HI HILL!

off to 5th grade camp tomorrow--woo hoo!

target practice

one of the interesting things about having a blog is getting feedback from strangers all over the country and around the world. i often wonder how these people stumble upon my tiny little corner of cyberspace... are they devo fans? are they friends? teachers? bounty hunters?

their comments have mostly been laudatory, but my recent post, "second coming" inspired an anonymous commenter (the best kind!), to question the appropriateness of sharing my stream-of-consciousness "rap/poem" with my students. (check out my response in april's archive.)

since that post sparked some debate, i decided to try it again! here's the latest "pap" (poetry/rap) i wrote and shared with my students. we were studying dialogue, and i encouraged them to "eavesdrop" on people in public places and transcribe the way people talk to one another. (my piece includes some quotes i heard in chicago at 4:00 am, after the el train unexpectedly broke down...)

i throw a rhyme like a strike!
"hey, batter, batter--SWING!"
you know it's time for a fight--gray matter battling.
you're too tired like a bike--you're foul like traveling--
step off the mic or get tossed like a javelin!
you're gambling, and that's a poor habit,
"i just want to know how long a moment is on your planet?"
"dagnabbit! i wanna go home! get me off this train!"
ain't got no minutes on the cell phone...
call a taxi and relax in the back seat,
you're another wack MC like kenny g on the sax.
j-see into the FUTURE SHOCK, herbie hancock
can't stop my band rocks, stand-off in the sandbox!
suit yourself. whatever's clever.
don't ever say i didn't tell you any better!
you're light as a feather, stiff as a board,
my words and letters mightier than your sword.
give to the poor the gift of the lord:
T.G.I. friday, by the way, check the scoreboard--
6 to nothing--a skunk in the making...
no more bluffing, no more pump-fake, funk-faking!

HOLES pt. II

this same student with the opinion about the onions noticed something else i hadn't:

the phrase "three days later."

louis sachar uses it a twice in the span of as many pages, he pointed out--once, after sam's unfortunate demise and ("three days later") the sheriff is shot, and the second time after stanley unwittingly gets mr. sir in trouble with the warden--("three days later") after having gotten no water from mr. sir, he finally fills stanley's canteen, but not before acting like he poisoned it.

we discussed the biblical implications of the phrase, and the transformative implications in each example. (i.e. ms. barlow's change of character, the change in the relationship between mr. sir and stanley, and the resurrection story in the bible.) it was another in a long list of treasure moments i've shared with this student.

it's so inspiring to teach students that are excited about the possibilities in writing and literature--the students that can and will reflect upon the information they're producing and/or receiving. they make this job so rewarding...

i'm so thankful that i get to interact, influence, and (hopefully) enlighten the future of this country every day, AND get paid for it!

it's awesome!

HOLES

one of my favorite books--as you know if you've read my profile--is holes, by louis sachar. i'm currently reading it to my fifth grade class. not to give anything away, but the other day, one of my students made a comment (during the part where the classroom teacher, ms. barlow, kisses sam, "the onion man") that had never occurred to me:

wouldn't sam's breath and body stink since he's always eating onions?

funny! i love 5th graders!

angels in the forms of kings

since we've been studying "making a new nation," in OC, i thought i'd share some highlights from thomas jefferson's first inaugural address:
(warning: first sentence is 89 words long!)

• the essential principles of our Government:
• a jealous care of the right of election by the people
• the supremacy of the civil over the military authority

• Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.

• And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions

• Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

"'history never repeats,' i tell myself before i go to sleep."--split enz

THE FINEST SPUDS!

this is from an idaho potato box that ms. wahlen was throwing away. it reminded me of the devo album shout. (especially since devo often refer to themselves as "spuds.")












that's more like it...






tip of the energy dome to c.s. for the 'shoppin'.

teachspeak

an intellectual is a man who says a simple thing in a difficult way; an artist is a man who says a difficult thing in a simple way. --charles bukowski

with this in mind, i submit for your enjoyment, my teacher-treasure words/phrases and their translations into english (btw, these were all new to me!) :

• bibliotherapy
  

translation: teaching social skills through literacy

• numeracy
  

translation: like "literacy" but with numbers, get it?

• dyads
  

translation: pairs

and my current favorite:

• transgenerational literacy transfer

translation: parents reading to their kids


that was fun. in the spirit of the aforementioned bukowski quote, this should be an on-going feature here at YDNFTF.

thinking maps pt. II

sorry the picture of the thinking map was so small--i'm still figuring out how to use my phone/camera--i can't blow it up any bigger or it will be too pixelated to read. so here's what's in the "my interests" circle map (counter clock-wise from top):

• drive-in movies
• teaching
• singing/"rapping"
• riding my bike
• playing drums
• playing guitar
• BBQ'n

(i should have included politics as an interest--i could've tried drawing a big donkey!)

around the outside--in the frame--is where i wrote the "sources" of my information: "my students," and "me."

thinking maps

i love using thinking maps in my classroom. they're a great way to organize information, and they're fun to use! i learned some great ideas from our training a few weeks back (shout out to our thinking maps teacher trainers!!!) like teaching our students to illustrate them, as i did in this circle map (i liked my drawings, so i decided to take a picture of them with my new cell phone!)

back to school

"schoolhouse" by paul klee (at the art institute of chicago) perfectly captured my feelings about going back to school while i was vacationing in chicago... it scared me to death! (the virginia tech shootings were the day i left for chicago, so i was feeling morbid...)

this painting exudes foreboding--the deserted schoolhouse, the shades of blood red, and the dead eyes of the lone figure--i wonder if any of my students would get the same feeling...