Homemade cookies

When I was in my sophomore year of college, I worked as a teacher's assistant at a highly regarded magnet school in San Diego. In the classroom were students from the wealthy area surrounding, as well as children who spent as much as two hours on a bus each day to go to this school. Among the memories of that assignment is the one of a small boy, in the 3rd grade, who wanted me to "wait for him," because he wanted to marry me. At Christmas time I learned about the surprising tradition of teacher gifts. That year, as best I can recall, I received a brooch, two coffee cups, one fancy soap, a Christmas tree ornament, and one very special gift, a roll of toilet paper given to me by a young girl who wanted to give me something, and that was all she could find in her house.

One of my mentors, early on, told the parents of her kindergarten students, that if they felt so inclined to give her gifts, she would like... and she gave them a list of things that the children would love to use in the classroom.

Smart lady.

Since then, gifts from children have included a wide range of nifty things-- from specially made boxes to lavish gift certificates, to chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. (It is hard to go wrong with chocolate.) Each and every gift created a memory for me.

This year, the wonderful parents of our school created a thoughtful set of delights for us to enjoy on Teacher Appreciation Week. The cupcakes, the snacks, the lunch, each treat gave me something to look forward to during the day and made my tummy happy. I loved that the treats were made with love and not overly expensive. But what got me were the cookies. Oh, my. The cookies.

In this day, when most people work far more than they would like to, made from scratch seems like a distant memory. Not quite like when I grew up, when the church ladies would have unacknowledged contests at the potluck to see whose plate was ready to be washed first, devoured by the eager community. Now we have Safeway, and Whole Foods, who do a fine job of making cookies... but they aren't homemade.

Cookies say, "I love you," and, "I baked this just for you." They represent toil and fond thoughts. Lasting only a few minutes, they are fleeting glimpses of heaven.

Thank you, all of you, for the lovely gifts you have sent, from trusting your child to my care, to the exquisite pieces of art, both handmade and purchased, to the chocolate and everything in between... but most of all, thank you for the cookies.

You will never thank me for this, but...

Since I have had the seventh graders in my class, I have seen an incredible transformation in them and their writing. They have matured beautifully and their writing has become quite sophisticated. Since they have mastered the paragraph essay form, I wanted to give them one more tool in their author's tool box. You may remember this tool from oh, so long ago, it is... The Five Paragraph Essay.

They groaned. They complained. They offered alternative activities. (They get bonus points for not just giving me a problem, but having a solution ready as well. At least they are trying for a win/win solution.)

Much to their dismay, despite their creative imploring, I stood my ground and preceded with the first essay assignment. Yes, that is right, they are doing two of these.

Like the title says, they may never think back and thank me for this. What they will do, instead, is be polished essay writers. Maybe, on one of those days that they have 45 minutes to write an essay for a test, there might be a glimmer of recognition for the trial and tribulation I put them through. Maybe.

Still, that isn't my goal. What I want for them, when they have to write on demand, with a deadline, is not to freeze up. I want them to have the edge that these tools will give them. When others are staring at the wall trying to come up with an angle, I want your children to be finishing their first paragraph. And if they do find they are freezing up and can't write, they will have several other tools in their tool box that they can rely on, so they can still do a fine job.

And sixth graders? Now that I know the seventh grade can take this on and do well, guess what. You're next. I can't wait to see what you can do next year!

Choices, choices, choices...

We are so richly blessed to live in an area with so many educational opportunities. I would imagine, if one is a parent, it often seems like all the more pressure to find that perfect place to spend one's extracurricular funds. With so many choices, how does a parent choose the right one for that child who needs academic help over the summer?

In my prodigious hopping about the educational scene on the Peninsula and in the South Bay, I have worked at, and encountered many of the various choices that are available to parents and students. Many of them I have extensive knowledge of, and some, just a passing one. With that, though, I have learned some things along the way that I can share with you as you start your search for that summer camp, tutoring or something in between for your child.

