Tag: thoughts

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Chatting With Lexi: On Enrichment

what-to-do-when-your-bored-at-school_4My wife and I have been talking quite a bit lately about how challenging the school work has been/hasn’t been for Lexi. When she first started school it was a concern for us because she had shown aptitude for advanced processing and we wanted to make sure that school was sufficiently challenging her brain. Then, when we found out that she had ADHD we knew it would take a renewed effort to ensure that school was “tough enough” just to help her keep focus. But we’re still concerned.

When Lexi got her report card at the end of the school year that divide was still quite evident, with all of her strictly academic grades in the wonderful category while her behavioral grades are under the average. Why is that? We had a talk with her about it soon after the school year ended…

Me: So, Lexi, how come your grade in art is so low? You love art.

Lexi: I know, but I keep finishing early.

Me: And what happens when you finish early? Do you work on more art?

Lexi: No. I just go around and tell other kids how to fix theirs.

Me: You think what they’re doing is wrong?

Lexi: No. But I’m bored, and since I’m artist I wanted to help them.

Me: And what does the teacher say about that?

Lexi: She says I’m too loud and distracting others.

And therein lies the issue, in my opinion. Lexi more often than not finishes ahead of the other students, with significant time to spare, and then has to come up with things to do in order to fill her time. Most times, because she craves interaction with others, that means interrupting them while they’re trying to finish and getting in trouble for it. Simply put, she’s bored, and when Lexi’s bored she finds things to occupy herself, not all of which are good ideas.

Me: Did you stop going around and trying to help others?

Lexi: Well, yeah. I did, but then I got bored again so I started playing with the paints.

Me: Is that why you have a big spot of paint on your pants?

Lexi: Yeah. And the teacher said I wasn’t supposed to be doing that either.

Me: Did she tell you what you could do when you finished early?

Lexi: No. She just told me what I couldn’t do. Continue reading “Chatting With Lexi: On Enrichment”

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Crafting Poetry

I never had one of those old typewriters, but I sure wanted one, with its cartridge and ribbon, and its ability to make mistakes that couldn’t easily be erased. Instead I learned to type on an old school version of the Apple computer where the letters were huge and shaped like computer bytes, or what … Continue reading Crafting Poetry

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Domo Obligato: The Gift and the Curse

christmas-present-1080p“You haven’t given me a gift; you’ve given me an obligation.” ~Sheldon Cooper

On December 21st of last year I got a package in the mail from a woman I haven’t spoken to in probably five years. For the first couple of years after we lost contact I sent her a gift for the holiday. I got nothing in return, not even an email with a “Thank You,” so I decided she had moved on. So I moved on. And then out of the blue, a few years later, she sends me a gift. My first thought was, “Damn, now I don’t have time to send her a gift in return.”

Obligations: we have many in this life. We have to pay our bills, to feed ourselves and our children, and to work so that we can afford those first two items. There are so many other obligations inherent in being an adult, but I’ll stop there. Except now I’ve been given one more, out of the blue. Sheldon was right. She hadn’t given me a gift. She had given me an obligation, and it came from completely out of the blue.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I loved her gift. It was very thoughtful, and it reminded me of why we had become friends in the first place. If she had sent it at some random time of year, and if it was just something she liked to do, I would have probably just smiled at it and moved on after sending her a “Thank You” card. But getting it at Christmas-time, and after so long a hiatus, it sat like a lead weight on my soul, begging me to reciprocate even though I didn’t have time left to do so. It gnawed at my brain, though, until I went out and purchased a suitable return gift, tossed in a “belated” card, and sent it off posthaste.

Then I finally exhaled. Continue reading “Domo Obligato: The Gift and the Curse”

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Dear Journal: School Ties

Paisley-Brown-Chocolate-Mens-Ties-Neckties-100-Silk-Jacquard-Woven-Ties-For-Men-Brands-Ties-ForDear Journal,

Tomorrow is the start of summer school for this year, and even though I’ve taught it for three years in a row this year is going to be its own particular challenge. For starters there are only two teachers for 8th grade instead of the traditional four, and instead of having all major subject areas represented there will only be two — math and English. Since I teach English that’s good for me because it means I still have a summer job, but I have a bad feeling most of the kids who need summer school aren’t going to be there because they failed English. At least, that’s been my experience the past three years. But I’m going to be all about literacy, so even if they didn’t fail English, everyone has something to learn about being more literate.

Even more than that, though, is that fact that I’m the only returner from the 8th grade crew we had last year, and my new partner just got hired three days ago, so we have a lot of work to do to get those units going, and to find the connections between math and English that are oh-so-hard, but we need to do it because it will make our lives easier being able to team teach on occasion throughout the summer. Oh, and the kids aren’t being bused to school so it will be up to the parents to make sure they get to school on time, something that scares me because the school isn’t right in the center of town. It’s a bit of a haul to get there, and school starts at 8 every morning. I wonder how many we will consistently have there.

I wish I could wear dress shorts just one day. I do own a pair of dress shorts, and I heard somewhere lately that they’re in style for summer weddings, so why not for summer school? I wore them once when I was taking a summer writing course at university, and I paired them with a lovely polka dot bow tie. Someone took a photo, I’m sure, but I can’t seem to find anyone who admits to having seen it. But I know I looked good. Continue reading “Dear Journal: School Ties”