Fall Break, Day 5

Paper at last completed! after much feet dragging. Still lacking lit review. Professor must be shaking head, if she hasn't already given up on me.
Let the baking commence. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!
My son is so impressed that he "gets to stay off FOUR DAYS" from school. I've been off the whole week. Only this morning did he pick up on that. "You're not OFF!" he challenged me (oh yes I am, little man) when he realized I was going to the gym after dropping him off at school. Somehow I distracted him and off we went.
Oven is preheated! Gotta run.

Fall Break, Day 4

Finished one paper and trying to wrap up another. Fall break has turned into "Fall Catch-Up," and I don't know if it's going to be enough time ... but it's OK. I've watched a little TV and done some shopping. :) Ordered some Christmas gifts. :) Looking forward to seeing family and friends in a couple of days.

Fall Break

Fall Break is officially in session. The house is still quiet: all are sleeping.

My days are packed and my only reflections happen spontaneously, perhaps while driving. Last year I filled up a journal with my thoughts. Lately I am out of practice and feel out of touch when it comes to writing.

In fact, I am late with two papers that must be written. Does the professor realize what a remiss student I've been? It's actually the first true English course I've taken (grammar doesn't count). I've kept so busy, and the papers have not made the cut on my priority list. But now, there's no excuse. I need to ground myself until they are complete.

This week I started reading The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease (there are a couple of copies in our library). As a librarian, reading aloud is a topic about which I want to know more. I'm still in the first chapter, but it's great so far. It inspired me to begin reading Charlotte's Web to my four-year old, something I would have not thought to do on my own. He loves it. I am very excited.

Barcodes arrived yesterday! And I connected the new barcode scanner to my freshly motherboarded PC. But there was a problem .... it did not pick up all the numbers on my test sample. It was too late in the day to call technical support. New books will arrive when we return to school, and I will host a book fair. In the library, which is simultaneously scheduled as the site of student testing and teacher training. Not ideal, but who cares, that's how it goes at a disorganized school in a disorganized district. On the bright side, at least teachers and students will all visit the book fair at some point.

Now let me see if I can organize myself to compose pages and pages of garbage about some novels I read (this is why I was not an English major in college). Wish me luck ...

H1N1

The library was the stage for today's H1N1 student vaccinations. Middle schoolers went first, followed by elementary kids. By the end of the day it sounded like a torture chamber. Just listening, you would have thought some of those kids were being killed, the screaming and hollering that went on.

La La Library

You've seen the pictures. Things are coming together in other ways too: yesterday I submitted the first book order, for 181 permanently bound books for the library. SO exciting.
Barcodes are being processed and printed.
Yesterday a new motherboard was installed in my computer that conked out; next week I can install the cataloging software and start entering student and book info.
And, I found out how to eventually make the catalog accessible from other computers.
A cart of fifteen laptops was assigned to the library (and they're actually functional! and students are actually using them!).
So the library is beginning to both look and function as a true library.
Except for an LCD projector, I have just about everything I need. (Except time. I wish I could put in an order for more time.)
I even have a cool cart for laptop/projector. I heard that AARA funds have finally been released to the school districts in our state, and have been told that I'll get a projector from that.

One more week 'til Thanksgiving break, then three more 'til Christmas. The semester has flown by.

Friday

Here is how things look at the week's end. There is one more shelf to move, eventually.

Now we can concentrate on organizing the books so that a library catalog can be created. There was one at some point in the past, but I don't know how recently it was updated, so we're starting anew.

Week before last the school began a work-service program, which provides 10-12 library assistants daily (some more capable than others). I haven't had a chance to formally train any of them, because they come in while I have classes. To some, I've observed that "shelving" books means putting them anywhere on a shelf. This week I will compose detailed instructions and assign tasks to individuals specifically in order to pinpoint problem areas. It's great to have assistants and also really good experience for them.

Mid-Week

"It's starting to look like a real library," a teacher commented while passing through. "In the five years I've been here, it's never looked like a library."

A Work in Progress

School has been in session for about 10 weeks. During the short break last weekend at the end of our first term (our school calendar is divided into four terms of approximately nine weeks each), I had a chance to visit my parents, and my mom hinted that my blog was in dire need of update.

Sooooo, I thought I'd post some before-and-after photos of my work space so you can see where my energy has been going.

First: this is before school began - all kinds of stuff everywhere. Somewhat of a mess. Not the most functional-looking library.

Here it is one month later, looking much better. You can see what a nice space it really is. It has amazing potential.

And now, in the past couple of weeks, undergoing transformation (notice the shelves):

While I can control the physical space somewhat, technological resources are another matter entirely:

These desktops are about ten years old, a bit past their prime. We are hoping for replacements soon ....

Hanazono House

I would love to visit this house!

from today's issue of The New York Times: In Japan, a House of Steel
By ALEX FREW McMILLAN

On the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, overlooking a pasture where dairy cows roam in summer, is a two-story house clad entirely in steel. The facade, which is less than a year old, already has a layer of rust that its owner, Peter Grigg, says protects the surface and gives it an unusual reddish color.

But then the 500-square-meter (5,382-square-foot) home, called Hanazono House, was always meant to be something of a showpiece, a way for Mr. Grigg to display some of his creative flair.

The 40-year-old entrepreneur, born in Leeds, England, and raised in Perth, Australia, came to Japan in 1994 to learn the language. But after short stints as a radio DJ and freelance photographer, Mr. Grigg opened a restaurant in 2004 in the nearby ski resort of Niseko. It was the first business he branded Sekka, a name that now appears on several of his condominium projects and other buildings in town.

“I’ve never really considered myself a businessman,” said Mr. Grigg, who is more commonly known by his Japanese name Shouya, or “soaring arrow.” “Even though I guess I have had a little bit of success in business, it doesn’t actually interest me that much. I like to be creative — that’s what drives me. I like producing things.”

