Saying Goodbye

 Inspired by the poem by Joyce Sutphens called "The Last Things I'll Remember."

Sharing a meal of enchiladas, tacos, and arepas.

Appreciating the decor and the local lager beer.

How hard it was getting to find things to talk about, 

which was never a problem before.

How uncertain the future is.

The drive down.

The drive back.

Hugging goodbye in a parking lot.

"Love ya, girl" with a blown kiss.

Trying to pretend my heart isn't breaking.

Our last adventure to St. Pete and the Dali Museum. Amy & I, March 2022

Word Play

 This year I want to be more focused on WORDS -- vocabulary, roots, prefixes, suffixes, commonly confused words, and of course, parts of speech that elude so many of my learners.

Much to my surprise, without any prompting from me, my learners have taken on wordle type games. We are using a website called WordPlay that has unlimited wordle style games. It has become the favorite way to end the class periods, especially in the afternoon.

I doubt this would have been as successful if I had tried to impose this on them. As it is, they have a lot to learn about figuring out the puzzles. I gently prod them along, but sometimes leave it to them. All in all, most puzzles have been getting solved.

I am grateful for this technology which has made this simple thing possible -- a class builder and a learning opportunity disguised as fun.

Symphony of Learning

 Inspired by a line from James Thomas Stevens' poem "St. James Lake."

Knowing, how our own song

completes the chorus

Ah,

the classroom

a symphony of learning.

I am the conductor,

I suppose,

but so much more 

           because I am learning, too.

Learning how to use ideas

Learning what will work

          to move them forward

Knowing technical stuff,

          but mostly human stuff.

I get to do this.

To hear the music of each class period

How it rises and falls

How it give me life.

Written on 8/29/2022

The Return of Doodle Notes

 Slowly but surely we are recovering from a couple of years of being waylaid by circumstances. Namely the pandemic, and all that came with it.

I have been reading aloud a book called Rhyme Schemer to my learners as a way to help them recognize better techniques for reading fiction. We are using Notice and Note signposts mostly, but the other day I pulled out something I used the year we taught The Bridge Home for the Global Read Aloud (seems like eons ago now!)

Doodle notes are a way for learners to focus on their listening by pulling words and phrases from the text and writing them down or drawing quick sketches. Many respond to this type of approach, and it provided me with some good information. In this case, I included a question for them to answer at the end.

There are so many ways to assess our learners. Doodle notes makes it colorful and practical and fun.