My 3 Pillars

Just something I don't want to forget as I research, experiment and plan for the next school year.

My 3 Pillars for Successful Teaching

Community: The school and classroom must be a safe and supportive place where everyone operates on a foundation of respect.

Standards: The work and learning is expected to be deep and challenging.

Engagement: The school and my classroom has to be a place the learner wants to be in. The child needs to feel the need to be in my room.

Reading 3 Short Stories By the River

In the late afternoon I rode my bike to the river.
I wanted to sit by the river and read in the sun.
It's not a far ride.
Half a mile maybe.
Less I think.
The city has brought the riverwalk
All the way down
To my side of town.
There's an Aquatic Habitat where you can
walk out into the river
On a wooden bridgish sort of path.
It zigs and zags over the water and then
Instead of crossing over the river
It returns to the shore from which its journey began.
It's a bridgish sort of path.
You get a decent view of what a novice might call
Aquatic Weeds.
A large turtle swam upstream.
It poked its head above the surface of the water
Its shell flirted to do the same.
Then it dove back down.
A heron stood across from me.
It wasn't moving.
It was hunting.
Three separate groups of people
celebrated with their families.
Several other families fished.
Some person left 4 barbecued chickens on a grill.
I watched a duck dive down
To hunt its supper
Only to pop back up in completely unpredictable places.
I had to train my eyes to observe in a wider angle
So that I'd catch sight of the duck when it returned to the surface.
It seemed a magic trick.
There was an unoccupied bench on one side of the river.
I sat there and began to read.
A young couple held hands and passed me by.
Parents of one followed at a
respectful distance.
I read three short stories.
A little boy rode by on his bicycle and stared me down the entire time he passed.
Me strange man.
Who rides a bike too.
And reads alone on the river.
His little brother passed by
Oblivious of his brother's protection.
Speaking a gibberish to himself and all who would care to listen.
This child scientist of maybe 3 years of age.
Discovering the entire world.
The father followed with 2 fishing poles.
One for him.
One for the older boy.
The scientist used his hands.
I suspect that anyway.
A tributary flowed behind me.
Its end a waterfall before feeding into the river.
The river is a beautiful place.
For reading 3 short stories by The River.

Grading Papers

I came across this gem of an answer.

The students were supposed to make a connection between themselves and the book that they are reading.

One little boy read one of the Hank the Cow-dog series of books and saw something of himself the novel's antagonist, Pete the Cat.

"I think I am kind of like Pete because at home I am not good.  I am kind of a cheater when I play games with my family. P.S. Don't tell no body."

I love my job.

Hansel the Happy Teacher

I just ate an entire apple pie in less than 24 hours. And um... I'm not gonna lie about this, I feel... I feel pretty good about it. It's teacher appreciation week, which I guess means, we as a society need to stop and figure out what a teacher might appreciate.  Well, this teacher appreciates a pie. 

It was, of course, delicious. Apple-Pie-stuff middle, Flaky Fat Pastry, someone even took the time to put sugar on top of the pie.  

Like that was an ingredient. Part of the process.

Some corporate chef looked down at the apple pie and said:

   How can I improve this product?

   What if I just pour some sugar on it.

    There we go.

And guess what? That douche-bag was right. It was capital Yum. Even more-so for the extra sugar version of the apple pie that I just destroyed over the course of um... dinner and breakfast.

No shame y'all. I killed it.

Whole apple pie just got disappeared. Cartel Style. I ghosted it. Gone. Not coming back. (In a form we can recognize.) I can tell you more about the experience. Like I can tell you what it looked like and I can tell you what it tasted like but you already know. 

It was good.

I liked it.

Obviously a lot - I'd Facebook friend it if I hadn't just devoured it.

But it's gone. What was really special about the pie was how I got it.  I was called to the principal's office after school. And I was totally ready to get fired or something. I don't know.  There's no reason to fire me, that I know of  - except for how much profanity I use on the internet, but I think I'll get a warning or something before that happens, but anyway, getting called to the front office never sounds good. At the very least I'm expecting to meet some angry parent. Maybe angry because I've been shoving food right down my face in front of their child all week long. Setting a terrible lifestyle example. Because I have ZERO impulse control when it comes to Sugar Considered Mine Own. I just kill it.

