Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
I am loving my class at UNH, writing a multigenre paper all about laundry. I know, it sounds odd, but trust me this is a great way to just get writing! I have been meeting and working with the most fabulous people in my class...so much fun!
Today was the second day in a row that we has sun shine in our rainy state, it felt so good to not be wet, cold, damp and depressed! Sun! All day!
Well, that is about all I have in me today...pooped!
Today was the second day in a row that we has sun shine in our rainy state, it felt so good to not be wet, cold, damp and depressed! Sun! All day!
Well, that is about all I have in me today...pooped!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Wow!
I was so busy yesterday that I fell asleep (snoring) before I posted on FB, Twitter or my blog!
I went to my amazing class at UNH (the one that is killing my hand with writing) and listen to one of my classmates deliver a keynote speech about rubrics and grading and assessments. She really reaffirmed to me that my own methods of assessment and feedback on student writing is the real connection that we build in our classrooms. It seems that all the mandates and required elements and rubrics detach us from the human interaction that teaching is supposed to be all about. Empowering!
When we broke for lunch, a gaggle of us headed over to the new and improved Memorial Union Building (MUB) dining arena. We stopped at the front desk to get the low-down on what this eatery had to offer...which is massive. It is all you can eat for $10, and it is a food court beyond compare. Several of us wanted to check it out before committing, just a look-see at the all the bounty offered to us. While we were standing there with our salivating jaws hitting the floor...one of our classmates came over and said: "Lunch is on me!"
This kind man had used some of his dining credits to treat us to lunch. He kept saying that he wasn't going to use all of his meal credits anyways, so he bought us lunch. It was the most gracious act of giving I have received in a long time, unprompted, unexpected, and so appreciated. We all had a ball selecting our lunch, and then sitting at a table together, getting to know each other. Thank you D, for your generous and loving spirit!
The Secret is: positive begets positive!
I was so busy yesterday that I fell asleep (snoring) before I posted on FB, Twitter or my blog!
I went to my amazing class at UNH (the one that is killing my hand with writing) and listen to one of my classmates deliver a keynote speech about rubrics and grading and assessments. She really reaffirmed to me that my own methods of assessment and feedback on student writing is the real connection that we build in our classrooms. It seems that all the mandates and required elements and rubrics detach us from the human interaction that teaching is supposed to be all about. Empowering!
When we broke for lunch, a gaggle of us headed over to the new and improved Memorial Union Building (MUB) dining arena. We stopped at the front desk to get the low-down on what this eatery had to offer...which is massive. It is all you can eat for $10, and it is a food court beyond compare. Several of us wanted to check it out before committing, just a look-see at the all the bounty offered to us. While we were standing there with our salivating jaws hitting the floor...one of our classmates came over and said: "Lunch is on me!"
This kind man had used some of his dining credits to treat us to lunch. He kept saying that he wasn't going to use all of his meal credits anyways, so he bought us lunch. It was the most gracious act of giving I have received in a long time, unprompted, unexpected, and so appreciated. We all had a ball selecting our lunch, and then sitting at a table together, getting to know each other. Thank you D, for your generous and loving spirit!
The Secret is: positive begets positive!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Whew! I started my new class at UNH today...and my hand HURTS from all the actual writing I did! Last year I always brought my laptop, and used it frequently, but I wanted to remind myself what it is like to put pen to paper and let it flow. It flowed and I'm aching!
We are creating multi-genre (research) papers, which fascinate me as a way to crack open more writing within my classroom. Multi-genre papers are created out of all kinds of writing styles...from poetry to lists to actual narrative essays etc.
It is going to be a great class...I will keep posting about what I am discovering, but I am all outta gas tonight!
See ya!
We are creating multi-genre (research) papers, which fascinate me as a way to crack open more writing within my classroom. Multi-genre papers are created out of all kinds of writing styles...from poetry to lists to actual narrative essays etc.
It is going to be a great class...I will keep posting about what I am discovering, but I am all outta gas tonight!
See ya!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Today Lily, her father, and I went to B&N to pick up books from her summer reading list. Lily is not a cheerful reader, she actually seems to dread the task of reading. It is not that she isn't a capable reader, she just dreads the activity (which is difficult for me to understand as a strong reader, and completely normal from my reading teacher point of view). Reading bores her. She does not get caught up in a story line, she doesn't form emotional attachments to characters, books do not live for her like they do for me.
Today, however, we found several books that she wanted, including the beloved classic "A Cricket in Times Square"...I was thrilled!
But even more importantly, we purchased two copies of Keri Smith's "Wreck this Journal". My buddy Bob, who lives in Florida and takes pictures of manatee mailboxes for me every so often on her blog, started wrecking her own copy a couple of weeks ago, and has been blogging her spectacular results on www.ttelroc.blogspot.com. Her blog is titled "The Goat" (but more on that subject another time).
