atychiphobia

Refinding a Thin Place

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

Yesterday afternoon my family went to Indian Run Falls here in Dublin.  It is about 10 minutes from where we live, but we don't seem to head there as often as we should.  The woods that house this little nugget of nature is right next to Dublin's downtown area and it is also only about a mile from a major outerbelt highway.  It is easy to forget that places as pristine as this can be right in the middle of surburbia.

We spent about 45 minutes or so walking along the trail, trudging down to the water, playing and absorbing some quality time outside with no agenda.  It was just about perfect.  About the only negative was there were actually other people there.  When I go to places like Indian Run Falls, I kind of want to be alone or just with my family.  Escaping is easier for me when I am isolated.  

Theologian Marcus Borg writes about "thin places" which he describes as "anywhere our hearts are open."  For me places like Indian Run Falls are "thin places."  Watching my son and daughter gleefully play in the running water on a spring day while holding my wife's hand definitely opened my heart.  I felt incredibly at ease.  Well until Hank decided to climb down a steep slope of jagged rocks, but that is a completely different story.  What I am thankful for was the opportunity to slow down, laugh, think, reflect and not worry about anything at all.

Since we didn't take any cameras, I looked for some photos online this morning, but found something even better.

 

 

If you live close to Dublin, I'd recommend stopping by.  If you don't live in Central Ohio, find a "thin place" like this to reconnect with nature and ponder.  It did wonders for me.

Later,

Tony

Uncommon Core

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

 

There has been this nagging little itch in the back of my brain for the last few months.  Our district, like many others is in a full blown "Common Core-itis" stage of transition.  As a fourth grade teacher I haven't had much district supported professional development yet.  But, I know it will be coming.  Being who I am, I have dug in on my own and tried to thoughtfully look at the Common Core State Standards, The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and a rather lengthy list of other resources that are infiltrating my web browser.

I am not 100% sure where I stand on this adoption of the CCSS.  On the one hand I have never been a big fan of top-driven programs in any arena of my life.  On the other hand I do see some merit in the idea of more consistency in terms of curricular goals across our country.  While I am unsure of the need for elementary students being able to disect themes across several books, I am actually happy that the CCSS is calling us out for not valuing nonfiction reading as much as we should.  The sadness of the lack of writing poetry in elementary classrooms is balanced by the fact that writing in general has been lifted to a new place of importance in our curricular planning.  I could go on and on with lists of positives and negatives.

I think my big concern with the Common Core is the fact that it is missing more than a few big things for me as an educator.  The wrestling match that will go on in my head over the next few years will be my possibly Uncommon Core values with the Common Core expectations.  I know many of us are having similar concerns, but I am starting to compile a list of ideas I refuse to let go in the face of a massive reworking of our curriculum.

My Uncommon Core (so far):

1) Students will love to read what they choose to read.  Unless I have completely missed the boat in all of my independent study of materials, I can't find one mention of students actually choosing to read books they love.  While I know that students should be able to "read closely" and "refer to details and examples in a text", I still want my students to leave our room knowing who they are as a reader and actually wanting to read.

2) Students will use nonfiction texts or media to propel into greater inquiries of topics they love.  I do completely understand that students should be able to "interpret information" and "explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text", but where is the big why?  I do believe that the value of digging into nonfiction is to gain a better understanding of what our world has to offer us.  Without falling in love or becoming more curious about a topic or idea, we don't connect to it, so we have a harder time developing a depth of understanding.

3) Students will develop an understanding of the power of writing.  Writing moves us.  Writing is a way to share, learn, persuade, enchant, and connect with just about any audience.  After many readings of the CCSS for writing, there is not much there that frustrates me (with the exception of devaluing poetry completely), but there isn't anything about the empowering and tranformational process that writing gives a learner.  We need to elevate this idea if we want our students to actually want to write.

