Tree update

If you didn't read the previous entry, you might want to do that before you read this one. It would make more sense if you did.

The Me who wants the tree decorated and the Me who would rather not deal with it had another brief discussion this morning.

It was about the tree, and decorating it. It seems that the conclusion drawn yesterday morning was a bit premature.

I mentioned I had picked up a bug earlier this week? Well, I didn't think I was getting better over time, and my intuition led me to call and make a doctor's appointment. She suspected viral pneumonia, sent me for chest x-rays, then prescribed something to help make the coughing more productive.

I was feeling very tired by the time I got to the doctor's office, and fell into bed when I reached home again.

Mwwrndwi: There, are you satisfied? Now you don't even feel like putting up the tree because you are sick.

Mwwttd: Yeah, but Steven is coming for dinner...

Mwwrndwi: And do you think he should come when you are sick? You want him to get sick too? You better call him and cancel for tonight. You know it's the thing to do.

Mwwttd: .... yeah...(cough! cough!) I guess you're right. It wouldn't be fair to ask him to come over and risk getting sick too.

Mwwrndwi: (with mock sympathy) Hey, look at the bright side... you won't have as much work to do after Christmas. You might even start a new tradition, no tree for Christmas. Hey! What a great idea...

Mwwttd:... (cough/wheeze) don't push your luck, Mwwrndwi. I'm not thrilled about the idea of not decorating the tree. I'm only agreeing because it's so late already. Besides, it's not like you won this argument... it's more like I got sick.

Mwwrndwi: (with sincerity) I know, Mwwttd, I know... so sorry. I know how much you enjoy the Christmas preparations and all. Look, it's okay... in a few days it will be past, and you will have an entire week to relax. (eyes brighten) Oh, yeah, don't forget, you want to drive to Chapel Hill to meet Sheria, don't you?

Mwwttd: Oh yeah, that's right! I'm looking forward to that. Okay, I'm sick now (cough!), but I have medications to take, and fluids to drink, and rest to get. Doctor's orders. Maybe that's the only way I'll take it easy. Looks like we both get what we want this time, Mwwrndwi.

The two selves link arms and meld into one divinely whole being who is coughing, but glad to be able to rest at home without worrying about writing lesson plans for a substitute teacher.

It's a good thing I hadn't planned on doing anything else over the holidays.

 

                                               

 

                                                     graphic by xxroxymamaxx

 

Today is the day! ... I think.

                                                     

I think today will be the day the decorations go up!

Yes, today I will get my tree decorated! I am so thrilled... there for awhile I even entertained the thought of not decorating the bare 7 foot artificial tree standing in front of our living room window these past seven days... it seemed even a practical thought as I rationalized between the me who wants the tree decorated and the me who would rather not deal with it.

Yesterday, the conversation went something like this:

Me who would rather not deal with it (Mwwrndwi): You know, Bea, it's only four days til Christmas. Why bother with the tree? You will take it down the day after Christmas... hardly enough time to make it worth your while.

Me who wants the tree decorated (Mwwttd): True, only four days, but Steven will be coming home for Christmas. He loves having the tree up. And where would we put our Christmas gifts? On the floor? On the hearth of the fireplace?

Mwwrndwi: Yes, Steven does like the tree, but he will understand. Especially now that you are sick with some kind of bug that you picked up just a few days ago ... yeah, bad timing, I know, but what's more important now? Getting rest and putting stressful trivial matters to the side, or wearing yourself out once more during your days off this winter break? Need I remind you that you do not get two weeks off this year?... the winter break lasts only 11 days.

Mwwttd: Please don't spoil it all by reminding me about time. I can rest during the week after Christmas. It takes only a couple of hours at the most to put away all of our decorations. And Steve will gladly help with that chore.

Mwwrndwi: Okay, time off aside, let's be practical, then. It would have made more sense to put the tree up last weekend...

Mwwttd: (interrupting, and annoyed): And you know very well last weekend was filled with getting my shopping done, church activities, and preparing school lessons for the upcoming week. Don't even go there.

Mwwrndwi: Okay, okay! I'm just saying that since you didn't have time last weekend, and since you and Steve were really too tired all week after work to bother with it, why even give it a bother now? Only four days til Christmas. You don't have any small children coming over. At least that would be a good reason to put it up. You didn't put up a tree until after your son was born... don't you remember those first three years you had Christmas without a tree?