Oh am in the middle of story time? That'll go great with these Chocolate Covered Strawberries!

Happened.

Man I've been bad. Yesterday I ate an entire jar of peanut M&Ms. Whole pretty glass jar. Little Pinterest Appreciation Poem that some sweet mother copy/pasted/printed onto the jar. I ate every little candy-covered chocolate that it contained. Vacuum style. And those peanut M&Ms tasted... Huh. You know, thinking back, I don't think I can honestly say that I tasted a single one of those candies. Of course I know what they tasted like. I can reconstruct it. I know what industrial milk chocolate tastes like (meh) and I know what an unsalted peanut tastes like (shit) but those particular peanut M&Ms? Nope. I just sucked 'em down. I didn't really chew them or enjoy them. I just immediately made them a part of me. I more just ushered them to my gut.  Let's bypass the mastication process, this is not about taste and this is not about nourishment. No chit chat. No getting to know you stuff - I'm sure there'll be time for that later - I just showed them to their seats (My Comfy Fat Cells) and let them know that they'd be here for a little while and I'm just sure they're gonna love it.

All week long - people just giving me free fat. And I'm just taking it. Saying "Thank You" and meaning it. And then eating it. Loving it. Prepping myself to -

Live with it.

Because it won't be going away any time soon. I read my Esquire magazine that explains in no uncertain terms how old I am and the devastating effects these choices will bring about. But I'm whatever with this.

Because almost nothing on this planet is more enjoyable than FREE FAT.

FREE FAT IS YUMMY!

Fact.

I mean this is primal human being shit people. I'm not fighting it. This goes way back. Hunter/Gatherer way back. Like "Oh my god. Check it out. A marshmallow tree!" Myths and shit are based around Free Fat. Hansel and Gretel. Everybody says "How stupid are those kids? Don't go in there!" That's crap. Each and every one of us knows exactly what we would do if we wandered onto a house made of candy in the middle of the woods and there was No One around to see what we were about to do.

We'd eat it.

And so I did.

Purchase

Thank You Cards

Pack of 20
$6.48 after tax

Reason:
6 Heartwarming Letters
A package of teacher supplies (INCLUDING A POST-IT DISPENSER!!!)
And Homemade Chocolate-Covered Strawberries.

All from my littles during Teacher Appreciation Week.
Darlings.

So... $6.48 had to go.

My gifts are at school. So I'll take photos of them tomorrow.

Sadly, the chocolate covered strawberries will not make it to press.

Not sure what to do with this yet... But Before I forget it

One Dumb MotherFucker on the milktrain

Didn't
Know How
To Not
Complain

This drove
One Nun
Straight Bat-Shit

Face-Mushed
DMF
With her
Habit

I got Paid and I got Groceries

My people!
Money is in and so are the goods.

Food is going to happen this weekend.

Oh - Did I not mention the weekend has begun?

Three Day weekend Y'all!
So nice.
So very nice.

To Be Me.

I budget $100/week for the groceries.
I'm usually under but sometimes over when I plan on cooking big.
Which I plan on doing this weekend. I'll be making Sante Fe Soup; Taco Pasta, and Black Bean Dip.
Gangster.
Groceries were $104.29

I took the kids of a field trip today.
I had to buy ice for the coolers. $3.58

No field trip budget so I'm just going to chalk this to groceries and make up for the overage next week.

Also

Keeping my entertainment fix going for $8.49/mo
Charged today to the bank account.

This is a nice hobby.


Yesterday I made an appointment to get check up at the doctor and the dentist on May 31st.  It's about time.

It should be a $10 copay for the doctor and $50 for the dentist.
No worries just yet but the dentist could get expensive. I haven't regularly gone to the dentist for a long long time.

So far so good.

More to come...