In 2008, Mr. Grigg and his wife decided to build a second home in Hanazono, around 100 kilometers, or 60 miles, southwest of Sapporo, where they have their primary home.

They bought a 15,000-tsubo (12-acre) lot for the equivalent of $3 million. Makoto Nakayama, a local architect who has worked on some of the Sekka projects, designed the house, which was built by the Town Kensetsu construction company for the equivalent of about $2.5 million.

Mr. Grigg originally planned for the house to be 800 square meters (8,611 square feet), but construction regulations in Japan are more stringent for buildings greater than 500 square meters (around 5,500 square feet). “I decided to keep it at just 500 but with the option of actually building stage two,” he said. “I wanted to add a pool and a spa-type zone to the place.”

Since the area averages nearly 600 inches of snow every year, Mr. Grigg’s architects were given a significant challenge of creating a structure that can withstand the weight of the snow. Another challenge: Mr. Grigg wanted a flat roof. To support the weight, the house was constructed with steel girders usually employed for 10-story buildings.

Hanazono House is built on long, low lines and split into sections. An entry corridor, which is open to the elements at one end — despite the area’s harsh winters — leads to a stone statue of Guan Yin, the Chinese goddess of mercy, and the house’s front door.

The floor-to-ceiling windows just inside have views of a pond, with a tsukubai at its center, the stone basin found at the entrances to Japanese temples and shrines for visitors to wash their hands. The water comes from an 85-meter-deep (279-foot-deep) well so it does not freeze, even in mid-winter.

The first section of the house was built as a hiraya, or a one-level dwelling, a style that was considered prestigious in old Japan because only the wealthy could afford the luxury of a single floor.

Mr. Grigg has an office overlooking silver birch trees. The office is decorated with about 70 vintage cameras, including Leicas and a Hasselblad.

Opposite the office, there is a traditional mizuya, a small area for preparing tea, which has an adjacent toilet and shower so it can be used as a spare bedroom.

A passageway — finished in concrete, a treatment that has been used in several of Mr. Grigg’s Sekka projects — leads to the second part of the building. It is two stories, although the gentle slope of the terrain allowed the architect to maintain a single roof level. The rooms include an open living room, kitchen and a total of five bedrooms.

The walls of the Hanazono House are plastered with kaiso do, a plaster from northern Hokkaido that absorbs odors, and there is an under-floor heating system that circulates hot water from a kerosene-burning boiler. Much of the interior of the house, like many homes in Japan, is covered with a variety of woods, including walnut, oak and rosewood.

Day in the Life

typical weekday:

4:30-5:15 wake up
5:15-5:45 get ready for the day - make coffee, clean, dress, pack lunch
5:45-6:00 wake child up, get ready
6:15-6:20 leave house
6:30 drop off child at school
6:55 arrive school
7 - 7:30 morning duty: greet kids as they start their day (good morning; tuck your shirt in, please. thank you.)
7:30 - 8:30 prepare for first class
8:35 - 10:40 first two classes
1:10 - 2:55 last two classes
2: 55 - 3:30 afternoon duty
3:45 - 4:15 check out, head homeward
4:15 - 4:45 pick up child, get home - ahhhh
5 - 5:30 supper
5:30 - 7:30 play outside with child, hang out with neighbors
7:30 - 8:00 make way back indoors, prepare child for bed
8:30 child is in bed, shower, take a few minutes for self to check e-mail, read the news, etc.

(probably more information than you needed, but that's what I've been doing lately)

“What is an educated person?”

according to Michigan State University:

An educated person is someone who has learned how to acquire, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, understand, and communicate knowledge and information. An educated person has to develop skills that respond to changing professional requirements and new challenges in society and the world at large. He or she must be able to take skills previously gained from serious study of one set of problems and apply them to another. He or she must be able to locate, understand, interpret, evaluate, and use information in an appropriate way and ultimately communicate his or her synthesis and understanding of that information in a clear and accurate manner.

Happy School Year

I am starting anew AGAIN. This year I landed a job as a middle school librarian, and so far I LOVE it. I started seeing students on Tuesday. I get one class of 8th, 7th, 6th, and 5th each day (in that order). This week has been devoted to introductions, student information, expectations, and reading surveys.

Here's my spiel: I tell them I'm from this state, went to college here, worked in the publishing industry before getting into education, lived in NYC for about 5 years, am an alumni of MTC (a few of the school's teachers are current participants), taught in the MS Delta, taught English in Japan for a year, previously taught at another school in the district, last year studied, taught, and worked at the university. I'm certified as a teacher and a librarian and have worked in public and university libraries, but never a school library. I mention that my husband teaches at the high school and tell them about my son.


At this point one of the younger ones will raise his or her hand to ask incredulously, "How OLD are you?" because I possibly look like I just graduated college, and I tell them that is not an appropriate question and move on. "Japan" also catches their attention, and some of them want to know about that. And so does husband at the high school. If they ask, I say I'll let them figure it out. We have different last names, so it's not a dead giveaway.


By my count, I have over 500 students. I wonder how long it will take me to remember their names, since I'll only see them in class once a week? Here's something that already happened: yesterday after school, I took my child to the (local public) library. A little girl approached me and greeted by name. She did not look especially familiar to me.

"Are you a student at [our school]?" I asked. She smiled and nodded.

"Have you come to my class yet?" I asked, thinking I probably hadn't met her yet.

"Yes, today!" she said with the happiest smile. So we talked for a moment, and I introduced her to son.

I had had her in class probably only hours before, and I didn't recognize her. Terrible. So I believe I'm going to assign seats for my larger classes so I can learn their names more quickly.

