Nostalgia, Wanting More, and Peanut Butter and Jelly Friends

I just read the blog of a friend who was one of my girls the year I was an RA. She is amazing and I wish she lived next door to me. She wrote about moving into a new house and it inspired me as only Ashley can to be very much the Jessica I am in my own life. Tonight what this looks like is a pile of laundry on the couch, wine, The Office, open windows and uncommon breezes, and a newly rearranged living room.

I do this sometimes...rearrange everything. Jenna thinks it's done too often. But I like rearranging. It enlivens the room. And tonight I remembered this old set up and thought back to the first year in Stillwater. I think the furniture is happiest in this set up....it's what it came to when I first moved here. This year I got into a mood at the end of the school year and rearranged everything in my classroom. One fell swoop. It had to be done. Same thing.

When I first lived here, I lived very frugally and was happily house poor. I had a little budget and a little apartment in a little town with cute little students and actually a rather large classroom. It was giant but had 2 or 3 outlets at the front of the room. No windows though, so sometimes I would literally teach at the top of the hill overlooking the city and the river. It was picturesque, and like a movie. I even had a short little commute...5 minutes driving right down the north hill, and there I was at school. It was a nice beginning to a new place. I borrowed furniture and couldn't afford the Internet and had a very old television that was uninspiring and always unfamiliar and in the end just kind of gross. Can a television be gross? This one was.

'And we're walking.....Follow the red umbrella.....And we're here.'

Not directly related, yet so related, random intro....

I like when things like this show up and stop you in your tracks.  This was one of the things I saw in Washington D.C.

I'm back to Nimrod again, except that now I'm not drawn to it because of fatigue.  Always, always I think this song is beautiful, and I am amazed by the fact that the composer wrote it because someone influenced him and made him think differently about his world.  People in London play it on Remembrance Day which is synonymous with Veterans Day here.   You can tell that there is heart in this song.

When I looked over the last few entries I had written, I could see the obsessively reflective teacher making the end of the year feel like the end of the year for a lot of people (and myself).  My brain was whirring.  I kept using the word 'systematic', which was annoying.  Last I checked, I didn't love when my life was systematic.  There is more!   But I'm not required to fill the classroom with history until September again.  So I'm excited to listen more often for longer periods of time, and see what comes up in people I know and love.  Usually when I make some room for this, it is one of the most interesting angles on the world.

The 8th Grade Goes to Washington

Jimmy Stewart of 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' fame

In about 31 hours, I will be getting on a bus with a bunch of students I've been teaching for two years.  We are going to go to Washington D.C.  To people who know me, this is not a surprise.  But I AM going to surprise you now with our stellar itinerary.  I'm sitting here on the couch and only certain things have panned out. 

When I wake up tomorrow morning (and everything is bright and beautiful because I am a morning person), I am going to get things done.  I'm going to get to my classroom and organize and clean and square it all away.  I rearranged my entire room today, and this was a decision out of nowhere, but it had to be done.  I needed a fresh change, and so everything got moved.  I'm finishing this. I'm doing laundry, I'm confirming appointments in D.C., I'm calling someone about the fine tuned details.  I'm packing for myself, thinking of things my students might not pack and then packing that too, going to Target, double checking things, then triple checking things.  I'm going to relax.  Sleep.  Breathe, drink water, enjoy the day.  That too.  But I'm on a mission to feel solid about D.C., and that takes some focus.  

Lessons for the Teacher on the Last Day of School

This is what you look like on the last day of school.

What you see here is a unique blend of thrill and exhaustion.

My friend Maddie (shown above) wrote about the school year in a way that today I cannot, and I am still reeling from her good words.  She was very gracious as she wrote about the year, and she described our little world very well.  I felt overwhelmed when reading her thoughts because they said things I am honestly too weary to say.  In a tiring year, Maddie has been inspiring because she took all of her energy as a new teacher and brought confidence, thought, and the good blend of clear vision and fun to the classroom.  You can see it in the her blog entry about the last day of school.   I'm adding it here because it's so all encompassing.  Go the the entry called 'Spinning'.

msbsgotclass.blogspot.com

Mile 25 and Systematic Living

It is the last week of school.

Some of my friends are completely finished for the year.  But we're not there yet.  This week it is St. Croix Prep's turn to close things out.  For me this means late nights of grading, watching a few end of the year plays, collecting books, signing yearbooks, making students be reflective, talking about D.C. a lot, THINKING about D.C. a lot, and keeping order for five more days. 

The thing that has helped me this year: being a teacher who has done this 3 times already.  I figured out a rhythm and a pace that kept me sane.  I'm still myself.  I didn't get too loopy.  When I didn't feel sane today I stood back and made myself breathe in and out a few times.  I stepped away from needy students.  Sometimes students in 7th grade forget that in addition to just them, you also, as the teacher, possibly talk to 159 other people in the course of 7 hours who might just have that same question. 

Speech!

This morning I read a blog that had posted this video, and decided it was so deep down inspiring and fun that I wanted to add it here too.  This kid is awesome!  I'm encouraged by how intense and excited he is, and that he stands on the curb to deliver his message to the world.  A little orator in the making?  I think so.

Quote at Midnight

"Hope that is pinned to God, rather than to people, has a buoyancy to it that is grounded not to our own illusion of how the story should read, but in the character of God."  - Paula Rhinehart