Free-For-All Fridays

Feeling the Funk

So, Valentine’s Day was this week, and …

… well, moving on.

Let’s face it. There are times you feel considerably less than awesome. This isn’t a pity-party—not a full-blown one, anyway—but it’s an acknowledgement of these feelings. They’re real, and they’re not fun. But acknowledging their reality (without going overboard) often helps me move on.

People talk about surrounding yourself with greatness. There are many benefits to this, but there’s at least one glaring downside. When you’re surrounded by the super-awesome, you really start to notice the ways you’re not-quite-so-awesome.

Then there’s the even more awkward position: When those looking up to your super-awesome friends assume you’re one of them.

“No, really, I’m just another wannabe trying to slog it out like you guys.”

But wait, I can’t say that. I’ll sound like a jerk to people who are struggling even more than I am. So I’ll just smile and play along.

And then I feel like a fraud, too.

Gah.

So, here’s the thing. I can dwell on this “I’m not as cool as my friends” feeling, but I prefer the other option.

I can work my butt off until I reach their level of awesome. Maybe I won’t get there, but even just by trying, surely I’ll get closer. And improvement’s always a good thing.

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Misleading Words

I admit it—I love words.

I loved them even before I became a writer. During graduate school, I took a linguistics class required for my degree. My professor told me I should jump ship on education and study linguistics. It was tempting, because I found it fascinating.

Words are funny things, though. They don’t always do what you expect.

Take phlebotomy for example. It’s fun to say. Go ahead, try it. But unless you have a weird fetish for blood-letting (vampires, anyone?), there’s nothing else about the word that’s much fun.

Then there’s one of my favorites: crapulous. Despite what my spell-check is telling me, it’s an actual word, but it doesn’t mean what you might guess. It’s characterized by excess in drinking or eating.

Pop Quiz: Can anyone tell me (without internet or dictionary cheating) what a clowder is?

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Yeah, I Know You’re Jealous

I have next week off from school.

That’s right. A full week break in early February for no particular reason other than that our school always has this mid-winter break. Whatever shall I do with all that free time?

I’ll tell you what. Write. Write some more. Maybe read a little. Then keep writing.

I have a shiny new work-in-progress, and I’d love to crank out at least 10k words next week. 20k would be even better. If I can finish the first draft (or nearly) by the end of month, I’d be happy-happy-happy.

You see, Mindy McGinnis is working on a revision right now, and we have plans to swap that for my completed NaNoWriMo project when she’s done. I want to make sure there’s always one more thing in the R.C. Lewis Library waiting for her. 😉

So, for the week of vacation from the day-job, I’m hoping to let the “other” job go temporarily full-time. I’ll also be visiting my family, so hanging with them and a few random appointments will fill my time on the side.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to pack.

If you had a week off from your usual job and/or responsibilities, would you buckle down and write, or go off on a real vacation? (To be honest, I don’t remember the last time I had a real vacation … maybe I need to do something about that at some point.)

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Teachers Don’t Always Like Being the Grown-Up

This is a real shocker, right? Of course teachers take joy in torturing students with mountains of homework and giving detention. They would never want to do anything else. They don’t even exist outside of classrooms.

What, you didn’t know that? We evaporate if we try to go anywhere the normal public goes outside school hours. Very painful.

Seriously, there are times I think to myself, “I should be more strict and stern. I’m supposed to be the adult in the room.” But my students make me laugh too much. (Not all the time, but in some classes, often.) Then I remember that super-strict isn’t my style, and in those classes with lots of laughter, the kids are still learning. Laughing while they do it means they often hate math without hating math class. Sometimes that leads to not hating math so much, either. I’ll take what I can get.

Here’s something students don’t always believe: Just like they have days when they’d rather not have to think so hard and work, there are days we’d rather not think so hard and teach. But because we’re grown-ups, we suck it up and do it anyway. It’s always nice to see teenagers reach that point of realization. “I don’t feel good/I’m tired/I’m distracted, but it doesn’t matter. I have to get the job done anyway.”

There are other times when the knowledge that I’m the adult in the room is a little scary. When a student is upset, or gets hurt, or two of them are spiraling toward a full-out brawl … I have a split second of “Yikes! I’m the one who has to handle this.”

And then I do.

So remember, teachers are people, too. If you’re a parent, make sure your children are aware of that little-known fact. And if you’re a writer, try not to make every teacher in your writing a one-dimensional caricature. 😉

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Tracking vs. Self-Esteem—Where’s the Line?

I don’t know about all of you, but when I was in elementary school, they split us up and shuffled us around to different rooms during certain times of day. Math, for instance. Sometimes for reading.

It’s not hard to figure out who’s who. ‘Smart’ kids, average kids, and strugglers. And that can be a lousy feeling.

I can see a lot of good cases for heterogeneous grouping. With the right curriculum and solid teaching practices, the strugglers can make up ground, the ‘smart’ kids can be challenged, and everyone can learn.

On the other hand, there are situations where it just doesn’t make sense.

My current school has a full range of students … and I mean full. Everything from kids above grade level to kids with severe disabilities, and everything imaginable in-between. We don’t have them all in the same classes.

We do, however, have workshops.

It’s an ongoing frustration. The entire high school gathers for workshops every other week on a variety of topics. Here’s what happens:

Half the students can’t believe they have to listen to things they’ve known since they were eight years old.

The other half are lost.

End result: No one likes workshops.

We’ve talked about splitting them up into smaller groups (size-wise, that’d be better anyway) so their specific needs can be addressed more. Same topic but different levels. For some, the very basics. For others, more of a discussion, letting them talk about what they know and what issues are important to them.

Sounds good, but we haven’t done it. There are logistical reasons, but there’s also the fact that the kids will know they’ve been somehow labeled. “Ha, I’m with the smart kids. You’re with the dumb kids.” Boy, wouldn’t that be fun.

Maybe there’s a way we can avoid or lessen that effect. Or maybe there’s another alternative we haven’t thought of. Some way to make sure all the kids benefit, but not making any kids feel more defeated than they already do.

Any ideas?

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