This library has not been staffed by a certified librarian in a number of years, and in certain ways that shows. It needs some organization. And presently there is not even any sort of catalog! No inventory list that details the library's holdings. That will be remedied.

Many dated and/or disintegrating books need to be retired. The nonfiction shelves are blocked by a variety of old, apparently unused? equipment (since no one's claimed it by now). The fiction stacks actually serve as a continual source of amusement: you'll find paperback Harlequin novels next to elementary reading textbooks next to quality literature next to easy readers, with a few Spanish language novels mixed in. Also, the majority of books have been labeled with masking tape! Sadly hilarious. Masking tape! I guess that was the best they could do.

Another thing that blows my mind is that the masking tapers had no concept of how libraries are set up -- that books are organized within categories such as biography, nonfiction, and fiction. Books have had their nonfiction call numbers covered with a piece of masking tape marked "F" (for fiction) and thrown on the shelf. I have seen MANY biographies in with the fiction (re-labeled as such, of course). So someone took much effort to wrongly reclassify books that were already fine.

Old textbooks from a range of subjects were on the shelf, classified as "Reference." What middle school student is going to come in and say, "I need to consult a 2nd grade science textbook from the 1980s?"

I have to record all of this stuff so I won't forget how mixed up it once was.

Hot Springs, AR

Hot Springs was designated a federal reservation all the way back in 1832, making it the oldest federal reserve in the country. In 1921 it was renamed Hot Springs National Park.

Along the main street ("Bathhouse Row") are eight of the old bathhouses in restored condition. Only one still operates as a bathhouse (not pictured). One serves as a visitor's center and another, a museum.

The Atwell Curriculum

Seven Principles That Guide Teaching and Student Learning in the Atwell Curriculum

1. Writers need regular chunks of time -- They need time to think, write, confer, read, change their minds, and write some more. Writers need time they can count on, so even when they aren't writing, they're anticipating the time they will be. Writers need time to write well.

2. Writers need their own topics -- Right from the first day of kindergarten students should use writing as a way to think about and give shape to their own ideas and concerns.

3. Writers need response -- Helpful response comes during -- not after -- the composing. It comes from the writers' peers and from the teacher, who consistently models the kinds of restatements and questions that help writers reflect on the content of their writing.

4. Writers learn mechanics in context -- They learn from teachers who address errors as they occur within individual pieces of writing, where these rules and forms will have meaning.

5. Children need to know adults who write -- We need to write, share our writing with our students, and demonstrate what experienced writers do in the process of composing, letting our students see our own drafts in all their messiness and tentativeness.

6. Writers need to read -- They need access to a wide-ranging variety of texts, prose and poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.

7. Writing teachers need to take responsibility for their knowledge and teaching -- We must seek out professional resources that reflect the far-reaching conclusions of recent research into children's writing. And we must become writers and researchers, observing and learning from our own and our students' writing.

Source: "In The Middle: Writing, Reading and Learning With Adolescents," by Nancie Atwell

An Honest Answer

Mr. Bonds, at the start of his lesson, wanted to be sure that students understood his objective: TSW analyze and compose compound/complex sentences. After discussing the meaning of analyze, he moved on to compose. "You did this in some of your earlier classes," he hinted.
Michael raised his hand. "Sleep?"

English Teaching Workshop

Yesterday the English TEAM instructors presented a workshop to the new English teachers who will be going into their own classrooms next month (August). Five experienced English teachers shared information with nine teachers-in-training about four general areas: Teaching for the State Test, Planning, Organization, and Teaching Strategies. At the conclusion of the workshop, I asked teachers to write down what they liked and what they would like to know more about (we have another workshop scheduled for late in July).

What participants specifically liked:

* organizational advice (esp. about dealing with absent students; filing cabinet student folder system)
* state test prep teaching strategies
* handouts
* different opinions/anecdotes/techniques from multiple teachers on a variety of topics
* differentiated instruction ideas
* well-structured and informative presentation

What they would like to know more about:

* first week of school
* specific activities for teaching certain things, such as grammar/subject-verb agreement
* teaching strategies for reading comprehension (esp. poetry)
* making effective consequences
* homework: yes or no?
* EEF money
* more state test teaching tips
* where to find good teacher resources
* examples of pacing guides
* lists of books often taught
* information on principals (likes/dislikes)
* more organizational strategies

Renovations

kitchen with fresh paint, new cabinets and counter tops

pattern for new "backsplash" (first time I encountered this term)

new ceiling fan in the master bedroom (installed by my skillful spouse)

bathroom is now blue, instead of brown- quite different

We look forward to moving back in next week, inshallah.

Garden

This is our garden in our backyard. I can take little credit for it as my husband built the plots (the one on the left is a recent addition) and planted nearly all of the seeds. I guess he is like the little red hen, and I am one of her lazy acquaintances. Anyway, the garden is coming along, and looks very nice.

Peace Garden

The Japanese Garden of Peace which is part of the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas, was a bicentennial gift from Japan in 1976.

Before enjoying the garden, I toured the Admiral Nimitz Museum, also part of the National Museum of the Pacific War. There I learned of Admiral Nimitz's admiration for and friendship with Admiral Heihachiro Togo, considered Japan's greatest naval hero. The garden's meditation center (not pictured here) is a replica of Admiral Togo's in Japan.

Vereins Kirche

Fredericksburg, Texas

Vereins kirche means "community church." This building is but a replica of the original, which was constructed in 1847 and used for church services by all denominations represented by the settlers of Fredericksburg: Lutherans, Catholics, Methodists. It was also used for the first school and the town hall. In 1897 the real Vereins Kirche was demolished.

