My Presentation

I am beginning to get that anxious, nauseous feeling. In about a week and a half, I have to make a presentation about some writing lesson that I have actually taught that was successful. Therein lies the problem. I am not at all certain that I have ever had a successful writing lesson. For the presentation, I must even have the research that supports my lesson. That is a laugh. No logical person would operate his/her classroom the way I operate mine - on the fly and completely half-assed. Nope I have no idea what I am going to do.

That's kind of a lie. I have a topic, I guess. The children books that my Creative Writing class did. Of course, we never quite finished because I didn't plan properly and we ran out of time. I guess I can find something about older kids mentoring younger kids and motivating students. That might be a place to start. Other than that, I'm lost and my presentation will likely be the weakest in the room.

Baaaaahhhhh. I'm having a pity party and all I need to complete the ambiance are some busted balloons and flat beer.

Writing project

As I have mentioned earlier, I am participating in the National Writing Project institute at Eastern Michigan this summer. It is a four week, five days a week, from 9-3 program in which teachers from all content areas and grade levels share writing lessons based on research. What I am enjoying most right now is the opportunity to write, a lot, everyday.

Each morning starts with a writing prompt on which we write about 10 minutes. So far, all of the prompts have really struck a chord with me. I hope that you don't mind if I occasionally mine these for topics.

The prompt for the first day was, if you had to tell you life story in seven story titles, what would those titles be? Here are my seven titles:

1. Creep
2. Bizarre Love Triangle
3. I Didn't Know That There Would Be This Much Paperwork
4. Import/Export
5. Outsourcing Labor
6. Maple Keys and Airbus A380s
7. The Great Reawakening

What would be the seven titles of your life?

Two poems

One way that I figure I can work up my self-confidence about publishing is to try and publish a poem. One poem published would make me feel as I have never felt in my life.

Here are two that I've recently composed. Tell me what you think.

Rain
Early morning rain
Hastens sleepy desires
Pillow calls me back


Melting

From the eaves,
remnants of long removed ivy
are visible.

One slender icicle
d
a
n
g
l
e
s
from a stubbornly clingy vine
like a mobile.

The shimmering sun glistens through
its facets, beautifully destroying its form.

We, too, dangle and will succumb to
the formalities illuminated by the light.

What a school year!

I'm always one of the last people on staff to finish all my grades. I am endlessly disorganized and suffer completely from self-diagnosed ADHD. If I can find an activity, no matter how mundane, that does not involve grading papers, I'm there. Well, almost any activity. I am now in the midst of cleaning my house. I have just located the corner of the dining room side board (I think it's called that). It had been buried under a massive pile of papers for most of the school year. I'd like to publicly apologize to my son for allowing the house to become a pig sty. Of course, this is all he knows, so a mess is normal.

I've chronicled some of the events that happened this past school year. I've flipped out over the testing pressure we were all feeling. I've mentioned the fights. But good things did happen. Here are just a few.

My student teacher kicked ass. That's such an 80s thing to say, but it's true. He comes to the profession a little older (31) than most college grads and with tons of crappy job experience. He understands the value of an education and the dull monotony of dead-end jobs. I think that his passion for the job comes from his "real world" experiences. An English teacher from our school retired and while he might not get that job, if he doesn't get a job somewhere in the district, I will shake my head forelorningly (not a word, I don't care) for ages and ages hence.

My friends Laurie, Laura, and John kept me sane when I was most likely to lose all hope. They are like family to me and I would just die if any of them abandoned me at the high school. Thankfully, in two weeks Laurie accompanies me to Columbus and Chicago to see Squeeze and we have meet and greet tickets for the Columbus show. That's right Glenn Tilbrook, I'm looking at you, longingly with desire warming my soul.

Uhhh anyway, I also made new friends. For one, there's the English teacher who I had previously categorized as straight-laced. I learned better one evening over Bloody Marys as we debated the proper spelling of the adverbial form of the word "fucking." It's a great word and I'll post my thoughts on it later. Additionally, I can't forget the teacher who taught me how to play Keno while spiking my Bailey's with his Irish Catholic/Irish Protestant/Irish Buddhist whiskey. Yeah, but he plans on taking a job at the middle school next year (where, they aren't even human), so he's dead to me.

Finally, I have an awesome new Executive Board for next year's Student Council. If they can stay focused, they will give the class of 2002 a run for their top class title.

My summer starts in earnest today. I'm cleaning and straightening while I write. The National Writing project at Eastern Michigan starts on Thursday. After that, I'll be tied up with Creative Writing camp. I want to take Andrew somewhere, anywhere this summer - even for just a weekend. In the meantime, I better get back to the household chores that I've been neglecting since September.