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!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Ahh, July 3rd...one of my fave days ever in a calendar year because July 3rd meant that the Bock family was Up North at Pleasant Lake, in Deerfield NH.
Growing up in Westchester County, NY was fab, but my mother loved to "summer Up North" and I am blessed to have been one of those kids who spent summers outside, lakeside, and oceanside. We never spent the summer in NY, and even though I have a set of in-laws in a lovely part of Westchester, I still hate going to NY in the summer...it unnerves me!
Deerfield, NH was the location of some of my most cherished memories of summer, including, but not limited to: fishing for sunnies (sunfish), paddling my own 1923 Old Towne sailing canoe named Madeline, eating highbush blueberries right off the bush while wading in the lake, camping out in the woods without parents, swimming, sunning, simply being.
But most important about July 3rd was it meant that I was reunited with Meg. Meg was and is my true twin sister from different mothers...we are stereo speakers, finishing each others sentences frequently, or giving each other the exact same gift for Christmas (it has happened more than once, just ask a family member!) We giggle together, still, and speak our own language.
Meg now lives south of the border in sunny Florida, where it seems so many of my loved ones meander, but I love July because of Meg, Deerfield, NH, and memories.
Growing up in Westchester County, NY was fab, but my mother loved to "summer Up North" and I am blessed to have been one of those kids who spent summers outside, lakeside, and oceanside. We never spent the summer in NY, and even though I have a set of in-laws in a lovely part of Westchester, I still hate going to NY in the summer...it unnerves me!
Deerfield, NH was the location of some of my most cherished memories of summer, including, but not limited to: fishing for sunnies (sunfish), paddling my own 1923 Old Towne sailing canoe named Madeline, eating highbush blueberries right off the bush while wading in the lake, camping out in the woods without parents, swimming, sunning, simply being.
But most important about July 3rd was it meant that I was reunited with Meg. Meg was and is my true twin sister from different mothers...we are stereo speakers, finishing each others sentences frequently, or giving each other the exact same gift for Christmas (it has happened more than once, just ask a family member!) We giggle together, still, and speak our own language.
Meg now lives south of the border in sunny Florida, where it seems so many of my loved ones meander, but I love July because of Meg, Deerfield, NH, and memories.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
It is July 2nd, and I am posting my second blog of the month! I am on target to become a daily blogger! This is an exciting event for me, as I have only recently entered the world of blogging, tweeting, and facebooking. I have found all forms of communication addictive and enjoying.
I started with a simple daily fix of Facebook, playing countless silly games, looking for faces from the past, learning the rules of on-line interaction. I check my FB daily, and love how it has kept me in touch with many folks from my life that I had either lost contact with, or saw everyday (but love to post on their walls and tag them in silly photos). My best friends have both moved to Florida, and my sister now lives in Africa, so it has become the easy way for me to stay in contact with my pals.
I stumbled on to Twitter a few months later, and fell in love. Twitter limits you to 140 characters, spaces and punctuation included. I became entranced with the quick simple statements posted (tweeted) by the famous, infamous, and normal folks. I quickly began posting everyday, usually about nothing too urgent, but important to me. I also began "following" a great deal of people I am interested in, leading to a good five to ten mins of reading every night, before I posted my own tweet. I love Twitter!
After I tweeted for a couple of months, I realised that I could post a daily blog, and that it didn't need to be earth-shattering important, but simply me, writing. The challenge is to blog everyday, so here I am, blogging away!
By the way, it is raining again in N.H., meaning that we are 0-2 for the month of July and sunny days. We had 27-30 for June...27 rainy days for June! Today, I feel like I am finally living in Seattle...I don't know how they do it!
I started with a simple daily fix of Facebook, playing countless silly games, looking for faces from the past, learning the rules of on-line interaction. I check my FB daily, and love how it has kept me in touch with many folks from my life that I had either lost contact with, or saw everyday (but love to post on their walls and tag them in silly photos). My best friends have both moved to Florida, and my sister now lives in Africa, so it has become the easy way for me to stay in contact with my pals.
