Ringing Like a Bell

For a variety of reasons today has been one of those days. You know the ones -- when you think about your life and what it means. Am I doing enough? Does my life count? What really matters? One of the reasons I've been thinking about those things is that it's the end of another school year. Seniors will be graduating on Saturday, which always produces a mixed bag of emotions. Between school and community events, I think I've spent more time with some of them in the last four years than their parents have. I'm always so proud of the students from our school because, on the whole, they are great kids, and they are sincerely headed out into the world to be productive citizens. I'm always selfishly sad to see them go because I will miss them, but mostly I'm just full of joy. After all, they are the reason I do what I do every day; it isn't really about money or any other reward I could get. I show up in my classroom for them. I'm using my most precious r...

Let me tell you about a student who sits right beside my desk. I'll give you three chances to guess why he sits in that particular seat, and the first two don't count. This guy drives me crazy! He spends his time in my class constantly looking at the other students and thinking of things to say that will make them laugh. (Mostly quotes from Rush Hour 2.)  He's a classic class clown. Needless to say these behaviors often interfere with his learning; he'll be lucky to get credit for my class at all. You might be thinking that I dislike this student of mine, but I don't. At heart, he's a good kid -- he just exhausts me. In fact, there's a tender spot right in the middle of my heart for him. I've been teaching for a while now (next year will be number ten), and I've learned quite a bit about human nature in that time. I can tell you that the atmosphere in the room shifts in just this certain way when a punch is about to be thrown, and nothing brings...

Last year my students and I went on a crusade. One day I was reading "The Hot Word," a blog on Dictionary.com (I don't like it as well now as I used to; someone new is writing it, and it isn't as good). One of the posts was about dying words -- words from English that aren't used as much anymore. My diligently working students were distracted by my sudden gasp. One of my favorite words was on the "in critical condition" list. Hornswoggle -- a verb meaning to cheat or trick. It also has a great synonym I really love -- bamboozle . I was appalled! I read the short post aloud to my students, and we unanimously decided to revive two words on the list: hornswoggle and aerodrome . (An aerodrome is a small airport.) Our plan worked, kind of. A few juniors at my high school now know the words and use them occasionally. If nothing else, using the words has become a sort of inside joke for us. Yesterday after school I went to the library. Going to the li...

Keep your eyes on the road . I learned that lesson , where I should have learned it -- in driver's ed. class. Our teacher, Coach Burnette, took us down lots of winding country roads, and believe me there are plenty in rural Alabama. My lifelong friend, Joey, and I were in the same driving group along with another girl named Debbie. I'll never forget Debbie's 30 mph stretches and her 50 mph right turns. I don't know how he did it, but somehow Coach always remained calm. He had a "teacher's brake" over on the passenger side, but I'm not sure how much good that really would have done in an emergency. The man must have had nerves of steel. I really didn't have much experience behind the wheel then, and I'm not exactly the best driver in the world now. I wasn't too worried about what Joey and Debbie were going to think because both of them had already driven. They hadn't had too many serious issues. I could handle it. Right? I crept  ...

Today is a glorious day; it's my sister's birthday. A few months ago I was getting my oil changed, and I read an article about siblings in one of the worn out magazines on the table near my seat. I found it insightful. I can't remember the article's title exactly, but it was in People or Good Housekeeping -- a magazine like that. Its basic premise was that the relationship people have with their siblings is the most formative, vital, and long-lasting connection they have. I remember thinking. Yep. So true . Reading it raised my awareness about how important my siblings have been in my life. I need them, probably more than they know. I wouldn't be me without them, not to mention the fact that they  understand me in a way other people just can't. We do have the same parents and most of the same childhood experiences after all. All I have to do is look at one of them and say, "Cheesebooger." They know what that means and exactly what I'm tal...

A few years ago one of my colleagues showed me what might be the best lesson plan -- ever . The whole idea is to show students the Discovery Channel "Boom De Yada"  commercials then let students write their own versions of the song inserting the things they love about the world into the verses. If you've never seen the videos (or even if you have), you can watch it right there. Students whole-heartedly embrace the idea every time I've ever presented it. They write some pretty beautiful Boom De Yadas, and they leave class brighter, their faces shining. I've got a theory about that: it never hurts to think about the good stuff. I'm a sucker for the videos myself. I've seen them several times now, but somehow they still manage to lift my spirits. The wonders of this life (heartbreak included) make my heart sing. I read an article a while back about how scientists have figured out how to encrypt Shakespeare's sonnets onto a synthetic strand of DN...

I am always fascinated by overheard conversations. I wouldn't exactly call myself an eavesdropper, but I like it when I catch snatches of someone else's conversation. Once in Starbucks I listened to a lively debate between two women behind me -- tea vs. coffee. I was tempted to whirl around throw my arm up between them and say, "Ding, ding, ding! That's the end of round one!" I didn't, of course, believe it or not, even I have boundaries. A while back I caught a fragment of  a conversation my students were having. One said, jokingly, "What's the meaning of life?" The other said, more seriously, "Nobody knows that." Several of their peers joined in and before long one student's half-saucy remark had sparked a wildfire in my first period. As so often happens in the classroom, all of them turned toward me at once. In their eyes I'm always the 'tie-breaker' because being in charge automatically makes you right, right? (H...