Monday Miscellany: Reading, Lechery, and Treason

My eldest son (now six) needed speech therapy when he was younger. We worried about his lack of vocabulary, trouble with pronunciation, and difficulty constructing sentences. The county agreed with us. Like most parents, we fretted about our first child's lack of communication skills. After a year of preschool speech therapy, he had improved immensely (though he rarely talked with his tutor). After last year's kindergarten, he had made great strides and had learned to read. To our great joy he has become a lover of reading. At open house this year, his teacher suggested downloading the first grade sight words and making flashcards out of them. So I did. He knew them all. So I downloaded the 2nd grade sight words. He knew them all. So I downloaded the 3rd grade sight words. He knew them all. He wants me to download the 4th grade sight words, but there aren't any. I had a nightmare last night that he was almost as tall as his momma. I guess he can slow down a little.

Here is some of his folk art from last year. I laugh each time I notice the belt. Now I just worry that there is lead in these toys.



Last week was my new school's open house. Parents come and go through their child's schedule; each class lasts ten minutes. The teachers are supposed to introduce themselves and hit the highlights of their courses. I have now done a lot of these events. They are long and exhausting (coming at the end of a normal school day--I was at school on that day from 6:30am to 9:30pm). I have also perfected a few of my punch lines (it puts the both the parents and me at ease). One relates to my alma mater. I graduated from Georgia Southern University I tell them. And no, it is not true that the transcript includes a place for B.A.C. instead of G.P.A.

I have never felt that I can just say where I graduated from and leave it at that. I have to acknowledge that elephant in the room: GSU has a reputation as a major party school. Students who don't make it into UGA often end up at GSU. I teach at a Christian school and don't want the parents to assume that I am one of "those." So I usually go on to explain that all colleges are party schools and that students will find whatever they are looking for in college. Every college (even the tiniest of Christian colleges hidden away in the mountains) has those who double major in drunkenness and debauchery. College is frequently one of the first extended character tests that young people face. I typically teach juniors and seniors, and these observations seem to both worry and reassure the parents. They are reassured that their child's teacher was not a partier, but they worry that their child will soon become one.


A political note on the Iraq war: At one point the Democratic talking point was simply, "Bush lied; people died." The Republican talking point was simply, "Dems want to cut and run." There was and continues to be no substantive debate concerning the war. The political discourse is currently more of a quagmire than Iraq is. The problem with both of these slogans is that both are merely attacks on the opposition as opposed to plans for a way forward. Both sides claim that attacking one's patriotism is verboten, but I say that any politician that puts political gain before country is acting in an unseemly and unpatriotic manner.

Peace
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"A" is for...?

Schools these days are less and less likely to be named for historical figures, but on May 23 the school board of Ogden, Utah approved naming a new elementary school: James A. Madison Elementary School. Trouble is, James Madison didn't have an "A" for his middle initial. He didn't even have a middle name to be initialized. A history teacher pointed out the error before the school's sign was completed.

The full story is here.

Peace
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Monday Miscellany: In with the New!

The ancient Greeks would look to nature for signs before the beginning of an enterprise great or small. The flight of a bird could portend greatness or warn of coming disaster. Before dawn on the morning of the first day at my new school, I opened the front door of my house to begin my commute. I felt something bump into my shoulder and then into my head as I began to step out through the door. I jumped back to see a plump arachnid spinning only inches from my eyes. This was the very worst of omens, if not for the ancient Greeks at least for this modern American. You can read about my earlier experiences with what I term "Spiderfall" here.


Later that day I introduced myself to my classes. My new school is the main rival of my old school, and I knew I had to get the fact that I was coming from their cross-town rival out and over with as quickly as possible. I revealed my dark secret in different ways to my five different classes. In one class I said, "For the past six years I have been teaching at another local private school," when a girl exclaimed, "As long as it isn't [the name of my old school]."


