Last night, I decided that I wanted to try something new with the camera. You see, our SLR actually has the ability to do high def video, and I’ve never used it to great effect. So, I told Oakley that I wanted to try something. She said she was willing, but that she really wanted to record Lindy more… So, we did that too.
Ultimately, though, I just sat Oakley down at the island, turned on the camera, and recorded. You can hear Lindy goofing off… Then I asked Oakley to tell me about herself. She does so briefly, but then she takes the conversation somewhere different. She decides to talk about Miss Drury, her 1st grade teacher.
Now, I’ve told many of you about Miss Drury on the blog and elsewhere. This, however, is Oakley’s unfettered, unrehearsed, uncensored opinion of her teacher.
Now, I believe that Miss Drury reads this blog from time to time. I thought about saving this… I thought about sparing her the embarrassment. But then I reconsidered. Teachers, especially great ones, have to be lauded… publicly. So, Miss Drury, I hope that you carry this close to your heart forever.
Like other 1st grade students, Oakley was asked to complete a writing assessment sometime in the last couple of weeks. This is something they write at school in which they are encouraged to use all of their writing tools. I think Oakley comes with a truckload…
My favorite snowy day activity is sledding. I like sledding because sledding makes me feel like I am soaring down a massive hill with very swift and jerkey moments. Another thing I like to do is sip hot chocolate. Sipping hot chocolate makes me feel all warm and toasty inside. It makes me feel like I do when someone I love is surounding me. Hot chocolate makes me feel spectacular. When hot chocolate has marshmellows with it the hot chocolate makes feel even better. I also like building snowmen. The chilly snow on my fingertips makes me remember how fortanate we are to be having this much snow. It is so fun to roll the snow balls all different sizes. I wonder how many cinemeters it takes to get across the bottom sphere. Finnaly when I am on the last object I know every time that I am going to be satisfied with my snowman. When I am finished, I make sure that I have added every single part. Then I stand back to admire it. Sometimes I might say its to big. Sometimes I say its just right. And sometimes I might say, “Its to small. I will make it bigger next time!” I positivly love snowy winter days! I love playing in the snow, hot chocolate with marshmellows, and last but not least, building snowmen. I wish the whole world was of snow.
I have it on pretty good authority that this would have been a good writing assessment for a 5th grader… How awesome is Oakley!?
Oakley’s teacher (Miss Drury is at it again), did something cool with the kids. They each wrote a poem about winter, and Miss Drury helped them record it an put it with a digital animation… Then she sent them each home with a video DVD.
Aspen did a great little oral presentation at school this week, her first. Lasting about a minute, you can catch the official presentation and the rehearsal right here.
Occasionally I remember to photograph or scan some of the kids’ artwork for display here on the blog. This Thanksgiving’s lucky winner is a poster created by Oakley. Stapled to the back was this (written totally by Oakley, spelling as written by Oakley):
My name is Oakley. We are pilgrims. We came to the new world on the Mayflower. It was a very long and very hard jorney. There was not very much room on the Mayflower. A lot of my freinds died. Then someone shoutded land ho! I was so excited. Oakley.
Be careful, everybody. I am typically averse to the collision of my work and personal lives. I like both, I just don’t let encourage them to mix very often. But my work, related to learning and the like, is colliding with my personal/family life as I read some blog posts. So, I thought I’d post a few thoughts here and see if anyone feels like I do, or feels like talking about them… (Mom? I’m talking to you…)
I started here, a post from Fred Wilson. Fred Wilson writes on Venture Capital and emerging technologies, and I read him for fun and to pay attention to emerging tools. Today, he stepped into my world by talking about learning.
That led me to this fascinating post… from someone I’ve never once read. This is, to me, a courageous message to send to your kids. I ask myself… am I ready to send them this kind of message?
And from there, I ended up in this particular comment, which brings me back to questions I ask myself all them time.
I have real complaints about school. It takes up such an obscene amount of time. How much of that time is well spent? Just last night, Jenn was talking to our neighbor Janet about their weekend. Janet’s kids are brilliant. They went on a trip Saturday, and that meant that they spent the entirety of Sunday doing homework. Literally, the whole day. Is that useful? Is that something I want for my kids?
Before I had kids, I would have spoken out aggressively against home schooling. The home schooled kids that I encountered as a camp counselor were not well adjusted. Their social skills were lacking (it is, I think, part of why they were sent to camp).
But now? I am uncertain. My kids go to school in one of the top districts in the nation (Brentwood High ranks 192nd according to Newsweek). The report card on Lipscomb Elementary is very high. And yet, I still come many days wondering if their time was well spent.
So, my only conclusion right now is that I have doubt. I’m thinking about it. I’m not going to do anything rash (have no fear). But, I’m thinking about it a lot. I’m thinking about it when Oakley tells me that she already knows everything they’re doing in class. I’m thinking about it when Aspen has to do homework, even though she’s getting 100’s on spelling pretests and she spent 7 hours at school that day.
Well, we’re off to a good start on the new school year. It is admittedly a bit of a challenge, as we were rezoned over the summer. We were never really in love with Edmondson, frankly, so that part was no big deal. But, Aspen had a bunch of friends, so that part of the move was sad. (We miss you, Cassie!)
As for Lipscomb, we’re off to a great start. Oakley went to school for a little while yesterday, and she had a great time. The “games” she got to play with her teacher (Mrs. Gilliland) and the other Kindergarten teachers were a good start.
Aspen is enjoying herself as well. Tonight she was telling me a bit about school today. She said (and I paraphrase):
“We were playing with Mrs. Dodd today, and she has a magic wand. She swept the wand over us, and it made sounds, and then it pointed a blue light at somebody. She asked a boy what 2 + 2 was, and he said 6 on purpose. She had to fix her wand.”
There were two things that I thought were really cool about that. One, Aspen, without thinking about it, said playing. She was learning, yes, but it didn’t feel like it. She felt like she was playing. (Sure, school still feels long to her. But seriously, work feels long to me and I have the best job going. She leaves home at 8am and gets home at like 4:40. But the bus problems are a totally different story.)
The second cool thing is that she had a memorable learning moment on the fourth day. I kid you not, I’m not sure she had a single memorable learning moment in her entire year last year.
So, thank you, Lipscomb. We are off to a good start and we appreciate it.
Well, I don’t have independent confirmation of this story, but I’m fairly sure it’s mostly accurate…
So, Aspen was given an award of sorts at school today. You’ve seen the yellow Livestrong bracelets; Aspen was given a purple one with the words Character Counts by the school guidance counselor along with several other folks. It seems that two people from each class were given the award, which included having their picture taken, for random acts of kindness. Aspen and her good friend Sean received the bracelet because they had been “caught” staying after lunch for a moment to pick up other people’s trash at the lunch table.
Sean and Aspen had also led a successful crusade at the school Mardi Gras event to get the lunch room custodian Jesus elected Mardi Gras King. (Note, the subject of the email that came out the following day from the school still makes me laugh. When you see a subject line that simply says, “Our Custodian, Jesus,” don’t you start thinking about bumper stickers?)
Regardless, I’m awfully proud of Aspen for being thoughtful even when no one was supposed to be watching.
