Things We Return To

        Tonight the movie Antwone Fisher was on. It's about a writer and it's about someone searching for their family--two topics I love to explore. 

        It was halfway through when I found it on the television, which was no problem. Having seen the movie many times, I easily picked up where the movie was.

        There are lots of movies that--despite me having watched them multiple times--I choose to watch yet again. Hidalgo. Chocolat. The Out-of-Towners (the older version with Jack Lemmon). The Widow of Saint-Pierre. There are more, trust me.

        Books are the same. There are novels that I reread on a regular basis. It's not because I forget how they end. Instead, I pick them up and savor the story once more because of the writing. Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton is one. 

        Every summer (except for this one, probably) I go to Conception, Missouri for a writing retreat. This place calls me. It calms me. It centers me.

        Do you reread books? Are there movies that--whenever you're flipping though channels and see them--you cannot resist seeing again? Are there spots that reel you back, year after year?

        Rerun-loving minds want to know...  

Tools of the Trade

       Everyone has their favorite tools. If you're a cook, it might be your KitchenAid mixer. If you're a mechanic, it might be your... well, I have no idea what it might be. A cool wrench? (Is that an oxymoron?) If you're a teacher, we're easy. A Sharpie. Some colorful post-it notes. It doesn't take much.

      And writers are no different. We have our preferences. Fat pens. Skinny rollerballs. PCs (the best) or Macs. Unlined journals. Notebooks with lines.

       I have a writing acquaintance who only writes with a fountain pen. For him, the audible part--as the pen scratches its way across the page--is crucial to his writing process. (No one ever said writers aren't a peculiar bunch.) 

      What are some of your favorite tools? Do you have a computer program that helps you as you masterpiece up your manuscript? Where do you weigh in when it comes to pens? (And if you're a mechanic, perhaps you could enlighten me?) 

      
        

A Book ToDAY and a BirthDAY

            I love it when writers sneak things in... and when it comes to nonfiction books for kids, I especially love it when authors slip in information, resulting in kids learning things painlessly.

             Pat Hensley has a new book out--Excitement in the Park. It's a book I'm going to put in my class library because it would be a perfect model for my students. We have an informational-writing unit every year and we also have a 94-acre nature center that is a part of our school district. Twice a year we take a field trip and explore the various habitats there--the prairie, the pasture, the forest and the pond, and this book could be used for... well, I'll get to that in a moment. 

         In Hensley's book, the animals are getting ready for a group of fieldtrippers. On just about every page, some animal facts are slipped in. For example, Timmy the tadpole is worried about losing his tail before the students come; he wants to show it off. This would be a wonderful time to inform children that frogs are legless (and are called tadpoles) before they reach the adult stage. In the story, insects are eager to show off their decomposing skills. The whole life cycle of butterflies is part of the tale. I could go on and on--this book is jampacked with animal info. 

        Excitement in the Park would be perfect to use as a model. The book could be read aloud, the various parts where informational tidbits were inserted could be discussed, and the students could then write their own book based on the field trip to our nature center. (Pat took all the photographs as well; this would be another way that student writers could make decisions as they determine what photos would best illustrate each part. The kids could use disposable cameras or their phones to capture various flora and fauna during the field trip.)

        And tomorrow is Radar's first birthday. It's a day we never thought would arrive... with Radar still alive, that is. (He digs holes quicker than a backhoe.) He started out as darling handful of fur.

We didn't see the horns that were starting to grow...

He was just a barrel-bellied fur ball at this stage.

A local kennel offered one free day for puppies once a month.
The puppies even got report cards. Radar always got the same  comment:
"He was fairly good," which translates into: He drove us fruit!

Now Radar is 76 pounds of energy. Though still technically a puppy for a few
more months, he's turning into a wonderful dog.

Love a Golden Rescue got a pregnant puppymill mama a year ago. Three days after we got her, she gave birth to 11 puppies. Radar--in our opinion--was the handsomest of the litter, and according to the therapy dog trainer who evaluated the pups, he was one of the top two as far as temperament and intelligence.

We're hoping that when Radar is two years old, he can train to be a therapy dog. He hasn't met a stranger yet and--in his opinion--he thinks every person he encounters is put on this earth to admire and pet him (and give him a treat). Actually, now that I think about it, that's a philosophy I'd like to adopt (of course, you can take out the petting part and insert chocolate in front of treat).

So, check out Pat Hensley's book. (Just a few clicks on Amazon and it's yours.) What's another book you could recommend to a teacher like me? And do you have any funny puppy stories? We've filled in so many holes in our backyard, we're in need of some levity.

What IS Behind the Curtain?

Man dates used to be what teachers (mostly female, in the 1950's) only dreamed of. If you were a single woman and a teacher, a good man--as Carson McCullers wrote--was hard to find back then. The pickin's were slim (or more accurately, paunchy and bald).

