A singular focus -or- What it feels like to go back to teaching

The magical red bucket.

It all started with a red bucket. The very one pictured above.

That's the bucket I took with me to an interview for a teaching job in June last year. I was told to be prepared to present a lesson that I had developed, taught and assessed. I wracked my brain for the most memorable lesson I had used as an English teacher. I even gathered up photos of my old classroom with students reading and interacting and even some samples of old student work. I walked in to that interview confident with that red bucket tucked under my arm!

I got the job.  The boys and I took off for Alaska within weeks of the good news to join Aquaman who was already fishing.

I began reading what my future students had been assigned for the summer. Here's proof - me with the book on board a seiner with Aquaman.

Damn boring, if you want to know the truth.

That was pretty much the last time I came up for air.

In July, I went to a teaching conference. In August, I began planning lessons. I walked into a classroom that looked like this:

And turned it into this:

Yes, the door involves Hello Kitty. 

And a Hello Kitty calendar. I may have a problem.

The lesson I had in that red bucket at my interview is what started off the year.

Since then, I've been buried in literature and professional development and benchmarks. Learning an entirely new pedagogy. Memorizing 150 student names and getting to know them. Grading 150 student essays. Then 150 more student essays. Then hundreds more poems. Uploading and emailing and calling parents. Twelve hour days were standard. If I got in and out under 10 hours, I felt giddy.

At times, delightful reading.
At other times, mind numbing.

There has been no time for my own writing. I've been writing curriculum. I've been writing poetry and essays to use as exemplar models for my students. No personal essays. No blogging.

It is all consuming.

Did I mention the reading? Besides curriculum guides and lesson plans and articles about teaching literature, I also read (or re-read) whatever novels I had to teach. Here's what was on deck this fall:

7th grade:
1) The Giver by Lois Lowry
2) The Maze Runner by James Dashner
3) The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
4) The Pearl by John Steinbeck

8th grade:
1) Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
2) The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
3) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
4) When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
5) Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

For the student book club that I sponsor:
1) Doll Bones by Holly Black
2) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
3) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
4) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
5) The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Additional Research and Reading:
1) In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning by Nancie Atwell
2) The Essential Criticism of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men edited by Michael J. Meyer
3) Classics in the Classroom by Carol Jago
4) With Rigor For All: Teaching the Classics to Contemporary Students by Carol Jago
5) Papers Papers Papers: An English Teacher's Survival Guide by Carol Jago
6) Naming the World: A Year of Poems and Lessons by Nancie Atwell
7) Lessons that Change Writers by Nancie Atwell

I'm sure there's more reading that I've forgotten I did.

Did I mention the bulletin boards? That's my favorite part!

Students add quotes from books - a sort of recommendation wall. 

Such a great quote.

August/September. You can't go wrong with Whitman.

October-scary stuff!

November-books teachers are thankful for.

One of my all time favorite books.

Here's why.

December. What'd you expect? I mean really.

I also celebrated a birthday in there, went on a field trip with 100 8th graders, chaperoned a dance, and gave in to student requests to be the faculty sponsor for a student-led book club.

She who wears the crown must be obeyed. Right?

This was the bus ride there.
Notice there isn't one on the way back. 

Did you know you text requests to the DJ now? Fancy!

I have made myself take a break these last two weeks. That means that I only read two books that were related to school and only emailed a handful of times to confirm my new teaching schedule for the spring that will involve a new syllabus, eleven more novels that I must pick for 30+ additional students I will have, and to welcome a new teacher that I will collaborate with.

You know the most surprising part of all?

I am loving being back in the classroom. I missed it. I was gone from it for three years.

Kids can be real bad. Real, read bad. But they can also be real sweet. Real, real sweet. They give you things. Things they think you'll like. So if they see one Hello Kitty item on your desk, get ready. For things like this:

First gift from a student this year. And it was from a boy!
Boys secretly love Hello Kitty.

Did you know there was Hello Kitty canvas art?

Hello Kitty as an Elf. No better combination.

