Genius Freak

I try to do something valuable with every one of the 180 days I have with my classes, including the very last one. I am fortunate in being able to exempt my students from final exams in June because they have taken the stressful and rigorous AP exam in May.  This year, in my AP Lang class I used an activity borrowed from the work of Dave Stuart called Pop-up Toasts. This activity allowed for a good period of reflection, some public speaking practice, and a nice wrap up for the year. More on the details of the day in another post. This was my toast to the year: Yesterday I stopped at Costco in Brick to get cookies, and strawberries for Renee, so that we could break bread together today. If you are familiar with the Costco parking lot, you know that venturing from car to entrance is a little like playing Frogger, and being the frog. You have to dodge and dart your way across the screen trying to avoid being squished by a truck, or an alligator, barreling along and paying no min...

Each quarter, my students write a personal essay in response to some occasion - it can be anything that happens (assuming proper classroom discretion). Given that requirement, we call them occasional papers, and they must be shared orally with the class. I also contribute to the anthology of shared occasions. This one is from late May. I wrote part of it at the desk in my room, and part in my classroom at school. Things I Have Learned From Trees By the time I traversed the path from my driveway to my back door, 6 or 8 of them were inextricably tangled in my hair. Those annoying scalawags that fall from oak trees in the spring - spreading pollen and baby oak trees - are everywhere. I looked up only to narrow avoid being pelted in the eye by one, and was immediately drawn into the past in a sort of reverse “That’s so Raven” moment.  Back to a day 20-some years ago when another discard from another tree spread some wisdom on me that I have carried with me since. It was the Au...

“It seems like you’re not that big on deadlines.” “What I am big on is learning. If that means we have to bend some deadlines, I’m ok with that.” I know the argument. We have to teach kids to be responsible. To manage their time. To meet deadlines, like in the real world. But learning isn’t like paying your rent on time, or renewing your driver’s license, or using a coupon before it expires.  Those things, understandably, have deadlines. And other things in their lives will teach kids how to abide by them when necessary. I have other things to teach. And learning takes as much time as it takes. Imagine if we told our toddlers, “If you aren’t up and walking by 13 months, that’s it. You get a zero on walking and we’re moving on to something else.” Deadlines, more than being instructive, are expedients for teachers. And while they may add some sense of urgency to getting an assignment done, sometimes life intervenes. Maybe somebody in the family is sick. Or m...