team are gone already? Two left last week to continue their training and one left to help his family move from one state to another.

Oh and the architect came in and the demolition of part of the classroom is set to begin next week which means that while we are celebrating in the park half the classroom materials will be moved into one of the rooms, if not more.

ah change

And the mome wraths.......

I finished the baby surprise sweater. Of course it didn't really fit as I was following the original pattern and the "baby" I was making it for just turned one. S'okay. It ws a fun adventure knitting origami and now that I have done it once I think it will go quicker and better next time.
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I apologise for the surreality of my most recent posts. Something about writing reports when I have to tell all about each child without judgement ( because I not only have to think about the person now but the person of the future who will reread these reports much as we all look at old report cards) requires intense mental gymnastics and this blog was my outlet.
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I am currently reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, and this afternoon I made a few book purchases for my most welcome week of Spring Break:

Persuasion, Jane Austen

Perdido Street Station, Chia Mieville

Dingo, Charles de Lint

***
Has anyone ever read a book called, The Chalice and the Blade? I recently attended a conference where the author was a keynote speaker and I'm curious about the response readers of her work have had. I know how I responded and apparently I'm in rapport with most of my workmates in this reagrd. So if any who reads this post has read any of Riane Einsler's work: what was your reaction? ****CV

Tea and Hemlock

If I do not see another progress report again it will be too soon. (I say this knowing full well that I'm going to be seeing them, and more, in less then three months *sigh*).

**

Meanwhile, I've been sedating my mind by cruising egl sites (elegant gothic lolita) Goodness, ssoooo much lace and bows and frills and, well, da-rama. ..... I do like that clodhopping alice in wonderland mary janes though *g* Sweet and amazing at the same time. Along with this of course I'm continuing to indulge in the Nick marathon so it's rather intersting to look at kawaii dress up pics and listen to lyrics that only Nick can write -

Red Right Hand indeed.***CV

Roll the Stone Away!

Hello?

Anyone there?

*cough*

I am still in the cave that is progress reports. However, as this weekend would imply, there shall be a recovery. I see a crack of light and with only 9 more to go (see I kinda had to re-do them starting yesterday but I seriously buckled down today and 20 are as complete as I'm going to do them) I have hopes of some free time tomorrow.
**
Meanwhile I started making a baby surprise sweater (I simply cannot report progress on my commute) but had to rip it because one decrease side had 25 stitiches while the other had 21 and symmetry seemed kinda important. My stitch count is still (albeit symmetrically) wacky though. Hmmmm***CV

flash from the front lines

I think that copy and paste are my new best friends. Without them I do not know how I will manage to survive this progress reporting. Yes, I should be working on them now. But after 3 and a half hours so far today I think I deserve a weee bit of a break.

I do admit I have never filled out a seven page report before. Umm seven per child that is. And this is only the first semester.

Okay, break over***CV

Scroll XVII.iv a

The conference I attended was all about the ancient city of Alexandria. It is essentially a way to recreate aspects of an historic multicultural setting in which children can learn about the people places and events as well as that language of a specific city in a specific time. There are stories, paintings, mummy portraits (paintings of themselves people had made while they still onsidered themselves beautiful), timelines, who am I games, a model of the city, an ancient coptic scroll : all sorts of fun things to do inluding learning to speak and read Alexandrian latin.

This particular course was created by an amazing person named John Wyatt. He has been working on it for over twenty years. I am so very glad that I was able to attend this past week as Mr. Wyatt is reaching a point in which travelling cross country is not the best use of his time. He is very funny and charming and extremely smart. (Well anyone who speaks at least five languages should be, right?) He also likes fairy tales and of course is a classicist.

I also heard him speak two years ago and this is why I can say that I hope he takes good care of himself so we have him for a very long time :)
**
Before telling the story of Alexandria to the children this afternoon I went on line looking for pictures of the new Library Alexandrine and discovered: they are looking for a head librarian.

If ONLY I'd studied Arabic *sigh*

Perhaps I should apply anyway. Can you imagine having a rejection letter from the Library of Alexandria?!***CV

animal q & a

One of the aspects of presenting lessons the way they are done in my school is that there is that potential for great work. Not great in the sense of, omg you just dicovered a new source of pollutant free energy that will last forever! But great as in large. I honestly haven't seen much of that type of work this year.

Until today.

Today I decided to present a material that was completely upended and confused yesterday. It is a set of photographs of different animal species with facts about each animal on the back. So today I invited three children to come play a game with me. (It's another classification work). We chose how to organise a miscellaneous set of cards under a broad category and then refined it into subcategories. After the lesson the children chose to either continue in the same category or another.

