Two Wicked Happy School Things

#1. For the first time in my schooling career, I had one of my very own students accepted to college!!! It was so exciting. I'm ever so proud. And I was really happy because he told me the whole blow-by-blow account of seeing the letter and opening it, and somehow skipping the "congratulations" part, and shaking as he read through trying to figure out if this letter was a yes or a no:) He was unusually verbose about it, which made my day. He was so obviously happy about it!

#2. One of my students who left to go back to public school just called me, and we talked for almost 45 minutes! THAT was a day-maker! She told me all about her new school, and wanted to hear all the news from mine. She is reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight at her new school, which we read back in the fall! I couldn't believe it! "Miss Murray," she exclaimed. "This teacher got it all wrong! And she isn't even pointing out the deeper meaning!" I exclaimed, "Oh no! What if I got it all wrong!" But then I was happy when she started talking about the deeper meaning part. And she told me that she answered one of the questions the teacher asked, and the teacher was thrilled! She must be such a bright spot in that poor teacher's existence:)

Happy Birthday Longfellow!

Last night Gretchen called me. "Scrap your lesson plans for tomorrow!" she exclaimed. "It's Longfellow's 200th birthday!"

How cool is that?!

So I made a big day of it at school. I did indeed scrap all of my Lit lesson plans, and we had a big Longfellow day. We read poems together, I read poems to them, and I even had one class memorize one stanza each of "Psalm of Life" and then we put it all together. It was so much fun! I also talked about Longfellow's importance in launching American literature onto the world scene. We owe him a debt of gratitude!

And he wrote some masterpieces, boy oh boy. We read "Psalm of Life" of course, and "Excelsior" and then we read some lesser known ones, including "On the Jewish Cemetery in Newport." Can you believe it?! My jaw at least figuratively dropped when I found that one. It made for some great map-drawing episodes on the chalkboard, too, as students tried to describe to other students where it was. As I was trying to describe all the nearby shops and landmarks, one of my students asked "How do you know Newport so well?!" and I felt very gratified:)

One of my students gave such a Rhode Island style set of directions. "Okay, you go by the old Coca Cola building that got torn down..." Oh, great. Thanks. The old building-that's-not-there-anymore landmark. Love it. :)

Anyway, it was a super day. And now, dear readers, you should all go look up a couple of Longfellow poems in honor of that august man and his beautiful work.

Happy Birthday, Longfellow!

Reflections on Driving a Minivan

Saturday I randomly lost power steering in my own car, so today saw me driving out of the driveway in a green minivan.

This was no biggie, really. My main impression as I started was how BIG I felt. As I drove things seemed fine, I just noticed that it took a little more to stop a vehicle that much bigger than my usual one.

But as the day progressed, the differences between driving a van and a car started to become more and more apparent.

First of all, I really don't think anything of it when I blow by some slow driver during my normal commute. But today I felt strange passing people in a minivan. Wouldn't they think it annoying to be blown away by a minivan? I'm always annoyed when a minivan or a semi passes me. Those kind of vehicles are supposed to be driven slowly. Minivan drivers aren't supposed to go 70! They're supposed to be being protective of their 28 children.

That children thing was what really got me, I think. As I pulled into the school I felt like I should be arriving with my 37 children, and unpacking them and their multiple bags, lunches, projects, etc. But instead I just hopped out and went in for another day of teaching. Weird.

On my way home I ran some errands, and was intrigued at how my thought process differed depending on the establishment at which I was shopping. As I came out of Ritz I felt a little embarrassed to be getting into a minivan. I didn't want people thinking I was something I wasn't (i.e. a mom with 43 children). But then, coming out of Morning Star I felt more embarrassed about the fact that I wasn't wearing a wedding ring. Strange, don't you think? I felt like, if I was driving a minivan, and therefore declaring the fact that I had 59 children, I definitely needed to be wearing a ring!

But when all was said and done, I was happy to be driving a car with power steering. Wrestling a car around corners in a parking lot is not a job for the faint of heart (or faint of muscle).

Two Things I Like

I like beautiful and meaningful poetry, like this sonnet by Christina Rossetti:

Lifelong our stumbles, lifelong our regret,
Lifelong our efforts failing and renewed,
While lifelong is our witness, "God is good:"
Who bore with us till now, bears with us yet,
Who still remembers and will not forget,
Who gives us light and warmth and daily food;
And gracious promises half understood,
And glories half unveiled, whereon to set
Our heart of hearts and eyes of our desire;
Uplifting us to longing and to love,
Luring us upward from this world of mire,
Urging us to press on and mount above
Ourselves and all we have had experience of,
Mounting to Him in love's perpetual fire.

And I like shadows on the snow, as depicted in this picture:

Ahh! Slacker!

Sorry for the dearth of posts, people. Shame on me - and on vacation, too! But it's been, um, a working vacation. Definitely. Well... The first two days I didn't get a lot done, and spent most of my time being upset that I wasn't getting a lot done. But then I remembered my Hamlet post, and that God knew what I should do in my day a lot better than I did. So that was okay. Then I got a pretty good amount done Wed and Thurs.

