Thanksgiving and Annie Dillard

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. This is one of the longer breaks from school. We have a half day Wednesday. Both my school teacher sisters have Wednesday off... But I'm not complaining... Much.

Next week is challenging because it's so short. My kids are in the middle of a winter writing assignment. We have been talking about the stages of writing. Currently they're writing a creative non-fiction piece, inspired by an excerpt from Annie Dillard's American Childhood.

When I was in undergrad. (at the beautiful and wonderful Fredonia State,) I took a class that entirely changed my perspective on literature: Environmental Literature. My professor, Dr. Mosher, was one of the coolest guys. He was very outdoorsy and even took our class on a Saturday morning field trip to observe the migration of water fowl. This was not your typical college course.

We read works by Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, James Audobon, Rachel Carson, Thoreau.. etc. etc. I started thinking about how much my life connected to those works. I grew up in the middle of nowhere. I went hiking, kayaking, trail running and exploring through the woods and wilderness near my parents' house. I have since realized it doesn't take living in a rural setting to have experiences and thoughts like these writers.

My students really gravitate towards Dillard's excerpt, entitled "The Chase." They love the mischief of a young Dillard racing through her Philadelphia neighborhood, desperately panting in the winter air, trying not to get caught. Former students have talked about how badly their lungs burn in the winter time when they run outdoors. They begin to feel that raw scratch in their throats as we discuss the work. It's very exciting. I love "teaching" this piece!

If you haven't read American Childhood, you've got to check it out. I re-read it for inspiration time and again.

Veteran's Day

This has been a pretty ridiculous fall for sickness. A little over 1/3 of our tiny school's population was wiped out last week due to a flu-like virus (not H1N1, they think...). It has been a serious struggle to catch all the kids up. I know they're stressed out and feel completely lost. Even though most of the kids who were out from school filled out homework requests and had assignments sent home to them, they missed the in-class instruction they need to practice the skills the homework requires. We have a fast-thinking math teacher on our team who devised a plan to get to all the kids we need to get to. I don't know how those math people do it. I am most definitely left brained!

We have started to get down some of the literary terminology kids need to discuss different works. I think the hardest thing for them to understand is the idea that there are three main genres of literature; drama, poetry and prose. Prose is the most baffling to them. It's a new term for them to ingest, and prose includes so many different types of writing it almost seems like there need to be more categories.

This whole sickness outbreak has had me thinking a lot about slowing down and not rushing through sections of the curriculum just to stay on track. It is so tempting to push the kids to get information down quickly, skill and drill. I am fighting that! Last week I took a long look at how I have set up units for this year. Logistically, it seems like there is never enough time. I think all teachers feel like that.

Wasn't there recent talk of expanding the school year and the school day? I don't know that I would ever be against that. It's going to be the worst for the kids. I think teachers might actually breathe easier. All these state standards and state tests... Maybe a longer school year would take some of the stress out of high stakes testing. What do you think?

Was that the dreaded Swine Flu?

Whoa! For three days straight I have done nothing except sit on the couch, watch bad cable television and take fever reducing aspirin. Needless to say, I was pretty sick.

Wednesday afternoon I noticed my back started aching- as weird as it sounds, my skin start to ache too. That was the tell-tale sign for me... I was sick. I had the school nurse check me out. I didn't have a fever then, but I knew it was coming. I opted out of soccer practice to spare the varsity team on the road to sectionals. I didn't feel nauseated, but I didn't want to eat anyway. Then the fever came... for three days....

Finally Saturday afternoon, I started feeling a little bit human again. I still haven't gone anywhere or done anything in four days!!! (Just in case! I don't want to be responsible for spreading this whatever it is!)

So today, Sunday, this illness feels more like a cold than anything. My head is congested, but I don't have the body ache I've had for three days. Phew...

I missed some really good stuff at school too! For starters, I gave my unit test on Thursday for Walk Two Moons. I hate not being in school in the first place, but I hate giving tests on days I am not there. There are always so many questions... Secondly, the 7th graders went on a field trip- this is the one and only seventh grade field trip... so sad! The day before Halloween and I couldn't be there! Lastly, the girls' Varsity team was on the road to sectional success and I missed two of the practices I was supposed to help out with and their -unfortunate- last game of the 2009 season. Argh! I hate being sick. I hate missing school and I especially hate writing sub plans! (especially when a lot of what I write doesn't always translate into what is done... Grr)

I hope no one else gets this... I tried to keep myself sequestered away to avoid all possible human contact. I'm looking forward to checking out what happened back at school. I know my poor kids probably have some interesting sub tales to share. (They usually do!)

Stay healthy!