Eats, Shoots, and Leaves...and other errors

You wouldn't know it from my (lack of) posting, but my school year is off to a great start. Finally, in my fifth year of teaching, I actually sort of feel like I know what I'm doing. Knock on wood. I keep waiting for the ceiling to fall in on me. Nonetheless, it is a great feeling. I am enjoying the beginning of the school year more than I ever have.

Today, however, I handed out a paper to my first hour class, only to realize that it had a mechanical error in the first line. For those of you grammar freaks out there, beware. This might make you sick: I used an apostrophe in the word students (student's), but it wasn't possessive. I keep trying to find excuses: maybe I had written it one way and then changed the wording but forgot to take out the apostrophe? I know, lame. It's just inexcusable.

I can live with a typo here and there (although I do try to be careful to proofread my work before making copies--it comes with the territory of teaching English), but I am not a fan AT ALL of misplaced and overused apostrophes. Especially when the mistake is mine and I have already made 130 copies to hand out to every single one of my students in every single one of my classes. It's one of those papers that I pray they won't take home to show their parents.

But, as I told my students, I hate wasting paper more than I hate grammar and mechanical errors, so I will not give in to my urge to correct the error and print off another 130 copies. Instead, I made it into a teachable moment. I asked all my classes look for the errors on the paper and correct them. It took awhile, and a few hints, but a kid in each class finally found it. I told them that it's a good reminder that even English teachers make mistakes---however rare it may be ;)

Oh, and by the way, the title of this entry is a reference to a book (Eats, Shoots, and Leaves) that is very entertaining, for all you linguistically obsessive folks. I would highly recommend it and even have a copy you can borrow if you are interested! The book's title comes from a real live dictionary definition of a panda who "eats, shoots, and leaves" rather than one who "eats shoots and leaves." Ah the power of a comma!

School Rules

My first thought on what to post about my first two days of school was ruled out when I realized I can't actually use students' real names on this blog (you have all heard of the fantastic names parents continue to come up with--some don't translate nearly as well when you read them instead of hearing them first--Orangejello and Lemonjello are a couple popular ones that come up in these conversations; Abcde (pronounced Ab-su-dee) is another one]. But alas, I can't share with you the priceless names of my new little energetic chicklets. I think I'm already walking a fine line by having a blog at all. I suppose that danger is inherent in most jobs with the ever-increasing public access to formerly private information on the beautiful and glorious world wide web; yet I still feel that I am particularly vulnerable as an educator. Call me paranoid, call me egocentric,  but that's how I feel.

Today in class, we did a new activity that I think worked fairly well: Students worked in pairs to come up with rules that they thought would be appropriate for this year and would help everyone have the best opportunity to learn. They then wrote these rules on post-its and placed them in different areas around the room. With post-its covering the walls, they walked around the room to see all the rules that we had come up with and proceeded to vote for their favorites by putting check-marks on those post-its.

I was pretty impressed with what the kids came up with. All of the rules are centered around our character education program. Now it's just a matter of consolidating them. And time will tell if they will follow them!

Wired, but Tired

I made it through Link Crew Orientation 2010. Somehow, looking back on the last week, it doesn't seem like it should have been as stressful as it felt. Everything went better than it ever has gone before. This is my third year co-leading the Link Crew program, and I am proud of the strides we've made in improving the program each year.

Now, however, I find that my caffeinated brain can't slow down enough to rest. Not that I shouldn't know this about myself. I found out in college that my body is not able to handle caffeine. Before college, I was not a caffeine drinker. My mom was careful to always buy caffeine-free sodas when I was growing up, and I never drank coffee, or really anything besides milk and water, until I got to college. Even in college, I was still pretty much a milk drinker, until I started working at Subway, where I had access to unlimited free Starbucks next door.

It took me a few weeks during my semester of student teaching AND working at Subway before I finally figured out that the reason I couldn't sleep at night even though my student teaching and Subway job left me exhausted at the end of each day, was because I was drinking WAAAAY more caffeine than my body was used to and capable of processing---for basically the first time in my life.

Since then, I have tried to limit my caffeine intake. I find that having one cup of coffee in the morning can make it difficult to fall asleep, even up to 12 hours after I've had the coffee. And with two cups of coffee in one day, well, I basically become ADHD. I can't focus on anything, and sometimes my hands literally shake when I hold them out in front of me. It's crazy.

It is therefore a VERY, VERY rare ocassion that I indulge myself and consume caffeine. It's almost not worth the side effects. Today was one of those days, and now that it's over, I am even regretting the caffeine I had at 5:30 a.m.

Alas, I find myself posting a pointless blog entry rather than taking a much-needed nap!

Back to School with Link Crew

Last week marked the end of my summer vacation. Though I spent a good 20 hours at school last week preparing for the new year, it was still considered summer because it was on my time schedule. I got up late, went to school around 11 am and worked until 5 or so. Aside from not eating lunch every day last week because I was so intent on my work that I totally forgot about it, it was a good schedule.

This week, however, is a different story. Not only do I begin my offical days back at school on Thursday and Friday, I am also one of the coordinators of the freshmen transition program (a fancy way of saying freshmen orientation). We do a cool program at called Link Crew, where we train upperclassmen to run small group sessions with freshmen to help them get to know other freshmen, upperclassmen, and of course, the whole high school. It is a high energy program, which I really enjoy, except for the fact that it saps me of all my energy.

The gauntlet: Link Leaders make a tunnel for freshmen through which freshmen enter for orientation!