4) Students will create effective classroom and school communities through the acts of collaboration and communication.  The listening and speaking parts of the CCSS are certainly robust.  I have zero problems with things like, "pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow up on information", who would?  Ideas like actually communicating with a degree of civility seem very sound to me.  However, what is the purpose?  We should be looking for ways to empower students to use these skills to make places of learning more valuble to them.

I am sure other ideas will bubble up from the dark corners of my brain, but for now I know that when I am developing goals for next year, these four ideas will be front and center as I am also trying to revamp what I need to do in order to be more aligned with the CCSS for English Language Arts and Literacy.

Later,

Tony

"Cheap" Date Night

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

My two children got to spend the first part of their spring break with their grandparents, which was awesome for many reasons, but the best part of the awesomeness happened on Monday.  I was reminded to think about a valuable idea during a not very expensive date with my wife.

It started with a 4:00 showing of the Descendants at our local "dollar" theater.  I don't know if tickets there are ever $1, but spending $3.50 for two tickets to a reasonably good movie is not bad at all.  As we walked in we talked a little about feeling guilty.  We were watching a Monday afternoon movie.  On most Mondays at this time we would both be either a) doing our own school work or b) rushing around trying to prep for the usual help-finish-homework-eat-a-meal-drive-to-a-sports-or-dance-event craziness that typically envelopes a weeknight in our home.  It was more than a little surreal to be doing something just for us at 4:00 in the afternoon.

Julie headed for the concession stand then I said, "Let's skip the popcorn.  We'll go to Dairy Queen for dessert after the movie."  She gave me her, that's an unbelieveably brillant idea look and we headed into the theater that was surprisingly crowded.  Keep in mind that in our early 40s, Julie and I were probably 25 years below the median age.  I guess this is one of the many things I can look forward to in retirement.  

After the movie we headed to DQ to cash in on the buy one get one for 99¢ Blizzard deal.  Oh my had I forgotten how ridiculously (or should I say riDQulosuly) good a Blizzard is.  As we ate our dessert before dinner we again talked about how weird it felt to be doing something so fun without our kids and on a school night.  We also shared some other stories that made us laugh.

When we got home we made dinner together and ate in the dining room.  I love cooking with my wife.  We get in each other's way, we both want to be in charge, we both try to not be in charge.  It is maddening and lovely at the exact same time.  Things never seem to go without a hitch, but the end result is often perfect.  I think cooking with my wife is the perfect snapshot of our relationship.  

The definitely "just for the parents" menu was blackened catfish, pan-seared brussel sprouts and mashed redskin potatoes.  Plus a bottle of red.  For those of you keeping score since I started this post with the idea of a cheap date, I think a fair estimate for dinner was $25 (including the cost of the wine).  I think our meal could have been a $25 dinner at a pretty good restaurant, not including the wine.   

The food was awesome, the conversation was better.  Honestly this was a little surprising because we were about 4 hours into this date and had no breaks.  I can't remember the last time this had happened.  I did get a little too conerned about wanting to clean up the disastrous kitchen mess and I anxioulsy left the table.  But Julie made me sit back down so she could enjoy the moment a little longer.  I was glad she did that.

When I reflect on her making me sit back down with her instead of rushing in to clean up the kitchen. I am pretty sure she was reminding me that we rarely have such a long time to just ourselves.  I don't want to send the impression that we are shut-ins that never go out together, but this was pretty cool and I was screwing it up to go wash some dishes.  

Eventually the dishes got washed, the dog was taken out and she had to do a little school work.  Life started to feel more like a typical Monday night.  Both of us focused on something else.  

I am really looking forward to our next "cheap" date night.  It was a gift to spend so much time with Jules, not worrying about anything else.  I know I won't be rushing the clean-up the next time.

Later,

Tony

Sweatbox

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

I got to school a little early this morning.  It is the last day before spring break and I have some grading to do before I leave today.  Not that I am going on a fab vacation or anything, I just don't want to be grading two tests tomorrow - the first official day of spring break.  

We have been having some HVAC concerns lately and at 8:03 I am already a little sweaty.  I am thinking since it already feels like a July roadtrip in a car with no AC, it might get a little sticky when 25 more bodies pile in around 9:20. The rest of this post will be written intermittently througout the day. 