One group decided to continue the same and also decided to do every single animal card -that was not already in use by the other two gropus (yeah I had this lesson double again in process). Anyway the box contains easily 100 cards. The pictures were literally climbing the walls in one subcategory. And in order to have all the cards fit the children had to move tables and chairs to create space to lay out the rugs to lay the cards on. I think they used 8 rugs total.

They reorganized the cards at the end of the day (because they spent all day on it) so that tomorrow they could start making their chart of it.
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On another note, and taking into consideration that not all people percceive things the same, I presented the Noun work to a different group today.

Facility with words: a natural gift or a learned skill?

Discuss.****CV

to Name

I have to share.I had the most fun lesson today. One of the children last week requested a lesson on the spiritual noun (we have a really pretty symbol for it) so I said sure. So today we arranged a time and I set it up in one of the rooms. Meanwhile I got sidetracked by questions and when I came back another child who had seen the chart asked if he could join: sure.

Also during this time I invited a third child who really needs the busyness of lessons. So we sit down and I ask them what the work of a noun is.

"A person place or thing"

Yes a noun can be a person, place, or thing but what is the function, what is the work of a noun?What does a noun do?

Once that was answered we could get into the classification: Because people who work with words realised that if someone didn't organize them it would become really messy. Nothing but nouns everywhere.

So of course we seperated the common from the Proper (Sherlock Holmes versus detective) and then the concrete from the abstract. That was fun because the children could see, literally, as we stacked our cards of nouns that the concrete pile was so much higher than the abstract one, then we seperated the high stack into collective and material before sorting though our 4 abstract nouns into aspects of quality, action, state, idea.

In fact I lifted ball from the concrete pile after we all agreed ball could also mean a dance.

Where does spiritual come in? We had the word 'word' as an abstract idea (it can't be touched, it can be given and kept but not seen) and from that we had a conversation about the Word.

I love socratic type lessons and the children were so involved that some other children sat-in! ***CV

Cardboard Box part II

How, you might wonder, did I find out that the hotel was sold out? (It still boggles me that such a thing is possible. I really can't fathom a400+ room building selling out. But I digress.) Using the handy phone number attached to the conference acceptance letter (uh yeah so I can attend but you won't let me actually sleep 'cause, I dunno, the conference will be so fascinating I would rather be awake all 84 hours of it. Riiiight).

Said number connected me to a lovely and chatty lady who, in the time of our conversation of finding out the rooms were gone and locating other possibilities which were either twice the original rate or so far out that cab fare would make the flight ticket look like the cost of a cup of tea, or rooms that had their own conference table for eight, seperate loft bedroom and breakfast included - all I want is a bed I kept saying, not my own conference hall: the one affordable room she found was booked out from under me.

*sigh*

So I went online. I found a room with a web discount only slightly more than the conference rate. It's located maybe ten blocks from where I used to live which means (quel horror) I will have to walk past Powell's: every. single. night.

Oh dear***CV

Cardboard box to spare?

About a week ago I received a flier for an upcoming teacher conference. One of those get on a plane and travel kind. It looked really interesting. It was all about the city of Alexandria and incorporated latin language as well as ancient history. However, part of my team is still in training and so both have to take time to go and do observations at other schools; as well as the fact that the conference is not months away but less then two weeks from the date of my receipt of the flier.

(I really want to go)

So I figured it couldn't hurt to ask as the worst that could be said is, "The notice is too short so maybe next time".

(Did I mention I really want to go?)

I gave the flier to my admin. and she said she'd talk it over with the directress but .... I said, I understood it was really short notice. Both of them came back later and told me that it looked wonderful and wow they sure wished I and another of my team members could go, it would be such an opportunity but the timing ... again I said I understood, and really, who knew if there was any space anyway, you know? They said let's see what works out with the observation rescheduling (one of my team has been trying to rearrange her 2 week observation so she can be back in time for an important school function). Sure, I said.

(I so want to go)

Last Wednesday, while my team mate was still waiting to hear back from the school she is to observe at my admin said, "Just go. We'll figure out coverage". That night I booked my flight and paid my conference fee. Yay!

Today I called to book a room.

They're sold out.***CV

9 1/2 beats

Last night I went to the city to see a demonstration of Kathak dance. Kathak is a north Indian style of dance which involves storytelling, stylised movements, adherance to beat counts and the ability to improvise.

After the performance (which included a brief tale of Krishna and Radha celebrating Spring by covering each other in colored water and colored powders) there was a workshop in which the audience got to try and do four things at once :) Me I can't sing and clap at the same time let alone stamp, count and sing, so I all ready knew what it would be like for me. What made it even more challenging was they divided us into two groups so that one group counted to 16 aloud while stamping at various speeds at the same time that the other group counted to match their stamps: then we switched.