This one was completed in 1935 and has throughout the years housed a pioneer museum, the chamber of commerce, the county archives, and a local history collection. It is octagonal in shape, modeled after the "Carolingian octagon" style of German architecture which may be seen in the original cathedral of Charlemagne at Aachen. (source: The Handbook of Texas Online)

About a month ago I heard a story on NPR about the widespread use of German in public schools in German communities (contrasting current attitudes about contemporary bilingual education) up until WWI, and the placard above makes note of this. I did ask my grandfather, born shortly after this time, if he remembered German being spoken in school, but he said no, because not everyone could understand it.

Recycling

Now that I know where to send empty yogurt containers, what about all these empty CD cases? Here are a few ideas. (I just LOVE the Internet.)

First, you can ask artists, such as musicians or photographers, if they can use them. I am checking with my brother.

Next, I discovered GreenDisk, a company that "handles all your technotrash disposal needs." Here is a full list of what items they accept. As you can see, it does include CDs and cases. It looks pretty cool- you put your stuff in a box, estimate its weight, order the service ($6.95 for 20 lbs or less), print the shipping label, and send it off. ($.30 extra for each additional pound over 20)

Plastic Recycling Incorporated 2015 South Pennsylvania Indianapolis, IN 46225 (317-780-6100) may accept CDs and cases (info was a couple of years old, so I'm not completely sure).

Finally, another possible outlet is Freecycle, a global network (it appears to be like a Craig's List for free stuff) that allows you to post items you want to discard, as well as search for or request items you would like to receive. There are a number of groups active in Mississippi.

I am not sure how I will discard the cases at this point, but I have several options that will keep them out of a landfill (as least for now).

Recycling # 5s

It's easy to recycle #1 and #2 plastics; most curbside recycling programs accept them, including ours. But what about the #5s?

The triangular symbol with the "5" inside means the plastic is made of the chemical compound Polypropylene (or PP). Yogurt, syrup, and ketchup containers, as well as bottle caps, plastic straws, and medicine bottles are generally packaged in this type of plastic.

Plastic yogurt containers especially proliferate in various places in our house (garage, craft bin, kitchen cabinet, sandbox, bathtub). I just hate the thought of them sitting in a landfill! Apart from planting seeds in them and reusing them as snack cups ... what to do with them?

On a blog called Eat. Drink. Better. I found an answer, in the form of a program that takes #5 containers. You can drop them off in certain places (mostly midwest and northeast) and if that's not convenient, mail them.

Send your clean #5s (via ground) to:

Preserve Gimme 5
823 NYS Rte 13
Cortland, NY 13045

Include a return address on the outside of the box and a name and email address inside.

I am going to try it. Perfect- just in time for spring cleaning!

Who Is Arne Duncan?

The evening after President Obama addressed Congress, I flipped on Charlie Rose to see who was guest. Some crazy guy was advocating keeping schools open 12 hours a day, 12 months of the year, six or seven days of the week to serve as community centers. Has he really worked in schools? I wondered. Every other word seemed to be "innovation," with vague explanations as to what this meant. Who is this guy? I thought.

In a few moments his name and title flashed on the screen: Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education. Ohhh, it's this guy. I'd heard his name but knew little of him. Here was my chance.

Regarding the school as a community center, an idea many in my Teacher Corps class played with when we designed our own school district as a final project for our "Innovations in Education" course (myself included), Mr. Duncan argued that there are schools in every neighborhood, with classrooms, computer labs, libraries, and gyms, whose resources are not being maximized. "Schools belong to the community," he said, and suggested that schools partner with nonprofits such as YMCA or Boys and Girls Club to offer a variety of activities and programs: sports, debate, chess, drama, enrichment, GED, ESL, family literacy, potlucks. "Our society has changed; our schools have not kept pace. This needs to be what the 21st century school looks like- the norm, not the exception."

I love the idea. It's great. It makes sense. But having worked in the public education system for going on five years now, where often you feel that you've landed in Opposite-Land, my initial reaction was skepticism, because I saw such a practical, common sense approach would meet opposition. In general, public education behaves like a really old, slow, stupid animal.

I gathered that he served as head of Chicago schools, tried some new things, such as financial incentives for successful students in the inner city, closed some failing schools, and overall did a good job, which is why he was selected for the position. There was also mention of his background and personal experience with children in poverty. (His mother has run an after school program on Chicago's South Side since before his birth.) He cited the example of childhood friends: the ones who got out of the neighborhood went on to become very successful, while the ones who did not, died. "They literally did not make it,” he explained, and added that the difference between the ones who did and the ones who did not, he realized later, was education.

Things he talked about:

We need to do "what works" for children and use "best practices" (It was not clear that he knew what these actually were.)

Good teaching matters; it is the number one factor affecting student achievement. To this end, great teachers need to be rewarded with incentives, besides induction, mentoring, and support.

The importance of early childhood education as well as making sure kids are well-fed, healthy, and safe so that they can focus on learning

Other nations value education and invest in it. U.S. should do the same. The stimulus package provides $115 billion to do so.

Keeping some parts of NCLB, changing others, and re-branding it to reflect a new approach

Growing support for a national set of standards, rather than the fifty different versions that now exist. (Most other industrialized countries i.e. “our competitors” have a single set of standards – Japan, Germany, India, for example. Our Department of Defense schools follow a single curriculum, making it easy for children to move from one school to another in any part of the world, relatively seamlessly.)

Paying math and science teachers more, because currently there is a shortage, and it is in these areas that American students are falling behind their international counterparts.

Charter schools --- good charter schools, he emphasized -- and getting the best and the brightest college graduates into the classrooms at a time when Baby Boomers will be retiring in large numbers

Re-envisioning schools, opening them up as community centers as described previously

Duncan has experience in educational policy and management, but has not himself been a teacher. I found much of his talk lacking vague, and while I don't doubt his good intentions, as an educator, when it came to details, I wondered if he really knew what he was talking about. But maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe an idea of the big picture is all that's required. If he can effect some positive changes, terrific.