And they'll make you things. Like this:

Just because. 

Our Of Mice and Men book cover - student rendition.

Favorite student quote from The Outsiders.

And they'll do annoying things like take a selfie of you and themselves with your phone while you're busy with another student.

And you'll marvel at how they can be so frustrating and so smart and so clueless and so wonderful all at the same time.

I think they might actually be learning something with me. So I'll just keep swimming - trying to keep my head above water. Maybe I'll eventually be able to do more than tread water. Maybe I'll learn a few new strokes and be able to look around at the shore by the time June rolls around again.

But until then? You won't be hearing much from me. Which was really the whole point to this post - to let you know why I'm M.I.A. on this here blog. It's for something I care a lot about. And it's all part of a big plan Aquaman and I hatched many years ago so that I would have the summers off with the boys and we could all go to Alaska and join him while he fished for the summer. It might actually be happening, that plan. Fingers crossed.

Free at Last!

I declare this home a boy free zone for the next few days and boy (ha!) am I looking forward to it!

Aquaman just departed in his truck packed to the gills (I am soooo funny!) with fishing, snorkeling and diving gear headed for our old hamlet, Port Aransas.  But that's not the best part.  The best part is that HE TOOK THE REDHEAD, THING 1 AND THING 2 WITH HIM!  (Those all caps mean I'm yelling!  Shouting from the rooftops!)

Yep, I am alone with Yellow Dog.  Just us girls.

I cannot begin to explain the relief that this provides.  Can you feel my giddiness?

So what's the first thing that I did?  I washed the stacks of dishes that were piled in the two sinks, on the table, and all over the kitchen counters.  And I lamented the misfortune of having three children who are simply incapable of using just one cup for any length of time.

This is what was left when I could stuff no more into the dishwasher - eight cups.  Amassed over a 24-hour period.  We only have three children.  When I read my friend Sarah's blog about the same topic, I felt better.  But I only let myself catch up on some blog reading after I tackled the laundry.

No, that's not all of it.  Just what's left on the floor.  There's more in the bedrooms - but I made some headway.  Enough to allow myself to get on the computer and write.  Which brings me to the enigma I've found myself facing all summer:  

I'm a writer that writes about my children and family but they take up so much time that I don't have time to write about them but without them I wouldn't have anything to write about.  

Did you get that?  

Really?  Cause I don't even understand it.  That's why I said it was an enigma.  

This has been a problem all summer.  "School's out for summer!" is the anthem we gleefully cheer in late spring.  But what it really means is that the three musketeers are with me 24/7.  And Aquaman has some much deserved time off.  So all my lovelies are here.  With me.  And it drives me crazy after a while.  

The crazy driving makes for good material.  So I jot things down on post-its and the backs of grocery receipts and in my little Moleskine notebook that I carry in my purse.  But I don't have time to really write about it.  And post it to this blog.  Or polish it and submit it to essay contests and literary journals.  Because I'm busy cooking and cleaning and planning fun day trips and swimming with them and visiting people and driving them to camp and vacation bible school and organizing their rooms.  And working a full-time job from home.  

So what goes?  The writing.  And the reading.  And that really drives me nuts.  I start to become a not-so-nice-momma when I go without reading and writing for any length of time.  And when I feel guilty for sneaking those things in because some voice tells me I really should be watching a movie with my husband or reading to my children before bed (yes, we still do that), or walking the dog - that's when I begin to get resentful.  Resentful is not healthy.  I know this.  

Which is precisely why I am so grateful that they're all gone.  They are on their way to the coast to frolic in the sun and surf and see old friends.  

And me?  Well, I plan on doing a lot of this:

    

And these two library books are waiting for me:  

I also have aspirations of getting myself to the nearby outlet mall, unencumbered by menfolk, to leisurely browse the aisles of any damn store I feel like without having to answer questions like, "What are you looking for, again?" and "How much longer?"  If you think that's delusional, I also have plans to buy some fabric and make some cafe curtains for the bathroom based on something I saw on Pinterest.  I will also be content to eat hot dogs and corn dogs and other processed meats while Aquaman is not around to see it and make me feel abnormal about my tube steak addiction.  And I will go and buy some expensive chocolate and eat it.  All.  By.  Myself.      