The most stressful part of the entire program is where I act as facilitator of a whole group assembly (in front of 500 freshmen and 100 link leaders) for almost TWO HOURS. Among other things during this time, we play a giant game of simon says, I hold a balloon popping competition, give several "message moment" speeches (in one I compare time to money and rip up a dollar bill to emphasize the importance of spending your time wisely; then I threaten to rip a $20 bill), and worst of all, I have to sing "Quadiliacha," a silly camp song. I don't mind getting up in front of people, I do it every day as a teacher. But this is beyond even my comfort zone. Not that I have any right to complain. I did volunteer for the job.

600 plus students for TWO hours (and a microphone that echoes)!

This will be my third year doing the assembly, and while I am getting more comfortable with it, comfort can be a double-edged sword. The first year I did it, I practiced like crazy. I said my lines over and over and over, and read my notes, and even made Casey and Trekker be my audience and do all the silly activities with me. Last year, I practiced, but not as much, partially because I took over more responsibility in the training and preparation for orientation, so I didn't have as much time.

Partner lines after moving to the gym floor

This year, I have yet to look at my notes, the assembly is at 8 am tomorrow (but I have to be at the gym at 5:30 am for set-up), and here I am blogging my way into the evening. I may just have to wing it tomorrow--for two hours straight!

On the plus side, doing freshmen orientation in the weeks leading up to the beginning of the school year makes the first day of school seem like a piece of cake.

Contemplating the Stars

The Finans on the river.

As you may already know, some of the best times of Casey's and my life together have happened on the river. The Current River, to be more specific. Casey and I met on a float trip, got engaged on a float trip, and make float trips a part of our monthly endeavors whenever the weather allows. So allow me to give you some sense, an admittedly inadequate substitute for the authentic experience, of what floating is like and why we love it so much. This past weekend, Casey and I did our annual float trip for Casey's birthday, which is coming up on August 7th. This is a float trip that Casey's dad started with him when he was about 10 years old, so it's something he has been doing for over 20 years (yes, his dad was a bit jealous when Casey started taking me on his birthday float trips instead of his father, but don't worry, they still get their float trips in, just the two of them. This year, they have one scheduled for October. Brrr!).

First rule of float trips: We generally try to avoid Saturdays on the river, because of all the crowds. After all, the whole point of a float trip is to get away from everyone, right?

This past weekend, we did a Sunday-Monday float. We float the Current River, which is about two and a half hours away from St. Louis. For the first time since we have been floating together, Casey and I actually got our stuff packed up and ready to go the night before we left, giving us the opportunity to get an early start. However, even leaving before 8 am, we still don't get on the river until after 11, between stopping for the traditional Hardees breakfast, getting gas, packing up the bus to shuttle us to the river...you get the picture.

So bright and early at the crack of 11:30, we are on the river, just the two...err...three of us. Did I mention that Trekker LOVES to swim? He is working on his 7th float trip---more than I've been on with Casey! The greatest part is that he swims by the canoe the entire trip. Well, until we get ahead of him and he starts whining like he's about to drown. Don't believe him though! The minute Casey pulls him into the canoe, he's whining to get back out.

Second rule of float trips: Just because you are out in nature, doesn't mean you have to pack light.

Trek is in the boat, but not for long.

As you can see, we don't skimp on luxuries just because we are sleeping under the stars. We have packing down to an art. Everything has its place in the canoe. We usually find a spot on the river bank around 3 or 4 o'clock, at the latest. Generally, a good camping spot has a sand bar (mostly rocks), a good swimming hole, some fire wood, and if you are lucky, some bluffs to jump off of. We picked a new spot this time around, and it had all that and more...

A cozy sandbar with just enough room for our tent, chairs, and fire.

A beaver dam just down the river with plenty of firewood.

And bluffs across the river for a beautiful view and a fun jumping spot.

Wood collecting comes next. We have to gather plenty for a big fire. After more play, some swimming, and sunbathing, it is time for dinner. We always grill steaks on the river. Yum, yum, food never tastes as good as it does on the river.

Chef Casey prepping the steaks.

Once it gets dark, we use our wood for a great big fire. Then, it’s all about sitting around the fire and just drifting. One of the greatest things about the river is that all of life’s cares and concerns just kinda fade away. Instead of talking about what we have to do tomorrow or how work is going, we talk about the beauty of the stars and our amazement that God knows the history of all the rocks on the beach. We just soak up the glory of God in his creation!

Third rule of the river: Don’t sleep on the ground.

It’s hard! Casey and I got an air mattress as a wedding gift, but unfortunately, it sprung a leak after one of its first uses. For a while, the leak was small enough that when we woke up in the middle of the night on a sinking mattress, we could just pump some air back into it and go to sleep. Not so this time. Casey woke up in the wee hours of the a.m. to the SOUND of air leaking. The leak had never been THAT big! Sure enough, we found the source---the hole turned into a tear…the diameter of my pinky finger. We resigned ourselves to letting the air out completely and found out exactly how hard the rocky ground really is. I woke up with a huge kink in my neck.

Thankfully, spring-fed river water is a great ice-bath in the morning for any aches and pains!

Morning breakfast is another tasty treat: Casey’s special scrambled eggs, complete with green pepper, onion, and sausage. Then we hang around camp for more of the playing, swimming, and sunbathing before it’s time to pack up camp and head down the river.

Sometimes Trekker likes to get in the canoe up front with me, and by the end of the trip, he is tuckered out for at least a couple of days after! And so are we. Life is good on the river. I look forward to many more trips together.

A tuckered out pup!