First and foremost, OOS tries to do its best to help parents out with this issue with its many summer camps. Whatever is needed for your child, we hope to answer that need as economically as we can. With teachers that you know, in a environment that is family oriented and familiar, OOS tries to meet as many needs of the students we serve as possible.

But for many of you, we can't fulfill all of your needs. So, for that, you might need some extra guidance. I will start from the most expensive to the least.

First, there is private tutoring. The cost of this can vary between $12 an hour (for the high school kid next door) to over $60 an hour. Those prices can add up quickly, and you want to know what you are looking for. A good tutor will give you information upfront. When I tutored, I gave a pre-assessment to find out what I needed to teach. That way, you, as the parents, can see the progress has been. Other methods might be a weekly check up of what the tutor has done and what progress has been made.

Dangers? Accountability is an issue-- in many cases you get what you pay for, but some of those $60 an hour folks may be willing, but out of their league in the subject matter.

Sylvan, Huntington, Kumon, and The Tutoring Club:
I know the most about Sylvan, because I ran the one in Cupertino on Stevens Creek. For one month that I ran it, it was the Sylvan with the largest revenue in all the Sylvan chain. Sylvan and the competitors run their highly successful, and expensive, programs based on filling gaps indicated in a series of tests given, usually at a cost, to the potential student. The student/teacher ratio is the key element, as well as the teacher/student connection. You pay for a lower student teacher ratio, but it al also been proven that the connection between the teacher and student is vital.

There is a huge difference in the pricing of these programs. Those topics that are dependent on higher order thinking skills, things like writing, reading, and logical math, like calculus, are far more dependent on teacher/ student interactions.

If I were a parent with a limited budget, I would look for a low cost program for those lower-order thinking skills like calculation. The higher on the ladder of thinking skills the topic, the more one needs to rely on a good teaching and the connection between the teacher and the student.

"Go shake your ears!"

From the first, I was apprehensive about having an insult contest with the kids. Though it was my idea, sometimes my ideas need to be filtered, with many of them discarded along the way. This one, though, had so much potential that I went with it.

It was a hit three years ago, when we first held it, but this year... oh, my... this year it rocked the house. I warned the sixth graders that the seventh grade was good. I was concerned that the seventh grade, with their experience, added to their talent along with their numbers, would be a insurmountable problem for the sixth graders.

Heh. Little did I know.

With an insult that seemed to go on forever, each line funnier than the last, delivered with sheer conviction by one of the nicest people I know, Rebecca insulted her way into the Shakespearean Insult Hall of Fame. (Well, her name is on my board in wet erase ink, and we call that the Insult Hall of Fame.) She took my suggestion to use a longer insult and she acted it out with verve and enthusiasm, perhaps letting just a bit of steam out from all those long days of homework.

Rebecca wasn't the only one, though. Each year, this thing gets more difficult to judge. Many of the students showed their acting ability and took turns insulting each other. Calvin, last year's winner, upped the ante, dropping the popular style of insulting for a quieter, far more sarcastic, style. Calvin, you were very hard to beat!

What really delights me about the insult contest is that we can do it. Where else can you get a group of middle school students to memorize Shakespeare and then pretend they are insulting each other-- and not have it burst out into something that is unkind? This is a special group of students who seem to like each other well enough to engage in something that can't be done with most groups their age.

It always is the best part of the party, but there were many great pieces to the event. Doris Williams, a trained teacher and a classical and Celtic musical scholar, accompanied by Sue Casey, taught the students a bit about music of the times. Ria was there to spin for us again, students shared their projects, and Ms. McGillivray talked of some of her knowledge of the costumes of the times. And we can't forget the food! A loaded table filled with Elizabethan delights filled our bellies.

In the end, though, it was the students that made the day, and the highlight is always the insult contest. Thank you, all who insulted and were insulted. Remember, one always sounds much more intelligent when it is said in "Shakespearean."

In Celebration of... Boredom.

As I look forward to my week off, I am thinking about what will get done. Though I won't get finish all that I think I should, I also know that I will schedule time to create.