I stumbled on to Twitter a few months later, and fell in love. Twitter limits you to 140 characters, spaces and punctuation included. I became entranced with the quick simple statements posted (tweeted) by the famous, infamous, and normal folks. I quickly began posting everyday, usually about nothing too urgent, but important to me. I also began "following" a great deal of people I am interested in, leading to a good five to ten mins of reading every night, before I posted my own tweet. I love Twitter!
After I tweeted for a couple of months, I realised that I could post a daily blog, and that it didn't need to be earth-shattering important, but simply me, writing. The challenge is to blog everyday, so here I am, blogging away!
By the way, it is raining again in N.H., meaning that we are 0-2 for the month of July and sunny days. We had 27-30 for June...27 rainy days for June! Today, I feel like I am finally living in Seattle...I don't know how they do it!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Dang! I meant to post on this blog everyday in July, but I already missed July 1st! LOL!
This is SO me...the best of intentions, then life gets in the way!
One of my bestest friends ever, my separated-at-birth Michigan sister, Kristin aka Bob (who's favorite color is purple-fyi) as a dedicated and fabulous blogger. Check out her wonderful and insightful blog at www.ttelroc.blogspot.com, and look at all of her links to other creative bloggers.
She is my inspiration for many of the creative aspects in life, such as just living life in color! Bob goes out and just IS creative. She blogs daily, she writes very well, she carries a camera with her every where and takes the coolest snaps EVER...but she is lacking a few Manatee mailbox pix...oh well, not everyone is perfect!
Bob has always been a devoted sister, daughter, friend, and wife. If you are lucky enough to have a Bob in your life, you are truly blessed! I highly recommend finding one of your own, 'cause I will share mine, but you cannot have her!
I LOVE YOU BOB!
This is SO me...the best of intentions, then life gets in the way!
One of my bestest friends ever, my separated-at-birth Michigan sister, Kristin aka Bob (who's favorite color is purple-fyi) as a dedicated and fabulous blogger. Check out her wonderful and insightful blog at www.ttelroc.blogspot.com, and look at all of her links to other creative bloggers.
She is my inspiration for many of the creative aspects in life, such as just living life in color! Bob goes out and just IS creative. She blogs daily, she writes very well, she carries a camera with her every where and takes the coolest snaps EVER...but she is lacking a few Manatee mailbox pix...oh well, not everyone is perfect!
Bob has always been a devoted sister, daughter, friend, and wife. If you are lucky enough to have a Bob in your life, you are truly blessed! I highly recommend finding one of your own, 'cause I will share mine, but you cannot have her!
I LOVE YOU BOB!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Jeffrey is off camping with his buddy, Jeremy, for the next few days. He might be back on Weds, or he might not (I am guessing not). He will need clean clothes soon, but hey, what is summer with a smelly teenage boy running rampant...at least he will be next to a lake, so bathing might occur by accident!
Lily has started day camp at Camp Wildcat today. She returned home, smiling, happy, and hungry. Yippeee!
I am child-free this week, and it is kind of delightful. The house settles down, the cats pick their napping spots, as do I, and we simply just are...at home. Yippeee!
Lily has started day camp at Camp Wildcat today. She returned home, smiling, happy, and hungry. Yippeee!
I am child-free this week, and it is kind of delightful. The house settles down, the cats pick their napping spots, as do I, and we simply just are...at home. Yippeee!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Loving summer vacation! I went out and treated myself to a professional pedicure, shopped for a gift at B&N (spent only $40!!!), mowed the lawan and reseeded it, and flipped the living room rug. Took a brief nap, flipped laundry, and just kinda "let go".
I am reflecting on the passings of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson...I have such sorrow for their families....but I am also thinking about who I was, and where I lived (and who I lived with) when they were super hot...so much of my life doesn't match where I was then...
Thank you to Smitty Smith, who loved me then...
I am reflecting on the passings of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson...I have such sorrow for their families....but I am also thinking about who I was, and where I lived (and who I lived with) when they were super hot...so much of my life doesn't match where I was then...
Thank you to Smitty Smith, who loved me then...
Thursday, June 25, 2009
I skipped an day (yesterday) because my son "graduated" from eight grade last night. It was a wonderful night, filled with joy for all he and his classmates had accomplished. Since I have known many of his mates since preschool, it was wonderful to watch them cross the stage as teenagers, walking towards their futures with sweetly innocent and excited faces.
