North

This collage is going to be beautiful and profound, but I have only just begun.

As everything is currently related to my quest to become a teacher, so is this collage. So is this blog.

The collage is a project that draws from the medicine wheel in many cultures, which is based on the cardinal directions and the cycles of nature.

As a language arts lesson, I will enlist the students in creating collages that are organized into north, south, east and west, after some clever prompting. They will first collect and create the imagery, and then will explain their choices in words. This will be the first project of the term.

Since I plan to make them do this, I, too, am doing it. The photo here is of the north, but I will still add images to it. Why I started with the north is beyond me, as most things relevant to the wheel seem to begin in the east: sunrise, spring, new life. I suppose it was a wintery day when I began. I suppose that lately I have been full of love for the older people who are in my life.

I certainly expect the north to be the most difficult for the students to connect to in their teens, but we shall see. Getting them to connect with the purpose of this assignment will be difficult, but I know I can pull it off. After I get them to arrange themselves in the shape of a compass, it will all be crystal clear. Ha! Hardly, but I'm not worried.

Since it is currently due north in my day-midnight-I am off to bed, only to rise tomorrow, fresh, in the east.

Jogging

Spring comes early here.
I am struck by how green emerges from within green.
The forest seemed lucious all winter-
a moss-covered and coniferous blanket-
but now it glows green.

The plum trees have bloomed.
Plum blossom petals ride each breeze
while the honey-sweet aroma hangs in between,
dripping from branches and oozing
toward me on the path.

Each tree seems to step forward to greet me.
I am wrapped in plum sweetness long before
the tree comes into view.
But by the time I pass, the scent has returned to its tree
and I am caught sniffing naked air.

end of another week

Time is just flying by. There is so much to learn and so little time. What have I been working on in the last week? Let's make a list: summer job applications, scholarship applications, keeping the non-profit afloat, tutoring 6 students, editing student essays, helping in an 11th-grade classroom, studying authentic assessment, studying language arts methods, learning how to blog, volunteering for LEAD, creating curriculum, looking for a student teaching placement, making a collage, running, yoga. No time for dance. Little time for friends. Not enough fresh air. No time for my surrogate great grandma, who is 95 years old and lives right down the street.

But still I have discovered a new method of procrastination. The usual methods of procrastination include writing emails, cleaning the kitchen, snuggling, making a fire, organizing my office, making phone calls, and internet explorations only loosely related to what I am studying.

But the new method is completely different and, for me, completely uncharacteristic. This is from a woman who does not watch, and is generally disinterested in, television. In fact, we do not have a television. I do not have time for television. But in an attempt to divert my mental energy the other night, I gave in to R's invitation to watch an episode of "24" using the DVD on my computer. One episode and we were both hooked. Three days later and I am fighting off the urge to watch episode six. We were up until midnight last night watching three episodes in a row!!! What a clever show. What a wonderful diversion! The best thing is, if I sacrifice hours of sleep to watch this show, I can still function the next day. Passively watching the show is not nearly as mentally taxing as staying up late doing research, or writing papers. I can sacrifice 2 hours to "24" and wake up after 6 hours of sleep completely rested. Gotta go find Kiefer Sutherland's kidnapped daughter. Peace out!

Yeeee Hawwwwwwwwww! No looking back now!

Here is the "left coast,"
the Edge.
Still I push farther.
Are we "progressive?"
Has this ceased to be the frontier?
From Oregon I write,
wondering,
Are the school walls so impermeable
that change is locked out?
Keep pushing
Keep pushing
There is no edge.

Learning

There will be many purposes behind this blog, but first and foremost is the weblog's potential as a teaching tool. Here, I educate myself, so I can later educate my students.