Lily and I had a blast just filling in our names to our journals(there are specific instructions on how to write your name), and she started to enact her own "wreckage" on several pages. I simply tried to "crack the spine" of the book, which bothered me to no end...but it was fun to break free!
I will post pictures of our progress as they happen...check out Bob's blog for what she has created...it is fabulous stuff!
Today, however, we found several books that she wanted, including the beloved classic "A Cricket in Times Square"...I was thrilled!
But even more importantly, we purchased two copies of Keri Smith's "Wreck this Journal". My buddy Bob, who lives in Florida and takes pictures of manatee mailboxes for me every so often on her blog, started wrecking her own copy a couple of weeks ago, and has been blogging her spectacular results on www.ttelroc.blogspot.com. Her blog is titled "The Goat" (but more on that subject another time).
Lily and I had a blast just filling in our names to our journals(there are specific instructions on how to write your name), and she started to enact her own "wreckage" on several pages. I simply tried to "crack the spine" of the book, which bothered me to no end...but it was fun to break free!
I will post pictures of our progress as they happen...check out Bob's blog for what she has created...it is fabulous stuff!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
I love the 4th of July. I have loved the fireworks ever since I can remember...starting at Harbor Island in Mamaroneck, NY...to all the years on Pleasant Lake...to the one year that I was out of the country and realized that only Americans celebrated the 4th! The year was 1984 and I was in Mexico at the time...it was a strange time for me!
July 4th has always truly been at Pleasant Lake...or Pond, as my parents preferred...from the age of 4 until I was 16. The Lake Association always put on a lovely fireworks display but most importantly, they passed out road flares a day or two before the 4th. These flares were the most important aspect of the 4th for me, they held all of the magic inside them. True road flares, they came with a lethal looking nail point on one end, for sticking into a surface, and a waxy cap on the other end. Somebody from the Lake Association tootled around in a skip. usually the "tin can" variety with a small outboard motor attached, delivered the flare without much fanfare. He handed it off to us kids without any acknowledgement of the importance of the delivery. My mother always put the flare in a "safe spot" until the moment of use arrived, after we kids examined it and declared it ready for use.
Our family was blessed with a tiny spit of true beach on the lake, and we always planted our flare in the sand. Meg's family had a tree, which later became a stump, that was used for their flare. The tree trunk had many flare pegs still stuck into its flesh, a reminder of all the 4th that had passed. As our flare was simple stuck into the sand, the challenge was to wait until the stub had cooled (usually the next morning) which my brother and I would then fight over who got the lethal weapon, and proceed to threaten each other with the nail stub until our mother took the device away.
The magic was in the darkness, when all camps on the lake lit their flare, usually within ten minutes of each other, and the lake was ringed with bright red and sparkling lights. It was magical, and beautiful. Our lake danced in red, with repeated reflections of flares on the water, lapping from end to end. My brother, and Meg were allowed to sit closely near the flare, as it spit out its sulfurous smoke, glowing red light, and waxy sputterings. It was like having a magic signal to the world of our lake, we were one, and we belonged to the lake. We smelled like sulfur, we were covered with bug spray and sand, and we loved the night.
Happy Fourth of July to all!
July 4th has always truly been at Pleasant Lake...or Pond, as my parents preferred...from the age of 4 until I was 16. The Lake Association always put on a lovely fireworks display but most importantly, they passed out road flares a day or two before the 4th. These flares were the most important aspect of the 4th for me, they held all of the magic inside them. True road flares, they came with a lethal looking nail point on one end, for sticking into a surface, and a waxy cap on the other end. Somebody from the Lake Association tootled around in a skip. usually the "tin can" variety with a small outboard motor attached, delivered the flare without much fanfare. He handed it off to us kids without any acknowledgement of the importance of the delivery. My mother always put the flare in a "safe spot" until the moment of use arrived, after we kids examined it and declared it ready for use.
Our family was blessed with a tiny spit of true beach on the lake, and we always planted our flare in the sand. Meg's family had a tree, which later became a stump, that was used for their flare. The tree trunk had many flare pegs still stuck into its flesh, a reminder of all the 4th that had passed. As our flare was simple stuck into the sand, the challenge was to wait until the stub had cooled (usually the next morning) which my brother and I would then fight over who got the lethal weapon, and proceed to threaten each other with the nail stub until our mother took the device away.
The magic was in the darkness, when all camps on the lake lit their flare, usually within ten minutes of each other, and the lake was ringed with bright red and sparkling lights. It was magical, and beautiful. Our lake danced in red, with repeated reflections of flares on the water, lapping from end to end. My brother, and Meg were allowed to sit closely near the flare, as it spit out its sulfurous smoke, glowing red light, and waxy sputterings. It was like having a magic signal to the world of our lake, we were one, and we belonged to the lake. We smelled like sulfur, we were covered with bug spray and sand, and we loved the night.
Happy Fourth of July to all!
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