And this morning I got all of my 7/8 papers graded! So that was good. I was thwarted in the 9th grade papers by a phone call, however, and now I'm taking a break for my emotional health.

The phone call was the mother of one of my seniors, letting me know that they did indeed decide to pull her out of the school and send her to public school. Long story. And not unexpected. But still a blow. So I'm taking a blogging break! (The cure-all...)

This is the second of my seniors to leave, alas. My 11/12 class is now just three boys. The two girls are gone. It's going to change the dynamics a LOT. I'm really going to miss those girls. They were the sanguines! But I know it's going to be good with the guys, too. Just different.

Anyway, the phone call was good. This particular mom is one of my favorites, and she said some nice, affirming things. Then my student got on the phone after her mom, and thanked me for teaching and stuff. She said she was going to brag about me to her new English teacher:) What a sweetie. Inside I trembled. What if new English teacher sees through me, and realizes I'm faking it half the time?! What if new English teacher sees my student's papers and sneers at me?! Ah, pshaw. I'm not living in the fear of man! I did what I could - and maybe her papers will be one of the best in the class! I can dream... :)

Anyway, I really believe that God is going to work things out, both for the class left at my school and for the two girls leaving. He has a good plan. And He will get my students to their destination in His own amazing way.

So that's what's been going on with me, lately. That, and I've been having fun w/ my camera, so I will now add some pics to the end of this post as a kind of "my vacation in pictures" ending:)
The Yoot Convention - it was a really great one!
Fun w/ the nephews and their new bunk beds!
Enjoying beautiful New England snow! (I'm wicked into shadows on snow lately...)
Playing Cranium (DJ is building the Berlin Wall, I believe)
Cool aerial shots by Melissa (I really like the ones you took, Meliss!)

Snow Day!

After a few trips to school in miserable weather, I was beginning to think that a snow day would never be mine.

This morning, at 5:30am I found that all three public schools in the vicinity of our school were closed for the day and thought, Surely...! Consequently at about 10 of 6 I was still there poking around, trying to find confirmation that we had been cancelled. I was just about to give up and start getting ready for the day (at 10 of 6 I was going to be excessively late for school, due to all the ice), when the phone rang. It was the headmaster, telling me that school was cancelled. I answered SO cheerfully when I saw that it was him, that he was actually laughing - in a groggy sort of way - when he started to speak. Ya, I was a little excited... and I'd been up for almost an hour already!

So anyway, I DID get a snow day! I'm pretty psyched about it, because that means, shifting today's lesson plans into the rest of the week, I have all of my lesson plans done for the entire week! That leaves today to get ready for next week's vacation (!!!) and the youth convention. YES! It also leaves a lot of time for goofing off, which is what one is supposed to do on a snow day.

Hip hip hurrah for MY school having snow days TOO!

So Much to Show...

I have taken SO many BEAUTIFUL pictures of my students!!! Unfortunately, I don't feel like I should publish them on my blog for all the world to see... Sigh. So they remain here on my computer, stifled, longing to be free.

There is only one remedy: everyone come to the youth convention or the Feast so that I can show them off! Perfect!

Here are two I can show off, because none of my students are in them (they are from my classroom, and have no special significance or beauty, they just happen to be two that I found that didn't have kids... That's how desperate I am to publish pics right now!):.......

Is it Over the Bridge?

I love teaching on an island. I get to cross ocean water every day on the way to school and back! It is so beautiful and powerful: sometimes alluring, sometimes threatening. And how cool is it that I teach on an island (lest you forget my opening point after all that poetry)?!

Anyway, I've started to see little glimpses of the fact that people who live on islands are a little different from us main-landers. For one thing, there's this weird phobia amongst some of them about leaving...

One of my seniors told me that she had to drive her mom to Providence that evening for an appointment, because her mom can't stand doing the drive herself.

Yesterday a fellow teacher needed internet access (which she doesn't have at home) in order to take her on-line exam for a correspondence course. Another teacher offered her the use of her home computer. "Is that over the bridge?" the computer-seeking teacher asked.

The other teachers laughed (most of us commute in from the main land), but the headmaster said, "The bridges are like the borders of the world," or something like that. It was kind of an eye-opening experience. This island really is a world of its own. And you can do pretty much everything there - there's great shopping, good restaurants, entertainment... So why should anyone leave?

It makes me wonder how else the island dwellers' psyches have been shaped by living there. I know things have changed me - things like being a Red Sox fan and growing up on Classical Music and such... How would living on an island make a life-long difference?

Anyway, it was a fascinating thought. And now I think I need to get out of this thinking business, and go start the Donald Duck comic book I found at a second-hand store today (it is HARDCOVER with about 12 different stories in it! Wooooooooo!).