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8:44 am: I am now sitting at the table by the window, which is wide open.  I am about to head downstairs.  As we all learned in elementary science classes, warm air rises, so I am hoping the downstairs will seem like walking into an industrial sized refrigerator.  Ooooooh, that is a good idea, we have one of those in our kitchen.

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 11:33 am: We are taking a math assessment, yes I am the meanest teacher ever.  A test on the last day of school before spring break.  The class is holding on better than I am.  No complaints yet, but that may be because either they are younger and stronger than me or the fact they are all wearing shorts.  Oh how I wish I could be wearing shorts right now.  I am a little on the sweaty side.  I may have to go home at lunch and take a shower.

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12:40: At 12:00 we all escaped, the class got to go to art, I ate lunch in the teacher's lounge where it felt like it was 20º cooler than our room.  I just go back upstairs feeling a little refreshed.  I need to get some things done in the next 40 minutes or so.  When my kids get back in from recess, the heat index will rise immeasurably.  I fully predict we will be wilting.

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 2:20: About an hour ago when the sweaty mess of 20 plus fourth graders came rolling in from recess I was sure we would never be able to cool off.  Thankfully it seems better now.  There is actually a faint breeze blowing through are window and we are relaxing by watching a movie.  We never do this but the class worked really hard the last few weeks and about five of their classmates have already left for spring break.  Besides, who really wants to do academic work on the last afternoon before a 9 day "weekend?"

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 4:00: We made it.  Three of my class fell asleep during the movie and I feel like I may have lost a few pounds.  Now I am on my way to meet some friends and watch some basketball.  Hopefully the Buffalo Wild Wings has their AC on the turbo setting.

Later,

Tony

Jump, Jump, Jump Around

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

This is going to be a very tiny post.  It has been a long day and I want to be able to catch just a little basketball before I go to bed.  I think I may be in a small minority of college basketball fans that didn't play hookie and park myself at a sports bar and consume hours of March Madness on giant televisions.  

We had our second round of parent conferences tonight (as much as I think my principal is awesome, we need to rethink the idea of having conferences on what I think should be a national holiday).  However, I was able to schedule a break in the action to watch my son and his friends on our school jump rope team perform for friends,  family and any staff members like me who could sneak downstairs to our gym.

Yep, that last sentence is correct, we have an elementary school jump rope team.  They are awesome.  Hopefully I can get some video up of what Hank and the rest of the team did tonight soon.  He nailed the trick he has been working on for a while.  Try to imagine this one.  Crossover, backwards on a pogo-stick.  

Think about that.  If you are like me, you wouldn't even try to get on a pogo-stick.  And there is no way I could do do a backwards crossover jump rope move.  Heck, I am not real sure I could jump rope backwards.  So how do you manage to jump on a pogo-stick clenched between your thighs and jump rope?

It was very cool to see.  I was extrememely happy for him and the smile on his face when he was done was brilliant.  It was also fun to see him and his 14 other teammates work through all facets of their crazy routine.  These kids come to school early and are coached by our phys. ed. teacher.  They get to perform for other schools, they have some pretty snazzy t-shirts and they all have a lot of fun planning their shows.

The thing I am most proud of though was the announcement at the end of the night.  Their coach shared with us that the team raised over $1,000 for "Jump Rope for Heart."  That is something to remember.

Later,

Tony

Stories from Room 226: The Bracket Buster

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

 

Yes, I have already written about March "Book" Madness before, but yesterday we had our first big time "Bracket Buster".  Think VCU, Butler, or George Mason.  Think Gus Johnson giving us an "HA! HAAA!" or Bill Raftery dropping "Onions!" on us.

Faced with the decision of choosing the apparently best selling children's book of all time or the little graphic novel that could, my class went with Sidekicks by Dan Santat.  

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!?!?!?"

