Waking Up, Post-Hump Day, Thinking, "Phew, How Did We Manage All of that Yesterday?" (Scratches Head) "Because There's Much More Today!"

First off, I'm still giving a standing ovation for any K-12 educator who is standing at this time of year. University teaching isolates us in numerous ways with the tremendous privileges afforded to faculty (albeit their complaints that it is totally otherwise). What K-12 teachers have endured the last 365 days is unimaginable, impossible, and ludicrous. If you know a teacher, and actually listen to them, you'll understand why. Still, they come forward and remain champions for the young people they believe in. They persevere, they get creative, they hold their breath, and they made magical possible. 

This why I absolutely adored hosting Matt de la Peña and Sonya Huber during yesterday's PD with teachers at Harding High School. Matt's conversation about living on the borderlines, in the margins, with a code-switching existence, was stupendous. Sonya's presentation on place, space, and the storytelling of everywhere was phenomenal. How does one keep the attention of 72 content-area instructors fried after a year of Covid? You simply find the greatest ammunition possible and hope for the best. As I noted to the teachers, "There's only one school in the nation getting the expertise of such writers at this time, and that has to count for something."

The trickier part has been coaching on my end: how does one create a cross-discipline, writing-forward faculty and staff to think critically about higher order questions, community, and the importance of the arts? That was the mission. Thankfully, Milo and CJ were there to help...as was love, the generosity of an author, and the expertise of Sonya Huber. Weaving the rest was my task, and I was competing with a beautiful day, an unexpected fire alarm, and absolutely fried teachers.

If I could, I'd pay for every one of them to go on the vacation of their dreams, all expenses paid. There's no payback that is good enough for all the hard work they have been doing for their students this year. 

In the meantime, #EthicalELA prompted to look at a poet one admires and to write with borrowed breath to try something new. I looked to a mentor, Ruth Stone, and did a poem to tie ribbons around the weekend. "Another Feeling" was written by Ruth Stone (who I will adore until the days I, too, see the sparrows) and "The Other Side of It All" is my attempt to grace her brilliance with thinking of my own. It's Thursday. If you know a teacher or have kids with a teacher....do something nice and kind for them. There really is no way to describe what this year has been for them.