The dancers follow 16 beat cycles in their minds (sometimes 12 and sometimes 9 1/2), while keeping 4, 8, 12 or 16 with their feet, singing and playing musical instruments. As one of the perfomers said it is like patting your head while rubbing your belly and walking on a tightrope; oh, and wearing 3 pounds worth of bells on each ankle.

It really was fun to do. I also got the opportunity to revisit the Castro. Found out Peets was no longer there, that Starb*cks is really umm of the hood now but not much else seems changed.
**
This past week has been in service meaning days and days of meetings as well as first aid and CPR training. We were also slated to work on progress reports but the memory sticks weren't ready so that could not be done. They are supposed to be ready tomorrow but this just means instead of having free day times to do the reports we'll have to do them on work nights in order to have them out on time.

When is that you ask? The end of February.

Meanwhile we have a major parent event this Thursday and one at the end of March to prepare for.***CV

Ergo

The quiz result was funny considering what my week has been like.

It is very hard to imagine myself as this contemplative, centered individual when three co workers are out on Monday, 2 on Tuesday, one shows up but leaves early on Wednesday; parents are submitting recommendation forms at the last minute, observers drop by unexpectedly, you have to figure out what lessons children should practice to show their parents, your hairdryer decides to catch fire early one morning when you've already overslept and it's 40 degrees outside, you're the opener but never manage to leave school until 5 o'clock pm, and even though some lessons caught on incredibly well you still have to virtually sit on some people to get them to focus on work (which they started in October!) and they act as if you are this fiend from hell.

Oh, and some students who you figure, Of course they've had this material so I can move on ummm haven't. "No honey: neither a slug nor a worm nor a starfish is a vertebrate." "No, up and down is not a geometric term for the position of a line." " As far as I know the word 'upon' is not an adverb."

So yeah. The result was a bit of a hah!
**
In other news I finished knitting the stole (there were knots in the skein which flipped the colour sequence) and I need to block it. Also my kilt hose book has arrived so I hope to pick it up tomorrow.

Pardon me while I move like a cat and collapse into bed***CV

two ringy dingies

I spent most of my weekend reviewing my lessons journal and transferring all the lessons from one notebook to another. Then I transfered those into an online system. Finally, I figured out how the online sytem enables lesson planning and did that too.

Found out today we may not be using this sytem at all.

*sigh*

Anyway when I arrived bright and early today I saw the first spring Robin! That sight kept me in spirits all through findng out that not one but two team members were out sick and a third arrived barely able to stand. So it was me and one other allll day with 40 children. I say 40 cause I consider two of the parents in that category what with their calls and emails and general tantrums of: serve me now!
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But I am home and I had fun today. I got to parse poetry with a good sized group and they all have various moon poems to work with. So fun!

Currently we're reading four books(yes 4: as the opener I read one about Jesse Owens; for morning group I read Harriet Tubman; and then there is the fiction group with Watership Down and the History group with Gods, Graves, and Scholars).
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I'm almost done with my Shale stole. About half a full colour repeat in the skein left***CV

There and Back

The trip was amazing. Death Valley is a place every one should visit at least once.

It was about nine hours to get there and that was after changing buses because the first bus developed engine problems before we had left the city (better then though than on the way). During the ride down the children kept htemselves occupied taking pictures, reading, following the trip on a map, and doing activity books. (No movies were shown, no music was played. Yes it is possible to do). As we entered the park a full moon was rising and so we only had the barest sense of what the landscape would be like.

On Wednesday we visited Salt Creek where some of the chldren managed to see a kit fox up close and personal, which the rangers said had not happened for fifteeen years. The rest of the time was spent studying animal tracks, learning about the plant life and water quality that made salt creek what it is. No one tried the pickleweed but apparently desert holly is edible. Aferwards we went to Salt flats which is 282feet below sea level. The location is also known as Bad Water, so named by a prospector who found the water but when he brought his mule to drink it it refused to do so . (Bad Water is actually a habitat for a rare mollusk). Because of the anount of salts that have been deposited there it is possible to walk out onto a sheet of salt which resembles a marble mosaic tile floor. The sheet curves in varying directions so if one imagines the yellow brick road only instead of bricks it is irregular polygons of salt then you have a good image of it.

