Transition

Today is the last day I sit in my classroom at the Atrium school. I have returned my key, wiped computers, organized files on DVDs for teachers following me, and organized materials in the class as well as the storage room. Everything is neat, organized, and ready for a new teacher to step in. This does not mean that she has to use what I have left behind; she has the choice. At the beginning of every teaching job I have started, I have walked into a less that useful chaos of old files, random materials, and often a very dirty space. It feels good to not be adding to that trend.

The Year Ends as the Year Begins

In the ongoing attempt to reclaim space and get rid of stuff, I went through college binders and copy packets. I really don't think I'll be reading the articles from my Schools in American Cities course taken in '91. Along with those, many other papers filled the recycle bin to overflowing and cleared up much shelf space.
This moth alighted on the screen outside the dining room. Rose and I watched it for a while. The fabulous colors don't really show up in this photo.
Siamese Pin.
My room before school started.
Rose showing off her gangsta in pajamas look.
I drew two circles in green; Rose did the rest. Crayons are fun!

We have just returned from Philly and celebrating Rosh Hashana with Reena's family. It is the New Year in the Jewish calendar. Interestingly enough, it coincides pretty well with the new year in the academic world as well.

The crops are being brought in, some places are near or past their first frost, so the agricultural year is winding down in the Northern Latitudes.

I am finding my way in this new year. I only have four students this year, and I have not adjusted quite right to the classroom management needed for a small group. Another growth opportunity. I am looking forward to this year, but a lot of work has to be crammed in at the beginning to get them ready for a secondary school entrance test and for next schools applications.

Rose continues to be amazing and a wonder. She learns new things daily and delights in sharing them with us.




One of my great joys in childhood was taking apart anything electronic. I loved making the gears into tops.

The many distractions of life

Sugar Hill is my all-time favorite contra dance weekend. It is a time of friends. Here are Joe and Ben. Joe was one of the first people to welcome me upon my return to St. Louis after living in Philly. He and I have held a great and wonderful friendship from that time on. Ben is a new friend in my life, and my life is richer for it. Sugar Hill is about maintaining and growing established friendships and being open to new ones forming.
Sugar Hill is dancing. The hall is one of my favorites with its arched wood ceiling, large enough but not too large space, nice acoustics, and nature views just off the porch. The kitchen is to the left in this image, and I spent Saturday evening in there preparing the annual meal of burritos.


This image of David captures the feel of the dance. Details in focus as the world blurs around you. David is also a must dance partner. He plays, calls, and does just about everything else including sound. David also makes it easy for me to get to the dance. I flew into Indy and he gave me a ride to Bloomington. One of the wonderful people that make me want to return every year.This picture does not do the place justice. This building is actually one that is hardly used, but it gives an idea of the architecture of the few buildings we occupy. Camping is another reason I go each year. I did not take my camera to the lake, and it was too cold to swim much this year, anyway. I did, however, make my pilgrimage to the other side by canoe to comb the fossil beach for treasures of crinoids and geodes.
Back to reality, and my classroom. It is in much better shape. All that is in my room is my own, and not much is not in my room that should be there. I am getting organized and ready with physical space for the year. Curriculum, however, needs much attention.
I moved the white board and screen so that they were anchored to studs. The space beneath the screan will be where the smart board is installed w

Rose does new things daily. She has clearly taken the "Bye bye" from her current care provider along with blown kisses into her vocabulary. A quick one can be heard on this video, though she is much clearer when walking around the room waving bye and blowing kisses.


This morning, Rose really took a liking to the blanket Uncle John gave us for our wedding.

Rose walking and school

Rose plays with the shadows of late afternoon.
My class library spread out and ready to divide between fifth and sixth grades.

I continue to chip away at the work needed to turn my room into a functional classroom. I also have devoted time to getting my curriculum together. Next week will be crunch time for those pursuits leaving me less time to get things around the house finished. I, however, only have one bookshelf to construct, two to mount, and a computer to relocate to finish the livingroom shelving.

I installed magnetic childproof (we'll see) latches on one set of doors on the shelves in the livingroom. We will see how Rose interacts with them! I hope they hold up to the abuse because they are by far the most elegant of the solutions out there.

Rose continues to walk and be excited by her newfound ability. She also enjoys playing with Reena's flip flops and my slippers.

Many Days of Productivity

This last week has seen a great deal of productivity around and in the house. We have painting and work being done to the exterior. The ladder in the photo below belongs to that job. The lined up branches and chipper belong to the company that came to remove two trees from the back yard and trim the front tree back from the house. We now have a back yard!

This is how the back yard looks with the massive tree mostly cut down. It is amazing how much light and how much more yard we now have. We will think about how to design the yard in terms of lawn space and garden, but it is nice to have these options!I also went in to school to do some work. This will be my classroom next year. Afterschool stuff and a computer lab are in there now, so some heavy lifting will ensue before I can make the space mine. I am happy about the location, and it will be the first time in the new building that I control my own thermostat! I will also be getting a smart board theoretically. yay.
This is the china cabinet we purchased from a lovely couple off of Craig's List. It fits our dining room perfectly.
Here it is loaded with Reena's grandparents' china and some of our own odds and ends. So starts the reorganization of the basement project!
Many friends have visited this week, and Reena's blog has much more on that. Anna Maria stayed the night and had a great day hanging out with Rose and us.

Longer time no see

It has been a very full and trying several weeks. With a final project and end-of-term project due in my art course, yearbook and recipe book projects coming to conclusion, NY trip planning, and regular teaching duties, I was very occupied. On top of that, the job situation for next year is shaky, so I am starting a job search very late into the hiring season for independent schools. And I got sick this last week just in time for parent conferences for which we worked hard to get student portfolios together. Like I said, lots on the plate. Too much, in fact.

