Fountains and kids and matching outfits

We walked out of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, squinting into the sunshine. I had never been in Houston in the summer and oh my, it was hot.

As we walked towards the parking lot we passed an interesting fountain where the water flowed down over the top, like water over a dam.

"I'm sure you don't remember," I said to my daughter, "One Mother's Day when you were two, we went to the [Chicago] Botanic Gardens. It was a warm day and there was a fountain that was flush with the ground around it. A lot of kids were running in and out of the water, so you and Ben joined them. You both ended up soaking wet and extremely happy. I remember that you were wearing matching outfits that I had made for you. You had a little dress and Ben had shorts. That was a good Mother's Day."

"I remember the clothes you made for us," Jamie said. "And dressing us alike -- hmm. But that's impressive that you made our clothes."

"I didn't make all your clothes! And you had a dress and Ben had shorts - not alike except for the fabric. And I used European patterns so you had the trendy Euro fashion."

Laughing. "Euro-chic!" Jamie exclaimed. (Incidentally, she still likes European fashion.)

"I made you several dresses -- remember your Chanukah dress?"

"Yes, my teachers were really impressed." I had gotten tired of so many little Christmas dresses for sale and no Chanukah dresses, cute or otherwise, so I made one.

Looking through the photo albums, there is no photo of the matching  outfits, sadly. My memory is that it was a bright fabric with cute animals on it -- either cats or hippos. It's also clear from the photo albums that my children had plenty of store-bought clothes. How did I have time to sew with two little children and going back to school? I must have had more energy, but I also realized how quickly small children's clothing went together compared to adult clothing.

I haven't touched the sewing machine in a long time except for repairs. This is one of my summer goals - to complete a sewing project and make progress on a second. My children are in their 20s now, so no more cute Euro fashions for them.

Hamilton!

I have fallen into the Hamilton craze.

No, I do not have tickets to the insanely popular Broadway show, but I am planning to get tickets to the production in Chicago, which opens in the fall. I think the first 6 months or so are already sold out, but it's staying here (in Chicago) for awhile. For those not following theater news, Hamilton, the new musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda, won 11 Tony awards, including best musical. It is noted for casting people of color in the roles of the founding fathers. The website asks you to leave your email and they'll let you know when tickets are available. Tickets (through secondary sellers) are now going for around $1,000. For one ticket.

So in the meantime I bought the CDs. I am a classically trained musician who also loves classic Broadway shows (Oklahoma!) but I wasn't sure how I feel about the Hamilton score, which includes hip-hop, rap, R&B, ballads, boogie-woogie, and show tunes, but I loved the recording! It is amazing in its musical expression, bringing the characters to life.

Also in the meantime, I made a summer goal of reading Alexander Hamilton, the biography by Ron Chernow, that Lin-Manuel Miranda based his musical on. Not counting the index, footnotes, etc., the book is 731 pages long. And though it's sucked me in, it's still not a quick read. I'm on page 192 after several weeks. It's fascinating. I knew almost nothing about Hamilton. On page 192 he is 28 and the year is 1783 and already I am convinced that the United States would not be here today if it were not for Alexander Hamilton. What a brilliant man, across many areas of expertise. Our financial system was devised by him, giving us a stable currency. He saw very early that we needed a strong federal government and a new constitution. He helped stabilize the situation with the army at the end of the war when the officers rightly complained that they should be paid. That problem could have put an end to the new United States in 1783. He makes a great flawed leading man, too.

And yes, he belongs on the ten dollar bill!

End of year reflection

Every June I reflect back on the school year, usually thinking about what improvements I might make. Things like, read more books with strong female characters to the class, fix that social studies lesson that didn't work, bring more focus to transition times. This past year was a tough teaching year for me. I had a troubled boy who decided he didn't care about anything and was going to make it through the year by being as disruptive as possible. I had a new student with many issues, including a significant lack of focus. They sucked up so much of my time and energy. I tried so many strategies - and I made progress with my new student. But I also yelled more this year than I every have -- 100% more, because I NEVER yell. But these boys would go into their own loud zone, tuning everything else out. My yelling was an attempt to penetrate their consciousness when ordinary measures had failed.

I did not like that I ended up as a yelling taskmaster - that was how I felt I was being. I felt the other students were being shortchanged. I never gave up trying to improve the situation, but at the end of the school year, I felt both exhausted and sad that I could have spent so much more time with my students who loved learning and came to school every day with eagerness.

Then I got end of the year cards (and gifts) from some of my students. "Thanks Mrs. Leff, you were an amazing teacher!" "I have learned so much from you. You are the best teacher I could have asked for." And from a parent: "It was a great, no absolutely amazing year for [her daughter]...I also thank you for creating a very warm, friendly atmosphere in your class, where all students were like family, like siblings... You were always kind, never raised your voice, thank you for that, too..."

This is post is not about how wonderful everyone thinks I am (believe me, everyone doesn't think that!), but how these kind notes helped me to see the year differently and also led me to my "ah ha" reflection on the year.

It wasn't as bad as I thought! It's true, I only yelled to get the attention of boys who were lost in their own, very loud world. We did a lot of wonderful things this year -- social studies simulations, debates, self-selected reading, hands-on math, and  on and on.