Growing up in a town of 500 people, boredom was a constant companion, though in my family, one wasn't allowed to just sit. Value was placed on producing-- whether it be helping out around the house or creating something from scratch. I learned that boredom was a catalyst to creativity.

With nothing to do, little money to spend, there always seemed to be enough to cover the cost of my creations. There was always fabric, and always a new idea. I learned to make something from (almost) nothing, putting together new clothes from original drawings. For me, boredom meant that I learned many things that one can only teach oneself-- self-reliance, creativity and abstract thoughts were turned into real objects.

Our kids, your kids-- they are so busy that sometimes I am concerned about their "boredom" time. One needs time to dream, to sit under the clouds and challenge oneself to see how high your kite can go, preferably, your homemade kite. Unscheduled time resets one's brain and allows what has been learned to sink in, and lets the brain rest to be ready for the next onslaught of information.

As a teacher, we struggle with homework time. We know research points the way to less homework: http://www.nea.org/tools/16938.htm and http://tinyurl.com/yfzbel9, but we feel compelled by what is around us to make sure each student is as prepared as we can possibly help them be. We are pressured to give homework just as much as students are pressured to complete homework.

I tend to compromise. My homework tends to be project based enrichment of what is done in class. Whether it be a story to write, or an end of the book project, it is often an exercise in project planning. Students learn to plan their own time around the project deadlines, giving them an option of doing it all at once, or little bits at a time.

This week, as your students are off, of course, I want them to work on their projects-- I am hoping they are fun and that they learn something they want to learn. I am also hoping for them, time... time to dream, time to play, time to create, and yes, even time to be bored.

The Things She Says!

Long ago, when I first started in the classroom, there was a thing called, "Assertive Discipline". It was a theory of classroom discipline based on a behaviorist model from a book by Lee Canter. In essence, it listed positives, negatives and the consequences of each in groups of about five. That is, there were five rules, five expectations, five consequences for breaking the rules and five rewards for following directions. It was, for me, a great method for establishing my classroom discipline.

Fast forward, as the years seem to do, to now, and you will find one, very small trace of that method remaining on my walls. I long ago realized that I only need one "rule" in my classroom, and that is what you see centered over my white boards, "Show respect to yourself and others."

That covers it, doesn't it? That means you don't take what isn't yours. You don't cheat yourself, you keep your words honest-- it covers pretty much the whole host of behaviors that society expects of one.

That is the official rule of the classroom, but, as your students have heard, I have far more things to say about behavior than that-- but most of them don't get published on the walls for the parents to see. I thought I would share a few of those with you.

Go Beyond the Obvious
First, here is a favorite of mine, "Go beyond the obvious." I teach a smart bunch of kids and finding something new to teach each other can be a daunting experience. Still, it is what is expected. If it was the first thought in their head, it probably was the first thought in the heads of those around them. To be unique, one has to take the next step and go beyond the obvious. Don't just tell us what we already know, or don't write the story that is easy to write, think it through one more step and surprise us with something we didn't know.

Humor is always making fun of something.
We laugh a lot in my classroom. At least I do, and I hope your child sees it that way, as well. There is something funny around almost every corner. But humor, no matter what kind, is making fun of something. Sometimes we make fun of ourselves, sometimes other people or creatures. The trick with acceptable humor is knowing when and how to illuminate the joke without hurting someone. That is a sophisticated skill, to have a wit that can amuse people without harm. And that is a skill I wish for your child.

From everyone, I learn something, from some, I learn what to do, from others, I learn what not to do.
I teach stories, and stories aren't always filled with good people. But every character can be a role model, if you know what you are looking at. Even the bad guys have something to teach us. Watch, learn, pick and choose mindfully what parts you want to add to your personality and which parts you want to discard. Learn something from everyone and everything.

Learning to write is so much more than putting words on paper. It is even more than learning to think logically. It is an immersion into the human experience that turns the superficial thinker into caring and thoughtful person. I am lucky to be able to see that growth in your children, because they, in turn, teach me to be a more thoughtful and caring person, as well.