In truth, it was a pretty good week. While my move to a new school has been mostly a horizontal move, there is much more vertical potential, and the leadership is much more gifted in, well, leadership. I also get a new benefit: free hot lunches. I was, at first, skeptical of the value of this benefit, but the first week's menu has me excited to go to work everyday if not for the students at least for the food. There is always a salad bar, sandwich bar, hot soup, choice of Mayfield frozen treats, and two entrees. By Tuesday's Blackened Flounder with Rice Pilaf, I was happy I made my move. I think this a job in which I can really grow.


We went to a local mega-church Sunday. My wife and kids have been before, but today was my first day. It is a huge institution. It takes some time to get everyone where they belong. Everyone was very nice and the twenty-minute Sunday school lesson was good. But on the way out, I realized that we had spent at least twice as much time walking around, signing the kids into things, and picking the kids up from things than we did learning about the Word of God. I have trouble getting past the fact that there is valet parking for pre-school.


My son just came downstairs to let me know that he had just finished reading the Bible. He has been working on a Toddler Bible for the past three days. It has a picture and one or two sentences per page. There are over 400 pages.


Peace
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The Twins Turn One

Are they really related?

W takes his first bite of a cupcake.

M tries to eat the entire cupcake in one bite.

One year ago today, the second of the twin boys scared me by emerging motionless and blue. Now he is a healthy and round one year old though still often motionless. Sometimes we are shocked by how different the two of them are. My fears of not being able to tell them apart are long past.


Here is who they are at one year old:

W (the first born)
Dark complexion, dark hair
One wild curl behind his right ear
Eats anything
Strong and wiry
Climbs everything
An escape artist
Blue-eyed
Throws himself into everything
Goes over things instead of around them
Has begun to put a toy to his ear as though it is a phone
Has taken a few tentative steps
Has started to get his leg stuck in his crib
Loves TV
Enjoys making noise
Impresses the family with pull ups on the pack & play
Prefers to hop
Laughs easily and quickly
Ticklish all over




M (the second born)
Light, pale complexion
Very light brown, thin hair
Picky, demanding, and voracious eater
A gentle giant
Sees no reason to escape
Blue-eyed
Studies things before deciding to touch
Goes around things
Has learned to wave this week
Has taken a few tentative steps
Makes some really entertaining attempts at clapping
Loves his momma
Prefers to sway
Only ticklish in the right places at the right time

VIDEO and my wife's commentary here.

Peace

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The Fyring Therof!

Today was the first full day of teaching at my new school. I used the Smart Board in each of my five classes, and I think I will find it a big help. While doing some research for my AP US History class, I came across the full text of The Book of the General Lawes and Libertyes Concerning the Inhabitants of the Massachusets (1648). It was a document that put legal rights and responsibilities in alphabetical order from "actions" to "torture." It provides an illuminating glimpse of early Puritan Massachusetts. Shuffleboard and Anabaptists were banned. I was surprised to see that the wrangling over public smoking goes back so far in American history though the primary worry of the Puritans seems more practical than moral:

Tobacco.
This Court finding that since the repealing of the former Laws against Tobacco, the same is more abused then before doth therfore order,
That no man shall take any tobacco within twenty poles of any house, or so neer as may indanger the same, or neer any Barn, corn, or hay-cock as may occasion the fyring therof, upon pain of ten shillings for everie such offence, besides full recompence of all damages done by means therof. Nor shall any take tobacco in any Inne or common Victualing-house, except in a private room there, so as neither the Master of the said house nor any other Guests there shall take offence therat, which if any doe, then such person shall forthwith forbear, upon pain of two shillings sixpence for everie such offence. And for all Fines incurred by this Law, one half part shall be to the Informer the other to the poor of the town where the offence is done.

Peace
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Beach Boys

I am back from the beach while the rest of the family stays until Saturday. There is a lot to tell, but I have to be up early for pre-planning so here are a few pictures. It was the first time at the beach for the twins and my four-year-old daughter.


Above: First Wave
Below: Asleep in the Gulf




Above: Loving the Sand
Below: Loving the Water



Above: Cautious Boy
Below: At the National Museum for Naval Aviation


More over at Flickr.

Peace
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