The thing that I am most proud of though, is the collaborative atmosphere both my partner and I have been able to create in the 4th grade for several years now. A few years ago the whole faculty had training in Positive Discipline. One of the cornerstones of that program is weekly class meetings. We have both held these meetings for the past several years. Starting with that first year, other teachers began remarking on the great ways that our students interacted and worked together. Students can bring problems to the agenda, which are usually problems getting along with each other. We teach them how to present and discuss the problems respectfully. They are then responsible for suggesting solutions and deciding which to try. The weekly meetings are eagerly anticipated by the class. Before the end of the school year, the class is a true community. Everyone may not get along, but I have seen classes rally to protect an outlier student who was eyed with suspicion at the beginning of the year.

Positive Discipline -- it's totally worth the time!

My "ah ha" revelation came from the parent quoted above. I was told that her child was somewhat cliquey and tended to be more interested in the social aspects of school. I never saw that in her, I saw a lovely girl who seemed to be kind and interested in learning. I didn't have a plan. I thought she was a kind, thoughtful, smart girl, and she behaved that way - she is a kind, thoughtful, smart girl. But if I had taken the warnings to heart, would she have behaved differently? My ah ha! Will this always be the case with every student? No, I don't think so, but this was really powerful for me. I want to know my students, but not peg them into a role.

And now to rest and recuperate!

D-Day

Yesterday was the anniversary of the D-Day invasion, so I decided to post this poem, which I wrote a few years ago, in my dad's memory. He was an officer in the Navy; his subchaser was off the coast of France during the invasion.

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day
I think of my father
My father loved the water
He loved to swim
And fish
Gentle waves lapping the shore of a Minnesota lake
Row boat bobbing'In a quiet fierce sun
As we fish and wish

In another time
On another boat
My father sailed the dark waters
Of the Atlantic
Searching for German subs
As the endless waves tossed and rolled

Off the coast of France
Off Normandy
The search among the bobbing waves
For bodies, not for subs
I imagine the noise, the fierce sun
Or maybe it was cloudy
Because my father never talked of it.

My father loved the water
The deep reflective ripples
Blue green gray
Too bright to look at
Dark as the night sky
From Long Island Sound
To Puget Bay
The water called to him
Sparkling cool peaceful

Like the cemetery I stand in
On Memorial Day.

The Planning Quilt

This week during our character education time, my partner teacher introduced an activity to the students that captured my attention. It's a way of articulating your plans or goals for the future in the form of a quilt. Using colored paper squares, she had them start with the center of the "quilt."

"What are your goals for the next two weeks, before school ends for the year?"she began. That square gets glued in the center of the page. Four contrasting color squares go around the first square, connection at the corners. These are four summer goals. Four more squares of the first color can fit in the spaces and contain goals for next school year.

This is similar to the paper quilt

I started thinking about what my quilt would contain. I would have a jammed-packed center square for everything in the next two weeks - grading papers, finishing projects, doing report cards, and fitting in those fun end-of-year things that kids love - the extra recess, the movie, an artsy project. 

For my summer squares, I would have one devoted to writing every day. One would have to be house projects, as we had a little flood in the lower-level family room and now need a new floor, sump pump, and, not related to the flood, furnace. I never spend enough time outside in our brief Chicago summer, so maybe that would be the third square. The fourth would be reading - biographies, novels, nonfiction... 

Plans for next year will have to wait. Summer is upon us to be embraced.

Mourning a friend

Yesterday I got the news that a college classmate of mine had passed away. I hadn't seen him since graduation. Somehow you think the friends of your youth are always there, hovering on the outskirts of your life. Until they aren't.

In college he was part of my group of friends. We played in a woodwind quintet together for all four years. We ate lots of our meals together in the dorm. A group of about six or eight of us would go out for ice cream occasionally. It was a small school so we were in quite a few classes together.

After graduation, I moved to Chicago to go to grad school. He stayed on an extra year to get a masters, then moved home to Syracuse. This was 40 years ago when the way you stayed in touch with your friends was by writing letters and maybe the occasional phone call. Lots of friends fell by the wayside as letters went unanswered in our busy lives.

I went to my 16th class reunion (it's a small school so they lumped 15, 16 and 17 together) and reconnected with a number of classmates, but he wasn't there. I heard that he was teaching music in the Syracuse schools.

When social media became popular with the general population, I looked for him, but he wasn't a social media type.

Then yesterday another classmate emailed me that he had seen, on Facebook, that our friend had passed away after a battle with cancer. I read online that he had had a long career teaching music in Syracuse, that he was a beloved and inspiring teacher, married with two sons. Our classmates remember him as being kind, never one to put himself forward, great sense of humor, and a wonderful collaborative musician. Former students praised his patience, kindness, and dedication to his students. He inspired others to be their best.

A full life, a beautiful life.

First Day of Teaching Poetry

What is poetry?
--It rhymes. Well, not always.
--It's about something.
It has a theme?
--Yes.
--It doesn't tell a story,
Well, it can tell a story.
--It has, like, a da-duh, da-da to it.
Meter, or rhythm. Yes, sometimes it has meter.
--It's verse.
It can be in verses.
--It has lines. Like, not like a paragraph.
Yes, that's an important part of writing poetry, thinking about where you will break it into lines.
--It uses figurative language, like onomatopoeia and metaphors.
Yes, that's another important part of poetry.
Poetry can show a scene, or paint a mood or feeling, or even tell a story. But it's different than prose.

Poetry is a slippery, shimmering fish
Darting about
Confusing us
Causing a laugh
Bringing a tear
A pang of recognition