My Friend Clicka

Dear Readers,

It is my pleasure and honor to introduce to you a new friend:




WWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have leaped into the 21st century with the purchase of a digital camera. My motivation was our planned trip to England this summer... One just can't go to England without a 100% reliable camera.

It arrived last night in the mail (after my DEAR cousin Nate found the SWEETEST deal online and snatched it first, asked later:) much to my delight!) and great was the exultation at its arrival.

People. I am in love.

This camera is exquisite! It takes pictures that I can instantly evaluate! I can delete or save at will! I don't have to pay for an entire roll of film to be developed, only to discover that said roll had been on the wrong setting, and every picture is black!

I thought it would take awhile to get my soul around going from film to digital, but folks, my soul is around it. I am at peace.

I brought my camera to school today and took oh-so-many pictures. With the school day and this evening's basketball game I took 66 pictures! Wellll, 66 keepers, anyway. There were also a bunch I deleted. WHAT FUN (right, KJ?)!!!

It has been a mighty long time since I've been bitten by the camera bug. I still have a couple of undeveloped rolls of film lying around, and that NEVER used to happen. But NOW?!?! I'm right back in the saddle again, boy howdy! (Back where a friend is a friend...)

YIPPPEEEEE!!

NATE - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

PS. Here's a picture from last night, while I was trying to figure something out and took an oh-so-unposed picture of myself by accident:)

Full o' Spirit!

Yesterday our school had our first ever pep rally in honor of our first ever basketball team! And boy, was there ever some school pride shown! I was so happy to see my seniors truly excited, and saying that they've never felt this kind of school spirit. It's good for them to have something to rally around like that. They were so happy! And they expressed it with face paint and the loudest cheers ever! (Girl 1: "I had no idea I could yell like that!" Girl 2, thinking of her battered ear: "I had no idea you could either.")

The main inspirant (I'm bent upon getting this word into common usage) for the cheers and screams and yells was the Staff v. Student basketball game! It was the basketball team vs. the headmaster and his wife, the 65 year old Kindergarten teacher, the basketball coach, and me. SUPER FUN! Thankfully I was about one foot taller than most of the team, so I was able to do a lot as the center (!) in terms of rebounding and shooting from a one-foot radius.

And boy oh boy did my kids scream when I touched the ball! It was SO exhilerating. Paul Pierce, I understand now... :) I had actually picked up a Paul Pierce shirt at a yardsale last summer, so I was allllll set. [I bought it for Michael to grow into... until I realized it fit ME.]

The staff ended up losing, but only by two baskets (I think). Yay for us! (We would have been SMOKED if the coach weren't playing... Those little boys sure can run!)

So YAY for School Spirit! I'm all for it.

The Eight Word Testimony

A recurring inspirant used in the testimony section of the Fairwood church service is the statement that people can get as much from the testimonies as they can from the actual sermon. (I just made up the word inspirant, and I think it’s pretty cool.) Today’s church service was a perfect example of that for me.

Uncle Paul was talking about the ups and downs of the Christian life – the emotional/spiritual rollercoaster. He turned to Mr. and Mrs. Noss and asked if, at their point in life (they’re in their 80s-90s) they could testify to that being the way life works: sometimes you’re up and feeling good about your walk, sometimes you’re down and discouraged.

Mrs. Noss: Oh yes.
Mr. Noss: I’ve never given it a thought.

:)

How I interpreted their testimonies:

Mrs. Noss: Oh yes, life has it’s ups and downs. That’s just a part of the Christian walk. Sometimes you’ll feel alive and inspired and sometimes you won’t. That’s okay. Accept that as all a part of God’s plan. He uses both the alive times and the dead times for His glory, and for His ultimate plan for you. The growth and the sanctifying process include both of those realities. That’s okay. And here I am, a saint (she wouldn’t say that of course, but that’s how I look at her!), and yet I experience the same ups and downs that you young pups experience. If I can be saintly despite those rollercoaster experiences, you can be, too!

Mr. Noss: I don’t pay attention to those ups and downs. I just keep on going – keep on doing the right thing. I live my life with a focus on God that doesn’t stop to analyze every up and down. I know what I need to do and I do it. God’s commands and promises in the Bible are true no matter what. So I just go right on.

What a fascinating juxtaposition! I was so edified to hear it. There is a place for accepting the ups and downs and seeing them as part of God’s plan, and there’s also a place for ignoring the feelings and the psychoanalysis, and just going right on doing what God has given you to do.

Pretty good, eh? At the end of the service I gave a testimony expressing these things, and after the service Mr. Noss thanked me for my analysis, with a little twinkle in his eye:) I love the Nosses! They add so much to the RI church. I’m so glad I know them!

Under the evil regime of New Blogger...

Another perfectly good post bites the dust.

Yup. Lost another one. Sorry folks, but, like Ahab (was it Ahab I'm thinking of? Is it even the Bible I'm thinking of?), all the spirit has gone out of me, and I can't bring myself to start over from scratch.