What was he vague on? Assessment of both student achievement and teacher performance, specific changes to NCLB, teacher tenure standards, how performance pay might work, who might oppose his "creative innovation" plans and what they may oppose about them, how the $115 billion will be allocated, charter schools, (as mentioned above) best practices. It's easy to say "induction, mentoring, great teachers, think differently, culture of high expectations" - but what does that all mean in real terms? Maybe it's too early for him to give specifics, or maybe he's not as skilled at conveying information as his boss is. This was clear, however:

"Education is THE civil rights issue of this generation," he said early in the interview and later toward the end, "This is about more than education; this is a battle for social justice."

To that I can agree. It will be interesting to see what changes he is able to implement in the coming year and how the stimulus money is handled.

(P.S. When did "incent" start being a word? i.e. "We need to incent great teachers." Oh ... 1981. I missed that.)

PostScript: New York Times article, 1/13/09, "Few Picks from Education Pick," covers his confirmation hearing, in which many of these same ideas are aired.

Our President

I saw my grandmother last week and as it often does, the talk turned to politics. She calls herself a Republican but couldn't believe that Rush Limbaugh said he wanted to see the President fail. "That's just not patriotic," she said.

I agreed and expressed confidence in the new leader to do a good job.

"Yes, I hope so .... even with his Muslim ties," she said.

"He's not Muslim," I said. "He's Christian."

"Well, he SAYS he is," she said doubtfully.

"His father may have been Muslim," I suggested. "He's from Africa."

"Well, he [the President] lived over there!"

"In Africa? He lived in Indonesia, but I don't think he ever lived in Africa," I said. "There are a lot of Muslims in Indonesia."

However, except for the part about his being Christian, I had to admit I wasn't totally sure of the facts.

This past week I had the opportunity to read his first book, originally published in 1995 and re-released in 2004 following his keynote address at that year's Democratic National Convention.

It was hard to put down. It was a great book, one of the few that I will read again sometime. He's a great writer. It's a great story. I'm ready for the sequel.

If I thought before that he was a capable and competent person for the job as our nation's leader, if before I felt that I could readily identify with him, despite his being born more than a decade before me, now I feel all the more so.

Over the years we've experienced his way with words, his ability to inspire through brilliant oratory. His written word does not disappoint. I'm sure he had good editors, but he's natural writer.

That's not only my opinion. Toni Morrison has called him "a writer in my high esteem."

In an interview with National Public Radio correspondent Neda Ulaby, Morrison said: "His ability to reflect on this extraordinary mesh of experiences that he has had, some familiar and some not, and to really meditate on that the way he does, and to set up scenes in narrative structure, dialogue, conversation--all of these things that you don't often see, obviously, in the routine political memoir biography. [...] It's unique. It's his. There are no other ones like that."

Such gifted writing is a product of extensive reading, which as noted in his book, has informed his thought and development as a person. When he was trying to solve a problem or learn more about something in which he was involved, he read. This remains true today. According to a recent New York Times article, "From Books, New President Found Voice," books that have informed his decisions since taking office include Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin; Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden by Steve Coll; and The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria.

He's a reader, no doubt. I found it thrilling when in his first address to Congress, he urged parents to turn off the television, put away the video games, and read to their children. (My favorite, though, was his very important message to youngsters about dropping out of high school: "It's not just quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country.")

Dreams From My Father is a memoir covering his life from childhood up until his marriage in 1992, divided into three parts: Origins; Chicago; and Kenya. From it I gained a more detailed picture of his life and experiences, though my understanding of him as a person did not change.

To set the record straight, he did live in Indonesia, from about age six to ten, but never in Africa. He went to Africa for the first time in 1988, the summer before starting law school. As for his religious views, I have to agree with my grandmother -- he SAYS he's a Christian, and as my brother pointed out, that's all you can ever really go on. He wasn't raised religiously and conveys no religious sentiment throughout the book. He relates several instances of being asked where he stood on church and religion while working as a community organizer in Chicago, and admits at least to the reader, that it is an area of uncertainty for him. "I remained a reluctant skeptic, doubtful of my own motives, wary of expedient conversion, having too many quarrels with God to accept a salvation too easily won," he wrote.

Inspired by a sermon given by Reverend Jeremiah Wright in 1988 called "The Audacity to Hope," recounted in Dreams For My Father, he was baptized into the Trinity United Church of Christ that same year. He was married there and his two girls baptized there, though last year the family resigned membership to much publicity in the wake of controversial statements made in past sermons by Dr. Wright.

I think he felt comfortable at Trinity with its emphasis on black liberation theology and social justice on the global level, especially with its links to Africa. Dr. Wright had also established Trinity as a center serving the various needs of the community - day care, drug counseling, legal aid, and tutoring, to name a few - very attractive to someone who had been working to such ends in that community. It was a popular church, large and growing, kind of "the place to be" for young African American professionals. And Dr. Wright, a dynamic speaker, provided a model for his development as an orator.

Jodi Kantor in a 2007 International Herald Tribune article, "Barack Obama's Search for Faith," wrote: "Services at Trinity were a weekly master class in how to move an audience. When Mr. Obama arrived at Harvard Law School later that year, where he fortified himself with recordings of Mr. Wright's sermons, he was delivering stirring speeches as a student leader in the classic oratorical style of the black church." That's very interesting.

I will look for his comments on religion and faith when reading The Audacity of Hope in the next few weeks.

Year-Round School

This morning I heard on the radio that the superintendent of Columbus schools has proposed an extended school year for grades K-6 starting in August. Students would attend school from August through June, with July off. They would get all of the regular holidays - fall break, Christmas break, spring break - as well as another week off in May. Special days, termed "yellow days," thoughout the year would be used for enrichment and remediation. Teachers would sign a regular 187-day contract (the current standard) plus an "off contract" that would cover the additional work days. According to superintendent Del Phillips, the budget has been trimmed to accommodate the extra money needed to fund the longer school year.