Mwwttd: I do, and I'm telling you that was one tradition I can remember doing with my family when I was a kid. My parents (and probably my mom) always put the tree up for us kids. And in memory of all those Christmases, and of all those we've shared with our son for the past 27 years, why would I want to stop the tradition now?

Mwwrndwi: You wouldn't exactly be stopping the tradition. You have a small tree you could put up instead... sure, it wouldn't look the same, but it's the thought that counts. All the important Christian symbols you like to hang on the tree could hang on a smaller version. You know you've been considering not putting up a tree before. Admit it. It's a lot of work. And then you got to take it all down.

Mwwttd (softly sighing): Yes, it's true, I have thought about not putting up a tree. Would be nice not to have to worry about getting all those decorations out of the attic, and then putting everything on the tree, then taking them all down and packing it all up within a 2-3 week span. It isn't a practical thing at all when one's time is already given over to so many other important ventures like making or shopping for gifts, writing and sending cards, and cooking and baking for friends and family visits. I love doing all of those things. But setting up and decorating the tree has fallen to the bottom of the list of what's important.

Mwwrndwi: Yeah, I've noticed that. Have you considered one of those prelighted trees? They look nice.

Mwwttd: I have, but I haven't seen one with all the lights I'd like to see on one. They seem to skimp on the lights. If I do see one, though, I will surely consider buying one of those. But only if they can be dismantled because I have no place to keep a tree that has to remain standing whole all year long.

Mwwrndwi: So what are you going to do? I don't want to decorate the tree. It will take only 30 minutes to dismantle the tree and put it away in the attic. You could do that today.

Mwwttd: (eyes light up) Steven is coming over tonight for dinner. I will cook a special family dinner, and he will help me decorate the tree... most importantly, he will help me put the lights on... even better, Steven and Steve could put the lights on.

(with resolve) I am going to put the tree up this year, and we can talk about how we feel about not having a tree up next year over dinner, and the possibility of buying a tree already lit. I'll find out how Steven feels about coming home to a treeless Christmas Eve and morning.

Mwwrndwi: So, yet again you are going to do something to please someone else. Sometimes you are such a wimp.

Mwwttd: No need to start the name calling, Mwwrndwi. It's about family tradition. Some traditions will eventually be passed down to my son... and when he starts putting up a tree in his home, and if there are no grandchildren, then I might think, no tree needed here. But if there are grandchildren you can best believe that this grandma will joyfully put that tree up until her legs won't support her and her arms won't reach.

This discussion is over, Mwwrndwi. The tree is going up because it is our family tradition!

(Mwwttd turns and walks away singing "O Come Let Us Adore Him", and Mwwrndwi nods her head as she watches Mwwttd walk away. She smiles curiously, then shrugs her shoulders, and disappears.)

What teachers work for

He struggled for weeks just trying to associate the sounds with the letters. He couldn't understand why he was so good at math but when it came to reading, no one stumbled on the simplest of words like he did. He felt stupid every time he missed a sound. But he wouldn't give up, no he wouldn't give up.

His teacher wouldn't give up on him either, and for that he was grateful. He didn't know how to tell her how much he appreciated her doggedness and determination to help him read. She told him he was smart, and he wanted to believe her, but there again were those words... and he knew f-a-t read fat, and he knew s-a-t read sat, and m-a-t read mat, but when she showed him m-a-d, he wanted to say mat, but he knew it wasn't mat, and it wasn't sat.

It was so frustrating. Day after day, while the other kids read four and five letter words, and read long sentences, and even entire pages in books, he still could not distinguish h-i-t from h-a-t. But he tried, and he tried, and each day, another letter/sound became etched on his brain, and he was able to identify the starting letters/sounds of words.

He gained confidence in his copying skills... man, could he copy a sentence accurately, and beautifully. His handwriting was better than any of the others in the class... and he knew it. It made him feel better to know that his printing was so perfect, and the letters and words spaced just so. The teacher often looked in awe at his handwriting. If only he could read what he was writing. Sometimes he'd memorize his sentences so he could act like he was reading them, but he knew. He knew he couldn't read them.