Honestly, I am not too sure.  My class this year is ridiculous when it comes to reading.  To a child they have met or exceeded all of my possible expectations.   They are thoughtful, they read a variety of books, they read voraciously.  But Sidekicks beating Harry Potter.  Wow.  That's about all I can say. Wow.

To be fair, I book talked Sidekicks earlier in the year and nearly every child has read it.  I had to buy another copy because the first one is now toast.  What I somehow missed is that nearly every single one of them loved it.  I should have had a feeling when they were talking in paris and threes before the vote.  I heard of lot of stuff like this:

"I really like Harry Potter, but Sidekicks rules."

"I've only seen the movies for Harry Potter.  But I read and loved Sidekicks."

"I'm not really into to fantasy.  But Sidekicks was amazing.  The art ... Roscoe and Fluffy.  Fluffy is soooooo cute."

And I only heard a little bit of stuff like this:

"Harry Potter is the best book ever.  How can you vote against it."

"Harry Potter could beat all the characters in Sidekicks with one spell.  C'mon!"

"I wish I could go to Hogwarts!"

When the vote was over, you would have thought the kids who voted for Sidekicks had just won the lottery.  A legit cheer erupted.  Interstingly enough, there were only a few kids who were truly disappointed that Harry Potter got beat.  Most of them also really liked Sidekicks, but just liked Harry a little more.  

Later in the day one of the boys who was disappointed asked, "Why was Harry only a 3 seed.  Seems like he should have been a number 1."  

I answered, "Well, Harry was in the bracket because only one of you submitted that title on your cards.  Based on that he should of been a lower seed.  I put him there because it didn't seem right to have such a great book be a lower seed."

"OK.  But I still think Harry should have won."

"I know how you feel. It is one of my all time favorite books."

But the more I thought this "upset", the happier I became.  I started this crazy idea for the kids.  I haven't voted once and I have tried really hard to be very straight faced and objective.  Before the quick sharing and votes I praise the positive attributes of both books and tell the class, "Man this would be a hard choice for me, glad I am not voting."  And for most of this group of kids, Sidekicks resonated with them in a way that Harry Potter didn't.  When I think about my favorite books of all time, I don't really care what anybody else says.  I will argue the virtues of books that nobody else seems to like.  And when you are a guy who teaches elementary school, that can happen a lot.  When I realized that the kids were doing what anybody who is excited about books does, my opinion shifted from "WHAT?!?!" to "Way to go guys, you went with the book you loved, not the book that everyone loves."

So, I decided to be the voice for the majority afterschool yesterday.  I got on twitter and posted this little nugget.

I got some responses from my tweeps, which was cool.  It is great to get feedback from my friends. And for the most part my twitter friends are kind of like me.  Teacher-book nerds who tend to get giddy about stuff like, "are you Team Bear or Team Rabbit?"  But what really blew my mind was this repsonse:

 Whoa.

After a few more tweets, Dan Santat is thanking me for the kind words about his book.  When really I should be thanking him for creating a story that won the hearts of so many of my students.  So thank you very much Dan Santat! 

Sidekicks has a tough run to make it to the Final 4.  It will have to beat Diary of a Wimpy Kid and most likely Bigger than a Breadbox by Laurel Snyder.  Both have been huge books in my class this year.  We even Skyped with Laurel Syder.  Because of the Skyping, I figured Breadbox would have been the odds on favorite to win the whole bracket.  However, when I quickly showed my class the screenshots of the twitter chat that happened between Dan Santat, me and a few others, they were floored.

"You mean Dan Santat knows Sidekicks beat Harry Potter?"

"Yep he does, and I think he thinks that is pretty cool."

"That's awesome!"

So, eventhough I thought Sidekicks had no chance of beating Harry Potter, I wouldn't be totally shocked if it wins some more.  In fact, I am really hoping it takes down Greg, Rowley and the rest of Jeff Kinney's gang.

Later,

Tony

 

PS

If by chance you do read this Dan, my class really wants to know when the next adventure of Captain Amazing and his wonderful band of Sidekicks is coming out.  