Schools in Japan run on a nearly year-round schedule: April 1 to mid-July, with a break of about four weeks (during the heat of summer), ending with Obon; early September to late December, with a break for the new year's celebration; and early January to early March, with a few weeks spring break (typically just in time to enjoy hanami).

I researched and wrote a paper on year-round schools for a class I took the semester after I returned from Japan. I learned what Mr. Phillips says his team found after talking to the 150 or so U.S. schools that presently operate on extended-year schedules: in fact, those students don't attend school any more than the standard 180 days; the days are just spread out more through the year.

Mr. Phillips said he and his team also looked into extended day schedules, but discovered these showed little increase in student achievement. The extended year plan now in place is aimed at improving student achievement, especially for students who are behind, and helping out working families, who can send their children to a structured academic environment for another month of the year. The benefit to this extended year plan is that it is free and available to all K-6 students, unlike extended year programs typically offered, for which parents must pay. The focus is on K-6 so that students can get the help they need in the early grades.

Easy Potato Soup

I just made this, it's really simple and delicious, I think I am going into a potato soup coma from eating too much of it ....

1 sm. onion
chopped 4 med. potatoes
diced 1 c. shredded carrots (or sliced celery)
1 c. water
2 c. milk
3/4 tsp. salt
Dash of pepper
1 or 2 tbsp. butter

Boil onion, potatoes, and carrots in water for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Blend in butter. Stir in milk, salt, and pepper. Heat until hot but do not boil. Makes 4 servings.

Not only fast and tasty, it is also quite nutritious with its amazing potatoes (I used Russett), onion, carrots, and milk. Good for vegetarians too!

Asian Inspired Spinach Salad

This was a really good salad:

Dressing: combine & refrigerate for an hour to let flavors blend.

1/4 c vegetable oil
3 T rice vinegar
1 T light soy sauce
1 t dark sesame oil
(optional i.e. didn't have on hand: 3/4 t grated gingerroot)

Salad:

1 bag (6 oz) baby spinach leaves
2 c cooked cubed chicken breast
1 can peaches, drained
1/4 c toasted slivered almonds
(optional i.e. didn't have on hand: 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions)

Gently toss all ingredients in large salad bowl. Add dressing and toss to combine.

Hippos

Julie and Splish, at the Memphis Zoo, once "hippo capital of the world" (who knew?) for the most successful hippo births of any zoo

A Portrait of Mississippi: Mississippi Human Development Report 2009

For Mississippians or those with an interest in the state ... Oxfam America last month released "A Portrait of Mississippi," a report on human development in the state. Fascinating statistics. You can download the report or just view a summary. More on this later.

Preparing for Spring

The Zoo

Snow Day

It snowed the other day- relatively unusual for this region. I realized, except for liking how "pretty" it makes the world look, I am indifferent to snow. I don't especially love it or hate it. I don't get excited about it. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the other morning:

La Paz

from The New York Times: "Next Stop: LA PAZ, MEXICO" by Steven Kurutz (10/2/05)

Back in the 1960's, La Paz, which lies along the Sea of Cortez, in Baja California, seemed poised to become the next great Mexican getaway. Its white sand beaches were less crowded than those of Acapulco, while its sport fishing was as good as anything you could find at Cabo San Lucas. And it acquired a brief fame when Bing Crosby bought a home in a nearby fly-in resort, as did Desi Arnaz, who swam in a pool built in the shape of a flamenco guitar.

But the tourist boom never came. Perhaps because the topography didn't easily lend itself to the kinds of megaresorts and golf courses that are a staple of today's upscale vacation spots. Or maybe La Paz, with its workaday citizens and smoke-bellowing Pemex refinery on the edge of town, has always been too functional to be the kind of idyllic escape many travelers look for when they head off for a warm-weather vacation.

Whatever the reason, La Paz, with its fine beaches and dependably sunny weather, today remains a sleepy city of 200,000 residents largely unknown to most Americans.

(Read the full article here. Though it was written three years ago, it is for the most part accurate.)

View more photos here.

Top Ten Reasons to Try Yoga

Back in August, I began regularly attending yoga and pilates classes two to three times a week. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone! I feel stronger, more balanced (both physically and psychologically), and a little better to handle the stresses of life that come my way. So as you're contemplating your resolutions for the new year, consider these ten reasons to try yoga (courtesy of Yoga Alliance). You will feel better!

1. stress relief!
2. pain relief
3. better breathing
4. flexibility
5. increased strength
6. weight management
7. improved circulation
8. cardiovascular conditioning
9. better body alignment
10. focus on the present

Though these reasons focus on the individual, yoga classes are also a great place to meet interesting people in your community.

Ma-ri-na-su

A friend from Seattle (presently teaching in Guatemala) had her mom send this cap to me a few months ago. She got it at a Mariners’ game and figured I would appreciate it. So thoughtful! My son has been fighting me for it ever since, under the impression that any gift received in the mail (especially a hat!) must be for him. Turns out, this cap helps us fit right in here – it’s very common to see Washington State license plates in these parts. Folks from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California just drive right down, some seeking reprieve from harsh winter. I’ve seen two different vehicles in town with Alaska plates – obviously they drive down from there, too. Tonight we saw a Florida plate. Now that’s a long drive!

Bahía Balandra

It’s a rarity indeed for me to include a photo of myself on this blog, but here you go. This picture was taken a couple of days ago at Bahía Balandra. This particular odd-shaped rock formation is a landmark of the beach. Only moments before the photo shoot, I had tumbled off to the left side as I tried to situate myself and child. Here are a couple more views of the area:

La Ballena

I suppose because there’s whale-watching nearby, the whale, or ballena, seems to be the symbol of La Paz. Happy New Year, by the way.