More than three months passed before the light flickered on in his mind. Three months of daily reading words with three sounds, fourteen weeks of trying to recognize the first sounds of words and not mix them up with the last sounds of words. Nearly a hundred days of forming words with short vowels, and he found he was getting stronger somehow. It started making sense to him.

And one day, one day this week in fact, this first grader read a page of words... words with three sounds, and he put the sounds together with a little effort, notthe struggling kind of effort he started out with in September, but the easy hesitation that comes with some familiarity and a little uncertainty ... he read fifteen words with the short vowel a, and didn't miss a one.

He was so excited (as was his teacher, you can imagine) that he asked to read another page of words, with the short vowel i, and though she generally did not word chart more than one page in one day, she made an allowance for him. He read them all without missing a one. Still filled with exuberance, he asked to read another page of fifteen words, and he did so, making only one error.

There was a feeling of celebration this morning when this happened in my classroom. I could only reach across his desk and kiss the top of his little boy head I was that happy. His grin was wider than the span of his arms, let me tell you. Three other students in the classroom, who have been watching his efforts to read while they've been working on improving their own deficits in math and reading, were happy with him, and gave him high fives. Nothing could have been a sweeter or a more satisfying response than what I witnessed this morning.

I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit like Miss Annie when Helen Keller finally understood the signs Annie had been drawing in her hands.

Moments like these are what teachers work for.  Perhaps even live for.

Amen and amen.

                                                                                    

 

                                                                              Dancing Panda by Shelly

Congratulations, Caroline!

You may remember Caroline of A New Adventure. She had been studying to get a degree that would qualify and certify her for teaching in our American Schools.

                           Well, she passed all the exams!

But don't take my word for it. Drop by her journal linked above and read the good news from her perspective. She has been happy dancing all day.

Be sure to leave her a comment. I am so proud of her!

                                             

The Undecorated Tree

                                    

The season is upon us, and my tree sits undecorated in the living room. It needs lights, and the lights are the hardest part of tree decorating... for me. I wouldn't mind putting them up so much if I had cheerful help, but my other half does not like putting up the lights... or the tree for that matter.

For us, putting up the lights on the tree is very much like hanging wallpaper. We did that for the first time in our newly built home about twenty-five years ago, and came perilously close to divorce. I kid you not. Hanging wallpaper with your spouse is not encouraged, unless rules about who decides what is established well in advance. Much like playing a game. You must know the rules, and you must agree to follow them.

I didn't explain my rules to him, and he didn't quite explain his either, so with two separate rules to follow, we attempted to wallpaper our bathroom. I had my ideas about how to hang the paper, he had his. I had my thoughts about how to line up the edges of paper, he had his. I thought we should remove the floor trim along the wall, he thought he could do it neat enough without removing it. We both were at our wits end by the time the job was finished, and neither of us were happy with the results. Twenty five years ago.

We both agreed, happily, that all future wallpaperings would be done by a professional. That has been the one rule about hanging wallpaper that we both agreed upon and have adhered to over the years. I've been much happier paying someone else to do the job, and not having to deal with the disagreements caused by hanging wallpaper.

Hanging tree lights is rather like that for us. I have established my rules, and he has his rules. I like to take my time as I hang them, play some Christmasy music, make sure the strands are distributed evenly around the tree. I like using blue and white lights, or all blue, or all white. I like the little miniature lights. He likes to get them up asfast as he can and get it over with, he doesn't care about colors used, and prefers multi-colors. He doesn't like to put as many strands of lights on the tree as I do. In the past, we have gotten through the light-hanging mostly in a disgruntled mood, and that is not how I want to feel during tree decoration.

I'd do it alone if I could, but that is very difficult. My son used to help me when he was home. If I could just have a pair of happy hands to hold the lights as I hung them on the tree. Or I'd be the happy hands holding the lights while another arranged them on the tree without getting angry or frustrated.

So, our tree sits in the living room waiting for someone to decorate it.

I couldn't tackle it this weekend due to a horrendous headache that forced me to bed early each evening. Even now it threatens to disable me if I don't go to bed soon. It won't keep me from school, however ... I can endure all sorts of evil discomforts and still teach. Somehow, I can perform satisfactorily in the classroom when threatened with the option of getting a substitute, and having to write plans for her to follow. It requires more work on my part to prepare for a sub, and to find a sub, than it does for me to pretend I'm not ill and do it myself. This is not a comment against subs, but it's twice as difficult and takes three times longer to plan for someone else to teach my kids than for me to plan to do it myself. And when you are ill to begin with, you don't feel like planning for someone else to step in and take over.

