A Windy Friday
Go Hutchinson! Site of the highest wind gust in the area today--59 MPH.
Right through all that huffing and puffing, the weather service continued to predict wind gusts as high as 34 MPH. Waaaaay off.
I noticed that our our gas grill got blown over.
*********************
We had weird hair day at school. Mr. Schrock, whose hair never looks the slightest bit weird, had an emergency with his bees this morning, and couldn't come to school till late. At lunch, he apologized for forgetting all about the special event of the day, being so busy with the bees and all. He said he guesses he could stick his head under the faucet and then go out and stand in the wind, and get weird hair in a hurry. But he said it without much intention or enthusiasm, and no one held him to trying it.
Some of the rest of us, on the other hand, worked hard to look weird. Normal is a lot faster and easier.
I did the middle part, comb toward the temples, hook over the ears number. This revealed quite a lot more dark brown hair than usually shows, and the students were delighted with the result. At least they cheered and flocked around when I arrived, while I tried my best to scuttle off to my desk quietly. They followed me to my desk and stood around in an admiring circle. I don't think for a moment that anyone really was smitten with the result--only delighted to be able to laugh at a teacher's looks without fear of recrimination. I hate to think how disruptive it might have been if I had done what I briefly contemplated doing--start braids just above each ear and then lift them to the top of my head and tie them together in a bow. I just couldn't think how to wear a covering with any semblance of respect behind such a clownish hairdo. As it was, I wore my covering sort of clinging desperately to the "back 40" of my head, over a fat round bun worn low on my neck. It felt horrible. One of the girls couldn't resist trying to help it into a more respectable position when she walked by near the end of the day.
I combed my hair properly after I got home, but not before I went through the bank drive-through, and not before a siding and window salesman stopped in to push his product. Poor guy. He had to pretend I looked perfectly fine.
I concluded that it's really hard to hang on to a feeling of authority when you know you look ridiculous.
*******************
Our newspaper last week had a front page article about the suicide of a 17-year old boy who seemed to have everything going for him. The young man was active in a local church, and he was well-liked and successful in athletics.
Hiromi had a sinking feeling of recognition when he read the article.
Remember the customer in his lane who made a major case out of a coupon irregularity Hiromi had a hard time figuring out? Suffice it to say that that customer undoubtedly knows now that a coupon "emergency" is a nothing--compared to the death of a child by suicide.
Hiromi was originally mistaken about the customer's identity. He heard her name correctly, but her husband was not who he thought. He got it all sorted out the next day, and what he learned added some drama to the mix.
*********************
Several days ago, I promised my typing students a party if they raised their class typing speed average by two words per minute by the end of the school year. Today they reached that goal. I was pleased, but it happened a lot faster than I was expecting, and I hope the momentum can be sustained till the end of the year.
*********************
Kristi is taking action to try to provide safe drinking water to two individuals in a developing country for a certain period of time (Is it a month or a year?). She's collecting $40.00--the amount required to accomplish this. The money is channeled through a charity which she learned about while she was doing research on water crises.
I think it's a great idea to take decisive action like this--to go beyond learning about problems to doing something to address the problems.
*********************
Each of the typing students prepared and presented a slide show based on the material they gathered for their oral or written report for the current issues study of the month. I gave several minimal requirements, and showed them some of the basic ways to put things together. Then they experimented and came up with something to present to the others in the class. I was impressed. They're already ahead of me.
*********************
Three seniors gave presentations today on a subject of their choice during the Friday activity time--something that tells us about their interests, skills, or abilities. Euni talked about ceramics, Emily showed us an origami trick with a one-dollar bill, and Seth, who talked about photography, handed out poster board and assignments for each of us to create a page-sized numeral--something between 1 and 31. Then he took a picture of each of us with our numeral. With these photos, he plans to create a picture calendar page. I'm looking forward to continuing the series next year.
Right through all that huffing and puffing, the weather service continued to predict wind gusts as high as 34 MPH. Waaaaay off.
I noticed that our our gas grill got blown over.
*********************
We had weird hair day at school. Mr. Schrock, whose hair never looks the slightest bit weird, had an emergency with his bees this morning, and couldn't come to school till late. At lunch, he apologized for forgetting all about the special event of the day, being so busy with the bees and all. He said he guesses he could stick his head under the faucet and then go out and stand in the wind, and get weird hair in a hurry. But he said it without much intention or enthusiasm, and no one held him to trying it.
Some of the rest of us, on the other hand, worked hard to look weird. Normal is a lot faster and easier.
I did the middle part, comb toward the temples, hook over the ears number. This revealed quite a lot more dark brown hair than usually shows, and the students were delighted with the result. At least they cheered and flocked around when I arrived, while I tried my best to scuttle off to my desk quietly. They followed me to my desk and stood around in an admiring circle. I don't think for a moment that anyone really was smitten with the result--only delighted to be able to laugh at a teacher's looks without fear of recrimination. I hate to think how disruptive it might have been if I had done what I briefly contemplated doing--start braids just above each ear and then lift them to the top of my head and tie them together in a bow. I just couldn't think how to wear a covering with any semblance of respect behind such a clownish hairdo. As it was, I wore my covering sort of clinging desperately to the "back 40" of my head, over a fat round bun worn low on my neck. It felt horrible. One of the girls couldn't resist trying to help it into a more respectable position when she walked by near the end of the day.
I combed my hair properly after I got home, but not before I went through the bank drive-through, and not before a siding and window salesman stopped in to push his product. Poor guy. He had to pretend I looked perfectly fine.
I concluded that it's really hard to hang on to a feeling of authority when you know you look ridiculous.
*******************
Our newspaper last week had a front page article about the suicide of a 17-year old boy who seemed to have everything going for him. The young man was active in a local church, and he was well-liked and successful in athletics.
Hiromi had a sinking feeling of recognition when he read the article.
Remember the customer in his lane who made a major case out of a coupon irregularity Hiromi had a hard time figuring out? Suffice it to say that that customer undoubtedly knows now that a coupon "emergency" is a nothing--compared to the death of a child by suicide.
Hiromi was originally mistaken about the customer's identity. He heard her name correctly, but her husband was not who he thought. He got it all sorted out the next day, and what he learned added some drama to the mix.
*********************
Several days ago, I promised my typing students a party if they raised their class typing speed average by two words per minute by the end of the school year. Today they reached that goal. I was pleased, but it happened a lot faster than I was expecting, and I hope the momentum can be sustained till the end of the year.
*********************
Kristi is taking action to try to provide safe drinking water to two individuals in a developing country for a certain period of time (Is it a month or a year?). She's collecting $40.00--the amount required to accomplish this. The money is channeled through a charity which she learned about while she was doing research on water crises.
I think it's a great idea to take decisive action like this--to go beyond learning about problems to doing something to address the problems.
*********************
Each of the typing students prepared and presented a slide show based on the material they gathered for their oral or written report for the current issues study of the month. I gave several minimal requirements, and showed them some of the basic ways to put things together. Then they experimented and came up with something to present to the others in the class. I was impressed. They're already ahead of me.
*********************
Three seniors gave presentations today on a subject of their choice during the Friday activity time--something that tells us about their interests, skills, or abilities. Euni talked about ceramics, Emily showed us an origami trick with a one-dollar bill, and Seth, who talked about photography, handed out poster board and assignments for each of us to create a page-sized numeral--something between 1 and 31. Then he took a picture of each of us with our numeral. With these photos, he plans to create a picture calendar page. I'm looking forward to continuing the series next year.
posted by Mrs. I at
8:35 PM
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