Makes me want to sit and spin.

busy busy in a quiet house

Today I showed my class Odd Girl Out, a movie about cliques and friendship issues, as part of our ongoing health curriculum. The students took it well and really delved into the discussion. Tonight I am working on preparing the lesson I will teach tomorrow at UMASS about how to use Internet resources to create collaborative spaces for students. I am feeling better about this lesson that I have presented before. My prep this time feels right. I'll know tomorrow.

Another Saturday Night

The Atrium Annual Auction took place tonight. The hallways were transformed with food, wine, and tables of neat things to bid on. I loved that there were many inexpensive items which allowed more people to feel that they could participate. I don't think I won anything I bid on, but it was fun to get away for a night while Reena was out of town singing. Anna stopped by and looked after Rose, and we got to hang out after the auction. What a good evening.

babe at school

My photo for this is on another computer. I'll try to upload it later.

Rose was dropped off at around 2:00 which made the end of the day routine hard to manage. She captivated the attention of the students to the exclusion of what they were supposed to do. If she was there during school hours more regularly, I don't think she would be so disruptive, but who knows.

Auction around the corner

The Atrium Auction is next weekend. My class created the four glass plates, and I donated this fractal print. It is always neat to see how they look when printed and framed. This one is called Venus Flytrap.

Pottery

Evelyn Ortiz, a potter from the Southwest, visited Atrium on Sunday and will be in school Monday and Tuesday for the students. Rose and I stopped by to see those folks who wanted to experience more on a Sunday afternoon.

Who watches?

Well, I am an uncle! yay. More on that later.

I went out to see a movie, The Watchmen. I don't remember the last time I went to see a movie with friends. Those who know my love of movies may find that hard to believe.

I spent the morning at school setting up for the open house. These are the table displays I created.

Long Friday

Today was very long. I left early to get to school and get the room in shape for this weekend's open house. We then had a faculty professional development day in which I had Rose for part of the day. She was none too happy about having to sleep in the classroom in her stroller. She entertained the other teachers while we were discussing history. I then was going to stay for a few more hours to finish getting materials ready for Sunday's open house, but Reena called to relay that she and her dad were locked out of the house because the lock was not working. I had to come home and break into the house. Allan enjoyed feeding and bathing Rose tonight and gets a full day of her tomorrow while Reena and I go to a couple of parenting workshops.

Winter's dirty secret

Well, it's not so secret! These snowballs are all that remain of the recent snowfall. My students had fun during recess rolling these, and the growing mounds of snow picked up quite a bit of mud on their paths. As the snow melts, the mud collects on the surface of the balls.

The Nature of Glass

I know that many of my posts in recent months reveal my love/hate relationship with the long winters in New England. I do not like the duration and darkness, but I love the ice and snow (until I have to shovel too much of it). Ice, especially, is an amazing substance that appears in a vast array of forms. I think its changeable and impermanent nature makes it even more attractive, because a striking image will be gone tomorrow if not in a few minutes' time.

Glass captures a few of the qualities of ice in a more permanent way. This year's fundraising auction item that my class worked on was a set of four serving plates that they designed the pattern to be etched. I gave some parameters to make the groups create images that would end up looking like a set but still gave them enough freedom to make their own piece. This is the result.

bumps

In the morning, Boston was coated with ice which had fallen a partial rain and partial snow last night. When I arrived at school, I found the parking lot covered with an amazing texture. Even the grass was encapsulated for the morning. My students enjoyed a game of ice hockey using feet and a stone.

welcome art

The ramp entrance to the Atrium has animals made in a previous year's study option. I really like the colors and organic forms that contrast the wire mesh and architectural design.

Masks and Time

Today we varnished the plaster casts we made from the plaster molds of our faces. Next week, we will start building paper mache masks on top of these casts. The students are excited to get to the part of the project that actually involves making a mask that will go on their face.
I stayed after school to work with my new student teacher, Craig. He is a career changer and so has seen a bit of life--more than me--and it feels good to work with someone who has his act together. I am really enjoying having him in the class and am excited to see how he uses this time. In staying late, I saw a beautiful sunset as I left the building.

BSOD and Snow

Yesterday as I went to add a blog entry, I was confronted by a BSOD, so I did what any rational person would do. I turned off the computer and went to bed.

Today, the computer started up fine after checking my backup disk. Hopefully my backups are not all corrupted.

Right now, a gentle snowfall of movie style clumps of snow is falling gently. I have already shoveled one batch of snow off the walk, and it looks like several more inches have fallen. I have to get reports done this weekend--by 10:00 A.M. tomorrow to be precise--so I went to school to pick up some student work. I moved the materials to the front door and then used sleds to pull them to my car. I love the all wheel drive!


Before that, Rose and I watched the snow fall from our front window, her with sharp toes digging into my ribs and me with appreciation for the quiet blanket being laid over the usual city noises.


Snow piles up on the skylight.

This fall, I took some pictures of the imprints leaves cast on the sidewalks. These shadows of leaves get stretched out by runoff from rainfall. Wish I had my camera instead of phone to capture these images!

School at Night

After a day of shoveling snow and writing student recommendations, I went to school to set up for the professional day I am taking tomorrow. Had to get the room ready and drop of materials for the person covering. I will be continuing to work on recommendations tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get to report writing, too.

While at school, I took some night photos. I really like taking night photos. I love my gorilla pod! It can do such neat tricks.
After taking some building shots, I played around with making prints in the snow using the bottom of one of the safety cones.