Jeffrey received a Presidential Scholar award for academics. I am so very proud of him, he is a wonderful kid with a good head on his shoulders. I think he is going to have a blast at the high school, even with me in the building!
Lily has finished up at the elementary school today, it was a bittersweet moment (for me) when I picked her up after school, as I will no longer be driving to that school. We have moved on, but a tiny bit of me is sad...the passage of time and all.
Here's to summer and progress!
Jeffrey received a Presidential Scholar award for academics. I am so very proud of him, he is a wonderful kid with a good head on his shoulders. I think he is going to have a blast at the high school, even with me in the building!
Lily has finished up at the elementary school today, it was a bittersweet moment (for me) when I picked her up after school, as I will no longer be driving to that school. We have moved on, but a tiny bit of me is sad...the passage of time and all.
Here's to summer and progress!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
I am looking right in the face of the end of the school year, it seems so very bittersweet this year.
My room is clean and wrapped and ready for summer's dust motes to fall, collecting as grey dust bunnies the size of cats. I am already dreaming of my classes for next fall...weird.
My students are gone (or going) and I have shoved them out of the nest towards their sophomore year, good luck to them all, but I am saddened by the lack of connection some of them have to school or life or anything.
Some of my favorite coworkers are leaving the school for bigger and better things, and while I am happy for them, I am sad for me. I know it is selfish, but the older I get, the harder it is to find truth and love for real. Too many people have two or three or eight faces in the crowd, and it is exhausting to interact with them. Such a tangled web we all weave...
Summer is beginning to burst out of my subconsciousness...I will bloom.
My room is clean and wrapped and ready for summer's dust motes to fall, collecting as grey dust bunnies the size of cats. I am already dreaming of my classes for next fall...weird.
My students are gone (or going) and I have shoved them out of the nest towards their sophomore year, good luck to them all, but I am saddened by the lack of connection some of them have to school or life or anything.
Some of my favorite coworkers are leaving the school for bigger and better things, and while I am happy for them, I am sad for me. I know it is selfish, but the older I get, the harder it is to find truth and love for real. Too many people have two or three or eight faces in the crowd, and it is exhausting to interact with them. Such a tangled web we all weave...
Summer is beginning to burst out of my subconsciousness...I will bloom.
Monday, June 22, 2009
It is raining a great deal in NH these days...just about every day for the last week or so. Mnay people are grumbling about the wet weather, but here are a few positive aspects the rain creates for me:
I am really enjoying the rain, as it is the perfect weather to finish out a school year, the kids are not sweating to death, or whining to get outside. Finals week putt-putts along, and the end beckons to all...
The rain makes my lawn and garden look fantastic, without much labor. The plants are full and green, and the lawn is trying to fill in the brown bald spots created by my hubby (when he was full of passion and poison for ant killing...oops, he burned the lawn!)
I keep thinking about how many people in the world do not have access to clean(?) or fresh water on a daily basis. I am grateful that I can turn on my faucet (upstairs or downstairs) and drink to my belly's contentment.
I like to listen to "The Rain song" by led Zepplin, and take long restful naps.
What are your thoughts on the rain? 'Cause I can't stop the rain...
I am really enjoying the rain, as it is the perfect weather to finish out a school year, the kids are not sweating to death, or whining to get outside. Finals week putt-putts along, and the end beckons to all...
The rain makes my lawn and garden look fantastic, without much labor. The plants are full and green, and the lawn is trying to fill in the brown bald spots created by my hubby (when he was full of passion and poison for ant killing...oops, he burned the lawn!)
I keep thinking about how many people in the world do not have access to clean(?) or fresh water on a daily basis. I am grateful that I can turn on my faucet (upstairs or downstairs) and drink to my belly's contentment.
I like to listen to "The Rain song" by led Zepplin, and take long restful naps.
What are your thoughts on the rain? 'Cause I can't stop the rain...
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Well, if I can write on Twitter once a day, I think I can do the same here. Welcome to Parsontisms...where I just blab about whatever is on my mind in the moment. Today: Happy Father's Day. I miss my dad, but know that he is very proud of me, and what I have become. I love my husband, as he is a fantastic father to our kids. He wanted to be a father, he wanted to be a good father, and he has done it. He is a great father, and our kids are very very blessed.
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