Buidling Traditions

I kept my son home from school on Thursday. Living in Canada means that American Thanksgiving is just another day, so if he is going to go to the Thanksgiving Day Parade, he will have to be absent.

As I teacher and a mom, I'm okay with parents keeping children home for family traditions. I should add that the days missed should be minimal. Much can be learned attending special events with loved. I don't mean learning in an academic sense, but an emotional sense. Andrew and I (along with a friend who is like a sister) sat on the sidewalk along Woodward Avenue for two hours, in awe of each new spectacle. All around us were families, some with younger children and some with ...teenagers and all seemed to be smiling and bonding. I cuddled and giggled with my son, a gift to both of us. My poor husband missed all the fun because he had to work (parent/teacher conferences - he really couldn't miss). Today, Andrew and I drew pictures of floats and balloons.

Growing up, my family never attended the parade or the fireworks. We did not take regular summer vacations. We had fun and had our own traditions, such as playing Trivial Pursuit at dinner. I always wished, however, that we had done some of those other things. I have determined that my own family will have traditions of going places and seeing things outside of our everyday world. I plan on dragging Andrew to that parade, even if he grows into a snarly teenager.

New jeans

I am afraid that the following is going to be a very superficial rant (with an intro like that, who wouldn't stick around).

I desperately needed a new pair of jeans. I have but one pair that does not have holey knees. I have always found that Calvin Klein jeans fit very nicely, so off I went to the mall for what I thought would be a simple purchase.

I asked a sales clerk where I could find the Calvin Klein jeans and she kindly walked me to the section. Sadly, my pleasant experience stopped there. I was surrounded by hip-hugging pants that looked like they fell directly out of the late 70s ior early 80s. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. The back pockets have fancy swoops or curly-q's. I couldn't believe that there was not one pair of simple, plain jeans.

I asked another clerk, whose hair weighed more that she did, and she told me that this is all the company had bought from Calvin Klein, but that there were Lee's in another part of the store. Luckily, that leads to a happy ending. I found a pair of normal jeans, for $40 less that the CK "jeans." That left enough money to buy a sweater and a pair of earrings.

Now I just have to do something about making sure I buy smaller jeans next time.

Finally, AP classes

It only took the 11 years that I spent complaining. My school is going finally to offer Advanced Placement classes and I will teach AP Literature and Composition next fall when I return.

For those of you who do not speak educationalese, AP classes are for highly motivated students who are willing to work at an accelerated rate. It is really more like a college class than a high school class. In May, the College Board (the AP and SAT people) offer nationwide tests based on the AP courses. If a student performs well enough (usually a 3, 4, or 5), universities will generally give that student free college credit.

It has been my contention for my whole career that our students, who are mostly poor, should have at least the opportunity to earn free college credit. For 11 years, colleagues told me that it would never happen. I chose not to believe them and acted more shrilly with each passing year.

Over the past several years, we have found that perhaps 10-20 students each year go to high schools that offer AP courses. This year, my school lost 200 students. That loss isn't entirely due to the lack of high level classes, but it didn't help. The superintendent asked for volunteers and I put word in that I was interested.

This past Tuesday, I spent the day at an AP training seminar. Since then, my head has been spinning. Based on the Michigan Merit Curriculum, I have chosen four themes (all connected to leadership qualities): 1. Who's in charge? 2. Tradition 3. Breaking the mould. 4. Power and Fear. My next task is to create a list of poems, short stories, plays, and novels to teach the class. The literature must range from classical to modern (post-colonial and late 20th/early 21st century).

This task is both enthralling and frightening. Enthralling because I have always wanted to teach an AP class. I am, however, scared to death because I fear that my shallow intellect will be painfully revealed. I'm worried that the College Board will reject the syllabus that I create (they must approve it). Finally, I'm completely terrified of the time I'll have to spend grading papers.

Unlike the other potential AP teachers in my building, at least I'll have the opportunity to create this syllabus with nothing else to do.