Interesting Feedback

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

Our school is in the midst of our second round of parent-teacher conferences.  Last Thusday day night I ripped through 13 in a row with no break.  Ahhh the pleasures of having 28 students seem to show up frequently this year.  

One conference was a little tough.  The family is great, the child is awesome, but concepts are not "sticking" with her. And it is definitely not due to a lack of effort.  These types of conferenes always get to me.  It is hard when the parents know their child is struggling.  I always feel a loss for words. #heartbreaking

The rest of the conferences were all pretty easy.  The parents asked great questions and seemed receptive to ideas on how to help at home.  Overall the 12 students represented by these parents are either in really good shape overall or have shown big growth since the beginning of the year.  So I am pretty sure one of the reasons these conferences went so smoothly is that all parties involved are pretty happy about how the school year is progressing.

The interseting feedback I recieved revolves around reading.  Out of the 13 conferences, 10 parents mentioned the idea that their child is reading like they have never read before.  As these comments came rolling in I began to wonder why this year?

I think the teachers in my school are pretty awesome and they work hard.  Our libary is ridiculously loaded with books, our principal "gets it" and overall the kids are great.  Like most places, things are not perfect, but I really love where I work.  So when parent 7 or 8 said something like "Thanks for lightning a reading fire in our daughter.  She always has been a good reader, but this year she absolutey loves reading."  I got the nerve to ask. "Why do you think that is?"

After a short pause, the parent replied, "She is always talking about all the great books you share and how much you read.  You are having a huge influence on her."  

My response was, "Cool, I am glad she is excited about reading.  We all seem to be in this room."  Then we moved onto to another topic.

This pattern repeated a few more times then I packed up for the night and headed home feeling tired, but pleased.  I have been thinking about this interesting feedback for a few days now.  In my heart I have known for a long time that if a teacher of readers is passionate about books, some of this enthusiasm will spill over into the room.  In the past few years, I have been excited to discover that there is a actual research that supports this idea as well.  But to hear it from parents was a big deal to me.    

If a child's parent is noticing a shift in the love of reading, that is huge.  With all the distractions we have, to notice a monumental change in how a child reads for pleasure is a big deal.  I know this.  I went through it with both my children.  It was fantastically awesome to see.

As I am finishing this post I am thinking about the two new titles that will be shared tomorrow and placed into our classroom library, the mini-lesson on starting a list of books to read over spring break next week, and sharing the twitter exchange that Dan Santat and I had today about his book Sidekicks.  I know all of this is just another example of how nerdy I am about reading and books.  But apparently all this nerdiness is helping to make some future book nerds as well.  

I am certain that is a good thing.

Later,

Tony

 

Waiting For Wonder

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

 

Just in case you have been disconnected from the Slice of Life Challenge, Twitter and haven't talked to a librarian in the last few weeks watch the video below.

 

If that disn't suck you in enough to think about reading the book, then check out a few of these fellow slicers/book reviewers to really get you clamoring for a copy.

 

Teacher Dance

Read, Write, Reflect

Sharpread

A Year of Reading

Watch. Connect. Read.

Nicole's Book Nook

A Fuse 8 Production

Waking Brain Cells

Goodreads (for cryin' out loud the average rating is 4.56 out of 5.  Harry Potter only got a 4.29, To Kill a Mockingbird has a 4.19 and the Great Gatsby eanred a paltry 3.71)

There is even a Twitter hashtag devoted to this book #wonderofwonder (I think @colbysharp or @mrschureads is responsible for this)

On top of all this gushi-ness, my wife read the book.  And she "loved it and very highly recommends the book to children and adults."

So why haven't I jumped onto this bandwagon yet?  I think it is because at this point I am bound to be a little disappointed.  I most likely made a mistake a few weeks ago by not putting right on top of my too be read stack.  The hype machine is now so overwhleming to me that unless it is the GOAT book, I will probably be like these guys.