I'm off to bed to see if I can get rid of the headache.

One day this week, I will get the tree decorated. <grin>

Thank you Donna for the graphic above ... I love it!

 

Family photos and author's purpose

Friday evening

My camera batteries, the rechargeable ones, finally lost their rechargeability. I haven't taken pictures in over two weeks. I keep forgetting to buy the batteries when I'm out shopping, but with the Christmas Season coming on, and the opportunities to take great pictures of family and friends numerous, I must buy those batteries this weekend.

Came home from school today and there was the Christmas tree... just the tree... our man-made one.... standing up in the living room! My husband had today off, and had set it up for me... it's a seven footer, which isn't tall by some tree standards, but it's not a piece of cake to assemble. However, the lights are next on the tree agenda, and I'm not relaxed enough to do them tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

I want to include a family Christmas photo this year in my journal. I'd love to see journalers with their families, sometime during the following weeks, on up through New Year's.

I know some of us are quicker to put pictures in our journals than others, but I was wondering, whether you read my journal or you are a new visitor, would you take a family photo and put it in your journal, then come back and leave a link? Or if you are not comfortable with that, because it is the internet afterall, maybe you wouldn't mind sending me an email with your family photo?

Please take a new picture this year.... nothing old from last year! I'm going to try to get a photo of my family, but it may be difficult to get everyone's permission to post it here. I won't be able to post a big family photo until after Christmas day, however, because that is the day we all get together.

I read about you all nearly every day, and you tell stories about the family, with names sometimes, but often times without names. Still, I do relate your screen names with your journals, and your journals with a general theme. Sometimes I imagine your family, your home... not for any predatory intention, of course !... but it's the way I read a book. It's the way I get involved with the characters of a story.

All of our journals have characters, settings, themes, even plots and subplots. Without even realizing I'm doing it, whenever I read something, I find myself making predictions. If I'm not making predictions, I'm making generalizations, drawing conclusions, and making inferences.

I can't help myself... I'm a teacher, and I teach reading comprehension skills to three different grade levels. I am generally aware of these concepts as I read most anything. At the back of my mind, I'm looking for examples I can use in the classroom... no, I don't use your journals or mine as a teaching tool. <grin> It just wouldn't be ethical.

Besides, there are plenty of other examples to use all around me: newspapers, magazines, junk mail, school announcements, invitations, posters, etc., and the thousands of books in the school itself.

Today, I taught author's purpose. The third grade students had to sort several fiction and non-fiction descriptions of written materials into two groups: to inform and to entertain. They were given cards with the description of a text, such as recipes, a book of riddles, a newspaper article about the president, a book of fables, and so on. They seemed to be sure of the texts that were written to inform, but there were a few that were clearly (to me) written to entertain that seemed to confound them. A book of riddles and a book of myths and legends slowed them down a bit. They weren't sure about myths, and only slightly familiar with legends. After I described a few myths and legends, they correctly identified the author's purpose: to entertain.

It seems that my journal has two purposes: to entertain and to inform. It's somewhat biographical, with a few amusing stories now and then, and some informative entries with links and facts .... as my interests and the calling of my profession guide me, and my energy level allows!

What would you say is the purpose of your journal? To entertain, inform, or persuade?

 

Tags: author's purpose,

Make a difference in somebody's life. Today.

Maybe you have read this story before, but have you seen it and heard it like this?

Liz (Bethjunebug) sent it to me in the email. Maybe she sent it to you, too. Thank you, Liz!

Whether you are a teacher or not, and in many ways we are all teachers in the world we live in, this story will touch you like it never touched you before. I've read this story several times over the years since I first became a public school teacher, but this time it takes on new meaning. Whether you are a first year teacher, a seven year teacher like myself, or a veteran of twenty years, this movie will either make you cry, or you will cover your mouth so you won't cry too loud while your family goes about their business in another room.

If you have about two minutes, click here at The Teacher Movie by Mary Robinson Reynolds.

If you don't have two minutes, come back when you do. You will be glad you did.

Tags: teachermovie.com/