These things will make me happy.  I will be content.  And if enough time passes with me feeling this way, I will insanely begin to wish those bundles of testosterone were home.  So they could drive me crazy.  So I could write about it.  

But not yet.  Not yet.            

A "Stand" for Reading

Yesterday, as part of World Book Night, I handed out 20 copies of "The Stand" by Stephen King.  It's one of my favorite books.  I have great memories of reading it aloud - yes, all 1000+ pages - to my future husband as we completed our graduate research in Venezuela.  We hung from hammocks during the heat of the day, arms and legs lazily swaying, when little else could be done and entered the world that King created.

So I was the perfect person to present this book to people who maybe didn't consider themselves big readers.  Who might be kinda intimidated by the sheer size of the book.  It's big, no doubt about it.  When I attended the reception last week to pick up my box of books at A Real Bookstore, my box was bigger than everyone else's.  By a lot.  And heavier.  I made one of my strapping young sons carry it to the car.

I anticipated having to convince people to take the book, or having people reject my offer because they didn't believe anything to actually be free.  My experience was quite the opposite.

I hauled the box to the back of my car in the morning before I tackled a long list of errands.  First on my list was getting the air conditioning on my car checked.  It took about an hour and, during that time, I worked up the nerve to ask the guy behind the desk if he was a reader while I was paying.  "No, not really," he admitted.  "Mostly just magazines and stuff."

"Well," I said.  "Tonight is World Book Night and I'm a Book Giver and I have 20 copies of one of my favorite books.  Would you want one?"

He paused.

"It's Stephen King," I added.

"Oh!  Well, sure.  I'll take one.  I've been wanting to read more," he admitted.

"Great!"  And I raced out to the car to get not one, but two copies.

"Don't be scared by how long it is," I told him as I came back inside.  "It's really, really good."

He laughed as he accepted the copy I handed him.

"Is there anyone else here that you think might want one?" I asked him.  At that moment, another employee emerged from behind the counter.

"Let's both read it," the one said to the other.

I smiled.  "I hope you like it as much as I did," I said as I walked back outside to my car.

Stopping by the bank, I momentarily confused the manager who wanted to know how he could help me.  "By taking one of these books," I explained.  "You guys were so nice to us when we opened our account, I thought of you when I had these books to give out."

His face was flushed.  "That is so nice of you!"  His coworker listened from a nearby desk.  "Can I have one, too?" he asked.  I happily passed out three more copies before making my way to the unemployment office in the same strip mall.  This was the place that I said I would go when I applied to be a book giver.  Recently unemployed a few months back, I was thinking about how much more time I had to read when I didn't have a job.  And how everyone's in the same situation when they lose a job.  I wasn't sure how it would be received, but I was going to stand by what I said I'd do.

I approached the office receptionist who asked, "How may I help you?"

"You guys help people all day long," I began.  "So I wanted to stop by here today because I'm giving away free copies of one of my favorite books, Stephen King's 'The Stand' for World Book Night.  It's just to encourage people to read.  Would you like a copy?"

She took the book I handed her.  "Sure!  I've been trying to find something for my teenage daughter to read - I want her to read more.  Would this be good?"  I told her my 13-year-old had just started it and loved it, that it was about good and evil, and that I thought any teenager would love it.  At that moment, a couple who had been filling out paperwork approached the desk and I offered them copies as well.  They were thrilled.  I continued to make my way around the room, quietly handing out copies of the book and explaining the purpose of World Book Night to folks as they sat at computers, job searching.  That can be a pretty discouraging process, so I like to think I brightened it up just a little bit.

This is how my day went.  It was like passing out candy or Christmas cookies.  I grinned at the grocery store when two young men who bag groceries all day gladly took copies and began arguing about who could finish it faster.   The girl at the cash register when I paid for my lunch acted like it was the best tip she'd gotten all week.