However, nowadays, mandates are every teacher's nightmare.

Gone are the days of leisurely lunches in the smoky teachers' lounge. (I usually gobble down my lunch at my desk, hoping I don't choke in my haste as I work while I chew.) Gone are plan periods that can be used for actual planning or grading papers. (Instead: Data. Data. Data.) Gone is the luxury of having a little bit of our plates left empty for the little extras we want to teach. These days, our plates keep getting heaped with more and more every year, and nothing is ever scraped off.

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D. A. Russell, the author of Lifting the Curtain: The Disgrace We Call Urban High School Education, graciously agreed to answer some questions. Initially I asked him if he had ever started teaching a class wearing a black and a brown shoe when it wasn't "tacky day." (I have.) I also asked him if he had ever dumped a blueberry smoothie all over his shirt right before the start of a school day. (I have.) Since he liked neither one of those questions and since I was hoping to bat at least 0.33, I was glad when the third question ended up a winner.

The question:  What advice would you give to someone who is considering going into the teaching profession? Read his answer below, along with some tidbits about Russell and his book.


Advice for a new teacher – don’t, unless teaching is as much your passion as it is for so many us who still teach.

It is hard to answer the question “…what advice would you have for a new teacher?” The problem is that all teachers, even the most passionate about teaching among us, have a love-hate relationship with teaching.  We love the children, and the look of pride on a child’s face when they master a topic, and treasure those times we can engage and challenge some of the children despite the educational system and mandates.  But we are so deeply frustrated and hurt by all the mandates that prevent teaching and force us to dumb-down instruction, and by the atmosphere of cronyism and intimidation by administrators, that most of the joy of teaching has been sucked out of the process.

That is why 46% of new teachers now quit the profession within five years, and overall we are losing a staggering 20% of our teachers each year to all causes – including early retirements, career changes, and movement to private schools.

Still, if your passion is teaching, as is mine, then you have to go for it!  Here are the five things rarely discussed in college education classes that will be the key to your ability to engage and reach some of the children despite the system, and to get the most joy possible out of your career.  The first three are absolute requirements to be a great teacher, and the final two are for your own mental health during the process!

Vital for all “great” teachers:

• You must have a passion for teaching and the topic that is clear to the children
• You must have the ability to challenge and engage children in the learning process
• You must genuinely like children, and enjoy them – even those horrible teenagers!

Mental health:

• You need a sense of humor.

You cannot take yourself too seriously. Here is a critical fact in today’s teaching:  children can only learn from a teacher they like and respect.  Children are street smart.  They can tell if you are going through the motions, or really care.  When they figure out that you do, they start to listen and believe in you.  The system, and a numerical minority of parents are so bad today that you will never be able to get through to all of the children.  But with genuine passion and engagement you will get through to some of them, and even to many in a good year. 

 I cannot overstate this:  without that passion, engagement, and caring you will fail as a teacher, no matter what training you have and no matter how skilled you are.

The last two are for your mental health, especially if dealing with high school teenagers!  Teenagers are still teenagers.  They do dumb stuff.  They say completely inappropriate and whacko things.  If your natural reaction is going to be anger or “discipline” rather than a smile and a quiet laugh, you will burn out within months as a teacher.  And more importantly, you will never earn the ability to change those views and statements.  Since teasing and “insult humor” is the nature of the teenage beast, if you have a thin skin you are doomed.  Only if you can learn that such teasing is an act of affection (even though it occasionally crosses the line and must be reined back) can you connect with the children in your class.

So, bottom line – it will be a love-hate relationship for you, as it has been for all those of us who went before you during the education mess of the past 5-10 years.  The wins, when you get through to children and see pride on their faces will have to carry you through all the losses when you have to deal with the career DoE bureaucrats and their destructive mandates, and with administrators who raise cronyism and intimidation of teachers to an art form.

For me, those smiles of pride make the rest bearable – even on those many nights I drive home muttering and clenching my teeth at the system!

                      ...........

Lifting the Curtain takes a serious, impassioned look at what is going on with education today. For those outside the inner sanctum of the school system, some quick fixes might be demanded. Fire the teachers and replace the whole lot of them. More money. More technology. Merit pay. State tests with more rigor/less rigor. More inclusion. Less inclusion. The suggested remedies go on and on... 

I've been a public school teacher for 24 years. There have been days when I've laughed on the drive home. There have been days when I've sobbed. But throughout, it's remained a job I love... and hate at times.

However, it's never the kids I hate. My students are what make the job worth it. They keep me plodding to work every day.

So, if you want to know what is really going on with the screwed-up educational system, if you'd like an insider's view into teaching... buy D. A. Russell's Lifting the Curtain. It's informative and is a book that's easy to dive into.



