August 21, 2009 at 5:44 pm (Teaching)
AKA Thoughts on Teaching.
On one hand, it’s like any other job. You get a paycheck every two weeks. You get vacation time. You deal with paperwork. You deal with nice people and mean people. You get weekends off.
On the other hand, it can be exhausting and traumatic. You deal with the governor of your state claiming that “We do not have one good school system in the state.” You deal with several weeks of high-stakes testing that turn kids into walking zombies. You deal with a new student who is homeless, living in a hotel room with 6 other people, kept awake at night by the TV and those other people, and in the sixth or seventh school district in two years; therefore he tells a teacher “like my mom bleeping cares!” You deal with too-large classes, too-long workdays, and too-hyperactive children.
On the third hand . . . it’s that mutant “third hand” that keeps you going. It includes things like:
- A mildly autistic student announcing “I’m here!” with a huge smile when he walks into the library in the morning.
- A student telling you to have a good Christmas vacation — on August 21.
- Being told that Emerald is a good chef so it’s good that you have one of his books
- Watching a very short child “stalk” the animals in your jungle rug with his pretend rifle when he doesn’t realize you are watching.
- Finding a paper in a library book that says “Square root of 5 = 2.2360679 Ha Ha!!” [Ha ha?]
- Telling the students to be nice to the librarian because she controls the information and having a student pipe up with “bwah-wha-wha” evil laughter to reinforce the concept.
- Finding just the right book for just the right kid at just the right time.
- Seeing the fourth grade classes watching you enthralled as you introduce them to the concept of how surnames began and got their meanings.
- Meeting your students around town and being told things like: ”I know where you live. You live in the house with the fake poison ivy.” [That would be real ivy, Hunter, not fake or poisonous. See picture below.]
- Being told “You’re the best librarian in the world.”
It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.
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February 16, 2009 at 4:16 pm (Knitting, Teaching)
You never know what you’ll hear around school. For example, in the last week the following were overheard or directed to me.
- “Attention . . . (long pause) female (long pause) . . . staff members. Please join us for breakfast in the cafeteria.” [Assistant principal on the PA, on Valentine's Day, when the male staff prepared all of us breakfast -- thanks guys!]
- “Don’t eat the yellow snow.” [Fourth grade boy while working on a library project, completely unrelated to snow or . . . er . . . yellowness.]
- “I was exampling a commercial.” [Fourth grade boy when asked not to sing in the library.]
- “Look — a snowman was murdered!” [Fourth grade boy passing student work falling off a bulletin board in the hall.]
- “My homework blew away in the lake.” [Boy to another boy getting off the bus.]
- “Do you have any books on the psychology of the male mind?” [Fourth grade girl -- perhaps she's been hearing the same stuff I have.]
My Sister . . .
donated a kidney last week. Yep. No, not to anyone I know. She’s on staff at a hospital where they do lots of transplants. A child got it, which made her happy.
And now she should now have a hat to match her new coat, when she finally gets out again after recovering.
Andean Alpaca
A year or two ago a co-worker went to Ecuador and Peru over Christmas break. I asked her to bring me back some yarn. She brought me some hand-spun, hand-dyed alpaca. I finally got around to making something of it, a cowl/hood to be exact. Bear models it worn as a cowl:
I model the hood. (I hate this photo but it’s hard to take a good one of yourself with the bathroom mirror, hence the big chin. Also I seem to have physically turned in to my mother, something that would have mortified me at thirteen but doesn’t seem so bad now.)
Close-up:
I love the yarn and the pattern. I think it turned out pretty well and it’s always nice to have something made with special yarn.
Back to work tomorrow. Six weeks till spring break.
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February 3, 2009 at 6:30 pm (Knitting, Teaching)
It’s the most un-wonderful time of the year. The kids are going stir crazy with indoor recess and the weather is icky. On the plus side, it has been more sunny this year than usual, which goes a long way with me.
What could be in here?
Why, these, of course.
My sister lost (lost, I tell you!) one of the hats I made her, so I made her some more. And then she bought a new coat in different colors.
But before I can make her a new hat in the appropriate colors, I have a baby shower to go to tomorrow:
Finally, although we had a mini-blizzard this morning, there’s more of that beautiful sunshine this afternoon.
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