But a ballena is also a near-liter of Pacifico beer (940 mL to be precise), our host’s cerveza of choice. Until the end of the year there’s a promotion going: bring in six ballena caps, and get one ballena free.

A bottle of Tecate of the same size is called a caguama, or sea turtle. Why don’t our beers have cute animal nicknames? (A popular Japanese beer is Kirin, which means giraffe.) Anyway, I present to you: la ballena.

El Malecón

Several years ago I walked along the malecón of Guayaquil, Ecuador. I didn't have a digital camera then ....

La Paz, Mexico

Considering its relative proximity to my home state and numerous opportunities to visit, it’s surprising that I have not visited Mexico until now. I am still not in Mexico proper, but the peninsula that extends from California – Baja California. It is separated into two Mexican states, Baja California (the north portion) and Baja California Sur (the south portion). We are staying La Paz, a nice town on the coast of the Sea of Cortez, the body of water between B.C. and mainland Mexico (alternately known as the Gulf of California). La Paz is generally agreed to be the “best” city in all of Baja California. Down the road a bit are Los Cabos – the party towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo.

Historically Baja California has been isolated from mainland Mexico and has often had more contact with the United States. Because of that, it is more of a mix of Mexican and American influences than other parts of Mexico. It wasn’t easily accessible until Highway 1 was completed in 1973. Today that is the only main road to get anywhere. After the first international airport opened in San Jose del Cabo in 1986, development took off and apparently has not stopped.

Since our host was here last year, a new Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club have opened. But La Paz typically retains more local flavor. Yesterday we explored downtown and discovered plenty of treats and crafts. Along the waterfront is a nice promenade (malecón) for walking, strolling, or running, which we’ve enjoyed nearly every day.

Some of the highlights of La Paz include fresh seafood straight from the grocery store (the shrimp is great); large bottles of good, cheap beer (these would come in really handy at the Bay); wonderful weather – sunny skies, warm temps, low humidity; and the proximity of beautiful beaches. There is even a nice café about a two-minute walk from my doorstep that offers free wireless Internet (and delicious frappes!)

Found Art (poem)

Lamatro,

I love your song but you can't sing you wish you could sound like me I know it.

I just wanted to tell you that tomorrow is my day I get to do any thing I want to you I bet you want wear those pants with the messed up zipper and button but any wayz

I Love You

I LOVE YOU


P.S. By way of explanation, this was a note found, composed by an anonymous high school student, presumably female.

December

Now that I've turned in my research paper, nothing can trouble me now. I'm on a long slide like this one, sliding, sliding, until I land in Baja Mexico in a few weeks. Between now and then, I've got classes to teach, a final (ooh! I need to study!) to take, and my big adolescent fiction project to complete. I still have seven books to read and synthesize by next Monday.
And I have to register for next semester's classes. And get Christmas presents. Ach, well there's much to do, but happily none of it involves formal research projects. I would really love to stay and chat, but it appears that I really must get going if I want to stay on this fun slide.

Ellis Island

The museum has three floors. On the second is the Registry Room. I don't think any of my ancestors passed through Ellis Island.

I thought this map provided a great visual of how the United States was created. (Sorry about the flash glare.)

NYC photos

Times Square

Twin Towers site rebuilding

Battery Park, near Irish Hunger Memorial

Lackawanna Station, Hoboken

Flatiron Building (where I once worked)

New Mad-rid

Ellis Island wasn't that bad of a place; most people got in and out in a matter of hours in the course of a day. There was that 2%, however, once inspected who had to be quarantined or even sent back. One common malady that got a person ree-jected was trachoma, a disease of the eye. Never heard of it. Caused by bacteria, it is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world. It really IS is harmful to your health to go around with a dirty face, it turns out! (That's a common means of transmission between children, especially within families.)

The Chinese food was delicious. By chance I found the restaurant, and it happens to be fairly respected for its authentic Szechuan Chinese cuisine, though we didn't order anything fancy. (I don't even know what dan dan noodles are! Does anyone?).

Once I return tomorrow, I'm going back on the road Friday, destination New Madrid, Missouri. Not sure if I've been to Missouri before. May have passed through it. (Remember the Branson craze, about ten years ago? My family did not participate.) Anyway .... New Madrid. First thing I think of is the New Madrid Fault. That comes from having a geologist father. New Madrid is on I-55 and lays claim to "the oldest American city west of the Mississippi." Aha! It lies on the New Madrid Seismic Zone a.k.a. New Madrid Fault Line (more colorfully called Reelfoot Rift) that covers parts of Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Between 1811 and 1812, there were over 1000 earthquakes and among them, the strongest non-subduction zone EQ ever recorded in the U.S., estimated to have had a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter scale. (Non-subduction means non-tectonic plates; it's not close to plate boundaries.) Large areas sank into the earth, new lakes were formed, and the Mississippi River changed its course. Some sections of the River appeared to run backward for a while. Church bells were reported to have rung in Boston, sidewalks to have been cracked and broken in Washington D.C. , and chimneys to have toppled in Maine.

The earthquakes are traced to seismic activity 5 to 25 kilometers (3-15 mi) below the earth's crust. The zone remains active and minor earthquakes have continued. What's more: there's a 5-10% chance of another big earthquake (between 7.5 and 8) in the next fifty years and a 25-40% chance of a 6.0 or greater in that same time frame. As you may guess, many, many more people live in the region today as compared to 1812, and most buildings are not built with earthquake in mind.

I should probably hit the hay so I can get up in the morning.

Ellis Island etc.