It was a great day.  I got to share a book I love with absolute strangers.  I like to think that they're all folding back the cover now, beginning that journey that begins every time we open a new book - a journey that is full of possibilities and worlds we might never imagine on our own.  And I helped that happen.

The authors and publishers who agreed to be part of World Book Night are an amazing group who truly appreciate the power of reading.  The 30 books that were selected to be given away this year are listed here.  I've read quite a few, but I'm going to work my way down the list until I've read them all.

 

Aquaman returns

Henceforth in this blog I will refer to Husband as "Aquaman".  It is more appropriate than simply "Husband" after all, given that he is a marine biologist and loves all things ocean.

Aquaman has been gone on a 10 day trip offshore, taking data for NOAA that will be used in fisheries management.  I love NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  They are the ones that warn us of bad weather, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis...you name it.  If it's bad, NOAA's on it.  As if the atmosphere weren't enough, there's also the ocean to contend with.  Yep, they do that, too.  But most of all, I love this government agency because it is the perfect niche for Aquaman.  He doesn't have to wear a tie to work.  He doesn't have to sit behind a desk in an office.  He is out on the water doing what he loves to do.

So Aquaman spends a lot of time on boats.  When he's gone, I miss him.  This trip was probably the perfect length, not like the 56-day one he had a few months back.  That one was hard (I wrote about it here).  This one was do-able.  And I think I've come to believe that absence really does make the heart grow fonder.  I've even been reading about it in this book, Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel.  She makes a good argument that distance is necessary in a marriage and our culture's equality, togetherness and honesty may not always be good things for (ahem) the bedroom.  I think she's on to something.  But what do I know?  I'm also reading 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James.  I knew nothing about this book when my book club selected it.  It's getting a lot of, shall we say, *heated* discussion (read one review here).  Wow.  That's all I've got to say about it.  Wow.

And I'm real glad Aquaman's coming home.              

A loud reader...

I am a firm believer in reading aloud.  Not just to babies and toddlers and elementary-aged children, but from cradle to grave.

I have great memories of piling into my parents' bed with my sisters, cuddling up between my parents, and listening to my dad read aloud from Journeys Through Bookland by Charles H. Sylvester.  He read really fast.  You had to pay attention, or you'd be lost.

My mom read aloud to us, too.  The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken had me leaning forward with anticipation as my mother's voice floated over my bed.  I remember crying as she read aloud from The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom - my first exposure to the Holocaust.  

It is probably no surprise that I carry on this tradition with my own boys and Husband.  As graduate students in Venezuela for a year, sleeping in hammocks and studying the monkeys and the fish from an island, we read Stephen King's The Langoliers out loud (from his Four Past Midnight collection) and Husband (then Boyfriend) was hooked.  Then we tackled The Stand.  Yes.  All 800 plus glorious pages of The Stand.  Did I mention there was no electricity out there on the island?  No TV?  There was no better way to spend the hot hours of siesta than to read aloud.  Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire came next, then Dean Koontz's Twilight Eyes.  It wasn't our choice to focus on horror, those were simply the paperbacks left laying around the apartment reserved for graduate students.  So we devoured them.  And they were good.

As a middle school and high school teacher, I read aloud to my students.  There are lots of English teachers out there, bolstered by research, that believe that hearing a work read aloud, and read aloud well, helps students to become better readers themselves.  So I would start the year by reading Dark Water Rising by Marian Hale aloud to my 7th graders.  This great author of historical fiction for young adults chronicles the 1900 Galveston Hurricane.  The beginning of school every year coincided with hurricane season, which gave this first read aloud a sense of urgency where I taught on the Texas coast.  They loved it.  It sometimes took a while for them to relax and enjoy being read to, but they were surprisingly well behaved.  They were allowed to sit on the classroom carpet and just listen.  And gradually, some of the most reluctant readers would race into class on Fridays (reserved for Read Alouds) and exclaim, "I can't wait to hear what happens!  We stopped at the best part last week!" And the inevitable follow up questions, "What other books has this author written?" and "Do we have them here in the library?"  Success.  