About the Author: D. A. Russell has spent the last ten years as a math teacher in one of the urban high schools that is the subject of Lifting the Curtain. He is an honors graduate of Dartmouth College, and has his master's degree from Simon School, where he was valedictorian of his class. Russell is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He has two children that he treasures, and four grandchildren. His son is a police officer who served in the US Army in Afghanistan, earning a Bronze Star for valor. His daughter is a lawyer and his most passionate fan and honorary literary agent. Russell has a passion for children that dominates his life. He has taught and coached children for decades. Few things are more important in Russell's view than to cherish the children who are our real treasures in this world. He is a contributor for education matters to the Huffington Post, and runs a personal blog at: LiftingTheCurtainOnEducation.wordpress.com dedicated to letting teacher voices be heard in the real problems with education.

Visit Russell online at:

Website: http://www.liftingthecurtain.com

Blog: http://liftingthecurtainoneducation.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiftingTheCurtainOnEducation

A Brilliant Author

        I finished this novel yesterday morning. It was a supreme sacrifice. I had a choice. Either I worked on started working on my report cards for an hour before heading to an all-day meeting, or I could finish Doerr's book. Choosing the book made sense, since I knew I would have trouble concentrating on anything else if I was still wondering how the book ended.

       This is a gem of a book. Anthony Doerr writes like a poet. There are jewel-like lines on every page.  Every single page. I'm not kidding. Here are just a few:

*     He practices concentrating only on blinking. Pulse in his neck. Tock tock tock tock. Others, he thinks, would do this with less finesse. Others would use scanners, explosives, pistol barrels, muscle. Von Rumpel uses the cheapest of materials, only minutes, only hours.
      Five bells. The light leaches out of the gardens.

*    "How about peaches, dear?" murmurs Madame Manec, and Marie-Laure can hear a can opening, juice slopping into a bowl. Seconds later, she's eating wedges of wet sunlight.

*    A corner of the night sky, beyond a wall of trees, blooms red. In the lurid, flickering light, he sees the airplane was not alone, that the sky teems with them, a dozen swooping back and forth, racing in all directions, and in a moment of disorientation, he feels that he's looking not up but down, as though a spotlight has been shined into a wedge of bloodshot water, and the sky has become the sea, and the airplanes are hungry fish, harrying their prey into the dark.

        This is a story of war. Of resistance. Of succumbing. Of refusing to succumb. Werner is a young German orphan who becomes one of the Nazi's assets. Marie-Laure is a young French blind girl. As you read the story, you know they are going to meet... but you have no idea what the outcome will be.

       Doerr (wisely) has written his novel in short chapters. Most of them are 2-4 pages long, and they alternate between Werner and Marie-Laure. The short spurts ensure that the reader doesn't get burnt out by the intensity of either character's events. We are sitting on the edge our seat with Marie-Laure, biting our nails, and then get a break from her as we read about Werner. The intensity of what is going on with his character builds up... and then we're back to Marie-Laure.  

        I would highlyhighlyhighly recommend this book. You get a window into what happened with the Nazi schools for young boys. You're privy to some of the things the French did as they resisted the Nazis. You're able to travel to a different country and a far different era...

The Very Beginning...

        I got great news yesterday about the upcoming Listen to Your Mother show. Although a friend and I both got a "no thank you," we did get a free ticket for the show. And, the librarian at my school was one of the 13 writers chosen. Dr. Jenny Gray is one of the 2015 cast members, which makes me so excited.

        What's that? You didn't even know I submitted, much less auditioned? I kept it on the down-low because I knew that, given a pool of writers who have not been a part of the Listen to Your Mother experience, my chances were slim. Laura, Ellie and Naomi--I was sure--would give first priority to first-time performers. Fresh meat. New blood to run in the LTYM veins.

         One reason why I submitted was because of my story last year. In 2014 I was one of the cast members, and my story was a sad one. I don't usually do sad. My natural arena is funny, or at least I think what I write is funny, so I wanted to give the LTYM ladies a taste of Sioux's silly side.

         Submitting... sharing... getting rejected. It's all a part of a writer's life.

         However, for my friend Jenny, it's only the beginning. (If you're old like me, perhaps at this moment you can hear Karen Carpenter singing, "We've only just begun..." I can, because I wore that 45 out until the grooves were no longer groovy.) This is is her first foray into the writers' world. She's working on a collection of stories, she's optimistic, and she's only just begun.

         I have my first rejection letter (and it's a real letter. It's not a form letter) and I have my first check that I received as payment for my writing (it was only $10). Both of them are framed. Both of them are reminders of where and when I began.

         What was the beginning for you like? What was your first validation... your first rejection? Rejected minds want to know.