Today we visited Ellis Island and before that Liberty Island. We didn't go into the Statue of Liberty, just walked around. Ellis Island was pretty much what I expected, although now I've seen the actual place myself.
Yesterday we had lunch in Hoboken and afterwards toured parts of Battery Park near the World Trade Center reconstruction. We came upon the Irish Hunger Memorial - very interesting.
We went to The Intrepid, arriving just as the box office was closing. It returned and re-opened only weeks ago. Walked through Times Square just as dusk was falling. "It looks like Tokyo," my husband observed. In those few blocks, it does resemble scenes from Lost in Translation.
We've been on a mini-pizza tour: Sunday we had lunch at Lombardi's, the BEST pizza, and last night I made him brave the Spanish Harlem 'hood to get a taste of the original Patsy's. Now it's easy to get confused, because there are many Patsy's, and even many Patsy's Pizzerias, but the original Patsy's Pizza is at First Ave. and 118th St. The use of coal-burning ovens, no longer legal but grandfathered at these two spots, is what makes the pizza so divine. Someone told me that coal makes a much hotter oven.
The other good pizza is over in Brooklyn (Grimaldi's, Totonno's), but for this trip, the tour stays in Manhattan. The other good pizza is John's, but it's our last evening here, and Chinese has been suggested. In fact, I better go take care of that.

New York

I have been in New York for a few days, my first trip back since I moved away 4.5 years ago. While it is nice to take in the energy of the city and reconnect with old friends, I am definitely over living in New York, I found to my surprise. High rents, pricey beverages, long commutes, annoying traffic, small apartments with thin walls, I don't miss. My friend mentioned her license plate getting stolen, her car broken into and ransacked: "Comes with living in New York," she explained. "There are good things and bad things, and that's one of the bad things." But as they say, New York is a great place to visit. And to set the record straight, I loved living here. It was just a different time in my life.
New York was home for five years. I wasn't sure how I would feel about being back -- maybe that's why I stayed away for so long. But it's been fine. No inner conflict or turmoil. It's been fun, but I'll be ready to return to my present life on time.

Unschooling

John Holt: "Since we can’t know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned."

Who Was First? Discovering the Americas (31)

WHO WAS FIRST: DISCOVERING THE AMERICAS
by Russell Freedman
Clarion Books: New York, 2007
ISBN 978-0-618-66391-0

While Christopher Columbus has long been hailed for discovering America, this book details not only his explorations but also those of earlier visitors to the New World. Zheng He might have landed in America seventy years before Columbus, but all records were burned when China went into isolation shortly thereafter. Leif Eriksson’s even earlier conquest, part of Scandinavian oral tradition, was proved when his settlement dating 1000 A.D. was found in Newfoundland about fifty years ago. The theory that the first native Americans arrived about 13,500 years via the Bering Strait? Wrong. In 1933 a spearhead was found in Chile dating back 14,500 years. The truth is that there have been numerous waves of emigrations over the past 30,000 years. Theories of when and from where abound: from Africa to Central America, from Asia to the Pacific coast, possibly even from Ice Age Europe to the eastern seaboard.

Samurai Shortstop (28)

SAMURAI SHORTSTOP by Alan Gratz
Dial Books: New York, 2006
ISBN 0-8037-3075-6

It’s 1890, and Japan is undergoing rapid modernization in the wake of the Meiji Restoration. Toyo has just begun at Ichiko, an elite boys’ school in Tokyo, only days after witnessing his uncle’s seppeku; though samurai technically no longer exist, the emperor permitted Koji to take his life honorably in the samurai tradition. Toyo does not understand, nor does he understand his father Sotaro’s desire to do the same. Sotaro begins instructing him in bushido, the way of the samurai. To his surprise, Toyo finds great solace in and benefit from bushido. It enables him to accept Koji’s death and improves his performance on the baseball field. While Toyo perceives baseball as samurai in spirit, his father sees it as a senseless distraction. Despite their disagreements, Toyo doesn’t want to lose his father too. Is there any way he can persuade Sotaro to remain in the new Japan?

*****

This was a pretty cool book, heavily researched by the author and inspired by a photograph in a travel guide: a picture of a Japanese man in kimono and sandals throwing the first pitch for the 1915 National High School Baseball Summer Championship Tournament. Turns out baseball came to Japan in 1870, introduced by an American teacher at a school in Tokyo. The National High School Baseball Summer Championship Tournament still takes place every year, and it's a big deal all over Japan. Baseball is super-popular there, and as you know, today there are a number of really good Japanese playing in the American major leagues.

Happy Halloween!

I am really thrilled that it's Halloween, it's Friday, and it will be the first Friday evening in months that we'll spend together as a family (high school football has come to an end, at least for our less than stellar team).

It's been a busy week and I am slowly crawling out from under my pile of responsibilities. I had two observations on Monday and two on Tuesday. I gave a test that day, and yesterday took a midterm of my own. Wednesday I finally submitted a reference list for my research paper (only 10 days late). I just finished reading my 25th book- halfway to goal on the last day of October. Today's objectives: complete this week's grammar exercises (or most of them) and submit a couple of comments to my reading instruction discussion forum. The topic this week is vocabulary, and I found the readings fascinating. I may share some ideas in a later post, time permitting.

I went to yoga class this morning. Here's something you can try at home: stand with your feet together (mountain pose, for you yoga enthusiasts), go up on your tiptoes, then close your eyes and try to balance in this pose. It's really hard! Before we did this exercise, we did some other balance exercises, Tree for instance, and I found that my balance was really good. I was on today. But close your eyes and try to do something simple ... oh my goodness. So it turns out that we use our vision for a great deal of our balance. My instructor said that trying to balance with your eyes closed activates a part of your brain to prevent Alzheimer's. So, try this at home. It's a real challenge, and it's good for your brain! (I didn't stick around to ask, but I wondered, how does she know this? Did she read it in her yoga journal?)

Have a happy Halloween! Be careful out there.