After seeing how effective reading aloud was with my middle schoolers, I didn't see any reason not to try it with my more world-weary 11th graders in U.S. History.  We read Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin  when studying the Civil Rights Movement and Jim Crow laws.  It was always quiet on Read Aloud days.  Some of them fell asleep - of course they did.  But some of them got to experience a book that they otherwise never would have read.  And they didn't have to struggle to do it.  It was an enjoyable experience.  And isn't that what reading is supposed to be?

When it was first announced that C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia would be adapted for the big screen, I made sure I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to my three boys before we saw the movie.  These books were made to be read aloud.  When the characters began to appear on screen, Hayden leaned towards me and said, "That's Lucy!" as soon as he saw the redhead appear.  Satisfying.

The boys and Husband and I have made our way speedily through The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.  We're waiting for Husband to return home to move on to the last book in the trilogy, Mockingjay.  And we cannot wait to go and see the movie based on the first book.  I showed the boys the official trailer that was released on Youtube.  And do you know what their reaction was?  "That's not what Katniss looks like!" and "She's supposed to be younger!" and "That can't be District 12's fence!"  So many images in their minds did not match up to what they were seeing on the screen.  But I also heard, "They got the train right, though." and "That must be Cinna!"  We're excited, can't you tell?  

As we wait for Husband to return (52 days at sea and counting...), we've turned to a book I discovered when I participated in the Association of Texas Professional Educators Book of the Month Club.

I cannot say enough good things about The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong (check out the book's website).  It's on the 2009 Texas Lone Star Reading List.  My 7th grade classroom served as the Guest Readers for this amazing book, reading it and creating discussion questions.  (You can see a pic of some of my former students with the book here.)

I'm now questioning the wisdom of reading a shipwreck story while Husband is out there on a shrimp boat, but it is just so good.  Some parts get me so emotional that I choke up while reading.  The boys completely identify with the main characters in the story:  three brothers that have a hard time getting along.  We're almost done with it.  And Ms. Herlong?  If you're reading this?  Your book rocks and should totally be made into a movie.    

I'll continue reading aloud to my children, Husband and students.  Hell, I'll read aloud to anyone who will listen.  It calms me.  I enjoy it.  And the listeners seem to as well.  This is our family's bedtime ritual.  It has always been - we've just graduated from picture books to chapter books.  I highly recommend it.

As long as I'm making recommendations, here's a list:


Top 10 Middle Grade Books to Read Aloud

1.  Dark Water Rising by Marian Hale
2.  The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong
3.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4.  Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
5.  Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
6.  The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
7.  The Giver by Lois Lowry
8.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
9.  The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
10. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

    

Brrrrrr....it's cold!

I'm not leaving the house today.  Uh uh.  No way.  It is too cold out there.  

I am hunkering down in my flannel PJs and continuing to plow through Stephen King's 11/22/63.  Page 342.

As I put lotion on my dry and cracked hands and return the bottle to my bedside table, I realize that my bedside table now looks like every memory I have of my mother's bedside table.  

Kleenex.  Absolutely essential.  

Lotion.  This is new for me.  My skin is feeling its age this winter.  

My current book.  That one's on top.  On top of a pile of other books and magazines.    

Alarm.  To get the kids up and out the door on time for school.  

Cell phone.  

Coffee.  Absolutely.  In my "Writer's Almanac" mug.  If you don't know about "The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor", you should check it out.  

Remote control.  My new favorite morning show?  CBS This Morning.  I have defected from the fluff of the TODAY show because of Charlie Rose.  I.  Love.  Charlie.  Rose.  

Lamp to read by.  

The rest is just clutter that needs to be cleared off.  I might tackle that today, now that I've pointed it out.  

Bailey is on board with the whole stay home today thing, I think.