The following day we visited Scotty's Castle and went back in time to take a tour. The castle is a living history museum so all the tour guides are dressed in period clothing (ours had seamed stockings, a fabulous cinch waist flared skirt coat and a snood) and speak in the present tense of 1939. While there we alos saw two young coyotes who do not know how to hunt. They are very cute and therefore are fed by the tourists despite Rangers' requests not to do so. During the summer the pups will be captured and released into an area where they will be able to hunt or if they cannot provede food for themselves they will be recaptured and put down. While this affected many of the children they (I think ) understood that it was far kinder to do this then to have the coyotes starve to death during the non tourist season.

From there we went to Ubehebe Crater which is also called Coyote's Burden basket and is where the Shoshone believe they first emerged. Then we went to one of the original borax mines and that children were confused by the treatment of the laborers of the time.

I should mention that it snowed early Thursday morning so we got to see a white Death Valley. And on the trip back we stopped and the children built a snowman.
**
No reading done on the trio but I have started Northanger Abby today (and Carrie I am loving it). Instead I started a lace stole in the Old Shale pattern and I have 2/3's of it done.

the bell is striking twelve

Today is the last day of winter break. Tomorrow begins child care and then come Monday School begins. Heh. Yeah so I made the most of today. Went to practice and there were only ten of us! Compared to the thirty or so in a cozy 18 person sized space it was positively cavernous (or is that Jules V. speaking to me?).

Afterwards I went to the yarn shop which was: OPEN!

So I got me some Noro Sock in Go Green and I doubt they will be sox, but whatever, and I got me some BONE needles. This is for the go green goth in me (silliness now bodes ill for the kiddies tomorrow ). Also, I now have a copy of Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Then I went into work to just make sure that things were okay. Well, and to enjoy the calm that is an empty classroom.
**
Finished Journey to the Center of the Earth last night and started the Scarlet Pimpernel today. Since I actually own a copy of the Count of Monte Cristo I may join up again with Knit the Classics. Still thinking.
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I'm considering a classics book group for the class as well. Two actually: one monthly and one bimonthly. Again, still thinking.****CV

Look it's a mammalian tortoise!

I am almost done with Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne, 239pp). It is quite different from the movie I remember seeing many, may years ago. I do not want to hear of any remakes thank you, shudder, Dr. Dolittle comes creeping to mind. For one thing there are no competitors trying to get there first, which I recall as being a rather big plot device in the film. Alos I think there was woman on the expedition in the movie.

What I like about it is that it seems wonderful chapter book for the class at the beginning of the year. I would love for the children to hear certain parts and be able to say "Wait a minute, he went where? Because he thought the earth is hollow?? That can't be right!" "They ran into a what? Were they even alive at the same time?" And there is much mention of the diferent geologic eras of the evolving earth which I think would be great as well.
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I found a copy of Women's Work, the First 20,ooo Years (Elizabeth Wayland Barber) today while milling amongst the blob like mass which was "50% off all calendars today" at Pendragon books. One would have thought it was the ONLY place open today, yikes!

I also got:

The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Emmuska Orczy

The Greek Myths, Robert Graves

Irish Folktales, ed. Henry Glassie

Because, you know, I will have SO much time to read once the school year begins again***CV

Spin you right round

So many families have wanted to checkin this week. I can't remember a time when this has happened. Usually there is so much holiday preparation going on (rehearsals, crafting, family coming or family travelling) that the last thing parents have thought of is checking in. (And considering conferences were three weeks ago?!)

So far I have had at least one meeting every day in one capacity or another and I have two more tomorrow. One at 4pm and one at 7:15am. The last means I have to cath a 5:45 train, at the latest to be ther on time. This after a parrent get together tonight. And of course there is the class party, secret santa and another birthday circle tomorrow as well.

The fun never stops.

And for myself I want to record that one of the meetings today ended with the mom saying that she thought this was the best year in elementary so far :)***CV

And then there were 7

I wonder if schools have winter performances to make faculty really appreciate winter break? Perhaps its a way of channelling all that extra energy? Something needs too that's for sure. We were one staff member out on expected holiday and one called in sick which means that we were operating at low ratios today. Combine that with a fluctuating rehearsal schedule (what we planned last week is not going to happen except when it is but only for the moment and subject to change) and we were high, high energy today.

I'm about ready to give people assigned rooms to work in (we have several as the class is located in an Amish style barn house). But I go in late tomorrow as I will be closing so perhaps things will be calmer.
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I went to a local book shop today to pick up Pillers of the Earth because I distinctly recall there being easily half a dozen copies there yesterday and one of the moms really recommended it. So of course when I got there the wind was whistling down the shelf that they once occupied. Oh well. I did find a cheap used copy of the Pat Hobby Stories by F. Scott.***CV