And from what I can tell, I definitely don't want to feel like Wonder by RJ Palacio is overrated.  I want to be able to savor the book.  I want to be able to experience it on my own terms.  I want to read it with clear eyes and a full heart.

So, I think I need to delay my gratification and wait until summer or maybe even next fall to read this book.  Hopefully by then, some new book will be all the rage and I will be able to fully appreciate the wonder of Wonder.

Later,

Tony

 

Awestruck

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

 

I really don't know Sarah.  I've have seen her when my family goes to Camp Akita because she has worked there as a counselor and assistant director.  By all accounts Sarah seems to be an enthusiastic lover of life.  My children, who also spend time with Sarah during Camp and other youth events at church would say, "She rocks!" or "She's awesome!"  I am very glad they look up to Sarah.  I learned a little more about her at church this morning.  Impressive, she is.  

This young woman who is now our High School Program Director spoke a little about our church's upcoming mission trip to Mexico.

Sarah shared:

• Her desire to work at the church started by serving homeless people meals when she was in high school.  This service led her to join the mission trips to Mexico while she was also in high school.  And after graduating from college she wanted to come back to inspire younger kids to do the same thing.  
• The fact she feels closer to God when she is working for, talking with and sharing food with the people of our town and other places who are typically marginalized by our society. 
• A reminder about the homes the group will be building.  These simple wooden structures with a cement floor that have about 220 square feet of living space will be the nicest space the family who gets it will have ever owned.  

• A simple, humble request for all of us in attendace to hold the 90 plus strong group of high schoolers and chaperones who are heading to Tecate, Mexico next weekend in our prayers.  

Besides being graceful and articulate, Sarah caused me to become awestruck.  I began to think things like, "Did I even have a clue when I was 25ish? Did I even know there was such a thing as abject poevery when I was a freshman in high school? And if I did, would I give up my spring break to build shack-like houses for the poor?" "Would I give up my spring break now to do that?"

Since I apparently am in the older half of our country's population, I am part of the group who should seriously hope that those younger than us become leaders soon.  Our country needs more people like Sarah and her young friends that will be heading to Mexico.  We need people to wake us up every once in a while.  We need people to make us a little uncomfortable to inspire us to do more. We need people to lead by action, not just words.   

I sincerely hope Sarah's family is incredibly proud of her.  I know if one of my own children follows Sarah's path, I would be beaming.

Later,

Tony

 

Kind of Stuck

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

 

I missed my first slice of this challenge yesterday.  I made a commitment to do better this year and so far I have.  My goal was to write at least 20 this year, so I am definitely on target for that.  However, the last few days I have struggled to genreate ideas that seem worthwhile for this challenge.  My wonderful wife, who also happens to be one of my biggest cheerleaders for writing was trying to encourage me with ideas earlier this evening.

You could write about the Scrabble game we just played.

Of course she would want me to write about that.  She just took me to the cleaners.  And I am supposed to be the more literary one.  Great.  Thanks Jules, just because you managed to earn 20 points on "we" near the end, doesn't mean I am going to devote an entrie blog post to your Scrabbliciousness.

You could write about Josie.

Sure, I could write a sappy post about how awesome my 5 pound dog is.  But this wonderful lump of joy has pretty much ignored me all day.  Josie even crawled off my lap when I was watching basketball today.  She always sits on my lap when I am watching sports.  It is just what we do.  Not today.  Apparently, Josie wanted my wife's lap more than mine.

You could write about the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Well the that was a pretty good time.  It was a great day for a parade.  No rain and reasonably warm weather for Ohio in early March.  My son, Hank was in it with his soccer club.  We were hanging out with some great family friends.  It should be something that I could recount.  The drum corps, the bagpipes, the green beer laced happy drunks stumbling around could all be seeds for some fun storytelling.  But it seems weird to be writing about a St. Patrick's Day Parade a full week before the actual date.

So as I write this I am seriously hoping for something in my brain to click tomorrow.  Today was a great day overall, but I am lacking the desire to create anything worth reading.  

Later,

Tony