Guided twirling?

Every day we have a 20-minute guided study so students can do homework and see teachers if they have questions. During the 1st and 4th quarters, guided study is at the end of the day so student who are in fall and spring sports and activities won't miss as much class time.

For those who are left, it usually amounts to talk time, 'cause what high school junior (my guided study consists of 17 juniors) wants to study at the end of a long day of school? Tuesdays is silent reading day, and they are to quietly read a book or magazine for the 20 minutes.

Last Tuesday my advisees were talking, and I kept shushing them.

"Get something to read from the shelf and be quiet," I kept telling them in various ways, some of which got a bit snippy.

Until, one girl asked me what my first job was---and I stupidly took the bait and told them: "I gave baton-twirling lessons."

"Really?" they asked.

Well, the next thing you know it, I'm in front of the class teaching two of the girls how to twirl a wooden dowel, showing them my old tricks, as the others look on.

"Uh oh," they said.

In the doorway stood Dr. J, the principal. He looked at us, shook his head, smiled half a smile, shut the door and walked on. Why couldn't he have walked by when I was telling them to be quiet?

No Blarney

My white board collects a lot of stuff throughout the year, besides the invaluable stuff that I carefully post for the good of all students on a regular basis. Last week my white board became adorned with stuff that twenty, or even ten, years ago would never have been possible.

It began when I posted a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, as we are studying transcendentalism. I told students that while watching the local news, I saw Mayor Dave C give his consolation speech after being defeated by Paul Soglin during which he quoted Emerson: "What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us." We talked about what the quote meant and why the loser of an election would use it as he was leaving office.

After we got our work finished, Ramona, an exchange student from Switzerland, translated the quote into German. Next hour, Hyeon wrote it in Koren; then, Mindy in Chinese, Cagla in Turkish, Firas in Arabic, etc., Now, we have Thoreau's quote in eleven languages, not counting the one that Matt tried to pass as Gaelic as he is from Ireland---for upon checking Google translate, I found it to be blarney and erased it.

What a cool place to

a poem

Yesterday, 80-degrees in Wisconsin after a long, long winter sent me into closets and corners of the yard tossing and tidying, and inspiring a poem of sorts.

mornings, spring and being 10

anything is possible then

my hours unspent,

my seeds just sewn,

my life imagined

and nothing to regret, yet

Is that a chunk of moron in your teeth?

Today I attended a writing conference in Madison. In one of the sessions we were advised to observe and even listen in on conversations. So, I did. Not that I had much choice with this one.

A number of us wannabes were sitting around talking and waiting for our turn to pitch our work to the agents, when this guy, Joey, pulls out a container of dental floss, tears off a serving, and starts flossing. Right there in front of us.

And I thought high-schoolers could be uncouth.

If that wasn't gross enough, the lady next to him asked for some, like most people ask for a piece of gum, and there they sat, the two of them contorting their faces and digging that thread into their gums, while the rest of us tried not to look, which, by the way, didn't help because, guess what? They had to have a conversation about it, too:

"Did you know that Dr. Oz says you're supposed to floss four times a day?" says Joey.

"No, I didn't," says Ann.

"Yup, it can cause cancer."

"Wow. I didn't know that. I'm just glad I could get that piece of apple out of my front tooth."

"Yeah. But, nobody would have noticed," Joey says. "It's the same color as your teeth---unless the peel was still on it."

They laugh as they work the food bits outta those back molars.

"Gee, that sure is refreshing," says Ann.

"No kidding. That minty taste is invigorating! I feel so much better."

I'm glad he did. I don't know what they did with the used floss; I looked the other way and another woman got up and walked out.