I like January

I love Christmas and the holiday season, but January is really nice too. Fresh new year, time to clean things, organize, curl up in flannel sheets with a good book.... It's a month that deserves appreciation, not scorn.

After 2 weeks of break, I had lots more patience to use for the 8th graders. It may be all gone by the end of this week, but at least for today I was happy to see them again. They're fun people. It was raining today, so about 20 came into my room before school and at lunch. Sample conversation:
Kid 1 (female), to Kid 2 (male): Hey, I saw you at the mall over break.
Kid 2: No you didn't!
Kid 1: Yes I DID.
Kid 2: I didn't even go to the mall over break!
Me, to Kid 1: You must have seen someone who looked like him.
Kid 1: Poor ugly person.
Kid 2: Shut up!
:-) Groan. But it was funny! Maybe you had to be there...

Christmas break = wonderful. HH and I spent a week with my family in California, and then had a week of doing basically as little as possible. I read a book I really enjoyed: Gone, Baby, Gone, by Dennis Lehane. It was mostly a dark police detective novel, bloody but entertaining, but the ending brought up a very interesting moral quandary. (Spoiler alert, if you were planning to read it or see the recent movie) The plot centers around a kidnapped child, 4 years old, and at the very end you find out that some cops have occasionally kidnapped kids away from abusive parents, to be the children of cops and their wives who want kids but are probably too old to be allowed to adopt. This particular kid's mom is not directly abusive, but is neglectful and a drug addict, and the kid was burned, etc, in her care. So the protagonist tracks down the kid but sees her having a wonderful time with her new 'parents', getting attention and love at last. He has to decide whether or not to report the cop, sending the kid back to the uncaring mother, or let the kid stay with caring but law-breaking parents. It's very clear what the law-abiding thing is to do, but the author brings up the emotional issues in such a way as to make it a very hard decision. Anyway, I thought it was well-done and thought-provoking. It was also a necessary reminder of all the child abuse that there is in this world, both outright abuse and neglect. It wouldn't be correct to say that I enjoy being reminded of the painful realities of life, but that I appreciate the reminders. It puts my worries in perspective and reminds me to see how I can be proactive in helping those who are hurting. For a novel, I think that's time well-spent.

Till next time!

8th graders

Sometimes all I can say is.... ARRGGGH!

grr.

3 more days till winter break.

Thank goodness!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wherever you were, I hope it was lovely. Brad's parents cooked a great turkey, as usual, and I contributed creamed onions (onions, anyone? anyone? ah well, I like 'em :-)

Time to break out the Christmas music!

Tables are turning...

... and it's very strange. My school district's liason for interns and student teachers, whose daughter I had last year, asked me to host a student intern this fall. I agreed, rather reluctantly. And things have been going well, for the most part. Intern X is very pleasant and willing to learn. I don't even have her in my classroom for the whole day, because only 2 of my classes are social studies, so during the language arts classes she goes to see other social studies teachers. She mostly observes, and last week she taught a two-day lesson, after which I gave praise and constructive criticism. Why, then, do I still feel uneasy about all this? I asked myself this question the other day ("Self, why are you uneasy with this situation?") and got the following reply: I am uncomfortable being in a leadership position. This may sound strange from someone whose job it is to lead 70 8th graders each day and keep them from descending into a Lord of the Flies scenario, but I realized that when it comes to peers, I shrink from the role of real leadership. I'd much rather be in the position of a student- asking advice, trying things, getting a pat on the head from those overseeing me. But when it comes to being the teacher (to a peer)- knowing how to encourage, how to give criticism gently yet firmly (since my inclination is to soft-pedal the criticism to the point where it becomes meaningless), how to communicate expectations- I really dislike it. I think this is mostly because there's no one telling me how I'm doing- mentoring me on how to mentor, in effect.
Chalk another one up to "things I discover about myself that I didn't even realize were there". Hopefully now that I realize the issue behind the discomfort, I can face it better.

thoughts...

Sorry that my promise of 'pictures to follow shortly' turned into 'I will take forever to update my blog'. Here they are- some pictures of our Jennie Lakes hike last month- see below. It's hard to believe it's only been a month- seems a lot longer than that. October has worked me over this year, with some difficult lessons and some busy times. More on that later- I'm still working through some things and not ready to put it in written words yet. In the meantime, I leave you with some Halloween pictures to enjoy!

Halloween, around 1989 :-)

Halloween 2007. Party theme- recreate a childhood costume. How did we do? :-)