Category: Writing

The Next Page Entry 22: Cooling Off Room 36

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Mr. Taylor: Ms. Page, what’s with the fridge tucked away in the corner?

Ms. Page: Is it that obvious? 

Mr. Taylor: I’d say draping a rainbow-colored towel over the thing doesn’t exactly hide it.

Ms. Page: Yeah, I guess I should go for funeral-gray, shouldn’t I?

Mr. Taylor: So, a fridge?

Ms. Page: Here’s the deal. Last week, Max came in after lunch recess with a nasty bump on his elbow. He was in pain and you could almost hear the fluid and white blood cells rushing to the bump.

Mr. Taylor: Well, as long as you’re not exaggerating…

Ms. Page: Okay, okay. But it was swelling up and I sent him to the office with Jeremy and, like I said, he was in pain. And 15 minutes later, he came back with the typical sandwich bag of ice. And I figured, we’re so far away from the office, why don’t I just keep my own ice blocks ready for something like this? So I wheeled one in over the weekend.

Mr. Taylor: Whoa, whoa, I’m still stuck on your sending Jeremy with Max. Wasn’t Max already in enough pain?

Ms. Page: Just an experiment. I’m thinking Jeremy just needs a few responsibilities to distract him from his bullying.

Mr. Taylor: Orrrr, you’re opening up another opportunity for him to torment a kid.

Ms. Page: Just give me time. Besides, I thought you were interested in the fridge.

Mr. Taylor: Okay, back to the fridge. Can I keep some stuff in it?

Ms. Page: Of course, but it’ll cost you.

Mr. Taylor: No way! 

Ms. Page: Just kidding, but I did send the district $50 to pay for Frieda’s estimated electricity costs.

Mr. Taylor: Frieda? You named your fridge?

Ms. Page: What can I say? I’m already attached to it. Besides, I have a whole ‘states of matter’ science unit planned where the fridge will be really helpful.

Mr. Taylor: So you sent the cash straight to the district office. Aren’t you going over the boss’s head a little bit?

Ms. Page: You know how that goes…better to ask forgiveness than permission, right? And I’m not sure it will reflect well on her if I ask the district office for my money back because my administrator wants the fridge removed.

Mr. Taylor: You’re just evil. 

Ms. Page: I prefer the word ‘resourceful’, thank you. And, if you’re interested, there might be some juice bars available after school on Friday.

Mr. Taylor: Okay, now you’re not even playing fair.

For the first 20 entries to this writing project, click here.

The Next Page Entry 21: 10-Minute Field Trips

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boy with cameraSo, here I sit at the end of a Monday.

New policy: Do something entirely new each Monday so I have something to look forward to on what used to be my least favorite day of the work week. Today, we took a 10-minute field trip.

Mrs. Nix is gone through Wednesday so I’m taking liberties with the schedule. It’s entirely possible she has a staff member [or three] keeping an eye out for scofflaws like me. Or am I just being paranoid?

No matter.

So, 10-minute field trips. Striking a blow for actual science experiences, as opposed to the current approach of ‘Hey, if what you’re reading for language arts mentions spiders or planets or the ocean, that counts as science!’.

We fanned out with our journals, rulers, and cameras and aimed to complete three mini-tasks:

  1. Find a ‘plant population’ within an area of three square feet.
  2. List five different colors in nature.
  3. Sketch one of the plants.

Goal: Build up their observational skills. Get them to sketch.

And so…I should have confined their ventures a bit. A fair amount of craziness. Decibel level higher than I’d expected, but we were out on the frontier, so not too worried. Got my exercise for the day. Haven’t seen the photos yet. Mr. Taylor and his kids took a break to watch us. A decent first step toward our trip to the park.

For the first 20 entries to this writing project, click here.

The Next Page Entry 20: Learning Elsewhere?

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I like the way the kids are handling the outside time. They’re not perfect, of course, and ‘sources’ tell me bullying is rearing its ugly head, but I think overall this is a group that can handle learning beyond the school grounds.

Mrs. Nix will be gone a few days next week [thank you, Mr. Taylor, for that nugget], so it might be a good time to get some off-campus science going without immediate interrogation.

Next steps: 10-minute field trips at the school and parent permission slips for visits to the park.

The Next Page Entry 19: Six Words Only

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I threw the kids a curve during journal time. A few are complaining about too much writing, so I zigged. [Or did I zag?]

Today, they could only use six words to describe their summer break. [I don’t want them to put their summer break in the past just yet.]

My hope: Squeeze their thinking, make them focus on the most helpful/descriptive nouns, verbs, or adjectives to recreate that time.

I gave them pieces of cash register tape for their final draft to be pinned on the graffiti bulletin board.

[Yep, there was a short discussion about hyphenated words being treated as single words. I officially broke my own six-word rule and the kids aren’t letting me forget it.]

The Next Page Entry 6: Techno-wimp no more!

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Question: What mixes worse than oil and water?

Answer: Joanna Page and technology.

It’s as if every device in my classroom over the years, every cable that connects those devices—they all conspire against me.

And whenever they’re in the mood to disconnect or—even if they stay connected—to simply not work, well, they don’t!

Just when I’m ready to share a PowerPoint that worked for me at home [note: I found it online. I gave up on making my own years ago.], the projector won’t work. And I end up doing a shadow puppet rendition of a frantic tech-challenged teacher.

It’s as if tech senses my fear and it toys with my few remaining shreds of sanity. 

“So, yes, Doctor, I do sound more than a little paranoid, don’t I?”

But sometimes, there’s nothing like a good ol’ delusion to get me through the day…

Well, this whole tech thing has to change…

So, why technology?

1. It’s about time. It’s long past time. 

2. What do I have to lose? It’s looking more and more like I’ll be seeking new frontiers next year. Sometimes I feel it in the pit of my stomach on those rare occasions when I’ve walked into the staff room. And sometimes, it’s the deafening silence coming from Mrs. Nix. It’s not as if we ever really flowed anyway, but now, there is this extra layer of rigidity. Shrug.

3. Kids will love it. 

4. I’ve been a technoweenie too long. [See #1]

5. The only person who’s more stultified by tech? Mrs. Nix. Therefore, I have to admit, I’m kind of looking forward to seeing the glazed-over look on her face when I launch into any explanation that includes the words ‘digital’, ‘bandwidth’, and ‘cloud’. Keeping in mind I have to get to a point where I’m comfortable with those same terms. Baby steps, Joanna, baby steps.