letters
to an unknown audience
My heart is on fire.
Things that happened today:
- N. and I played a game of chess. Although he didn't notice that his rook could take mine for about five moves, he did know how most of the pieces moved.
- Z. spat on me
- Z. threw a wooden boat at the floor, breaking it.
- At the circle, unprompted, Z. broke in and showed everyone just how he raised his arms and just how he threw it down—lin a very loud, high-pitched voice. The class had an earnest conversation about what you can do when you're frustrated.
- Z. almost crossed the five dangling rings on the playground by himself.
- In the middle of DEAR (Drop Everything And Read), the kids are all reading alone or in pairs. Then:
X.: What does "nimbus" mean?
ME: "Nimbus" is a kind of cloud.
X.: Is it the kind that makes a storm?
ME: You know, that's a really good question that I don't know the answer to. Maybe that would make a good research project. I'm going to write that question on the board. (writes vigorously on a corner of the board, "RESEARCH QUESTION: . . . ")
A. (appears): What are you writing?
ME: This is a research question that we can try to answer.
(T. approaches, with large book that says WEATHER)
ME: Oh, T., do you have a book that would help us answer our research question?
T.: Yeah.
ME: How can we find what we're looking for in this book? Does anyone have an idea.
T.: Yeah, cuz there's like a hundred pages in this book and how will we ever find nimbus clouds?
(after flipping through a few pages and reading the headings together, we find "NAMING the CLOUDS" This section has a picture of about 16 different types of clouds running along the edge, all labeled. Unfortunately, "nimbus" is not among them. Interlude where we consult the index and I explain what an index is. It points us to page 44–45, which turns out to be the page we were already looking at. We talk a bit about whether cumulonimbus clouds make storms, looking at the picture which depicts rain descending from just such a cloud. We resume our story in medias res)
T.: Maybe they're trying to trick us. Maybe this kind of cloud rains and this one doesn't, even though they show the rain here.
A.: Maybe there's another cloud raining behind this one.
T.: She has a point there.
ME: Yeah, I think she has a point there.
(A. giggles. T. turns on her)
A.: I'm just laughing because you said, "She has a point there," and then he said, "I think she has a point there."
T.: Why are we looking in my WEATHER book for nimbus clouds?
ME: Well, X. was curious and now I am too. Aren't you curious?
T.: Yeah, but what does that have to do with my book?
ME: We're hoping to find the answer there.
T.: But they told us page 44 and we went to page 44 and it's not there.
ME: That's right.
T.: But what if it's not in this book?
A.: I have a idea. I have a idea.
ME: What's your idea?
A.: We could go to the library and look in another weather book.
ME: That's a great idea.
T.: But what if we don't find it?
A.: Um, I know. I have. I have a lotta weather books at my house. So I could get one of those and, and bring it in. And we could look in there.
T.: But what if we don't find it?
ME: That's a good—
T.: How do you find it with all the weather books in the world, do you have to go to every one? What do you do?
ME: You know, that's a great question, because if you go down to the library, you can ask the librarian and she can put "nimbus clouds" into the computer, and she can help you find the books that will answer your question.
T.: But what if it's not there. What if it's at a different library?
ME: She can still help you find it. Because all the libraries are connected.
BIG TEACHER: Two more minutes for reading!
A.: Um, um, I think we should finish this tomorrow. I'll bring in my weather books, and, and, and also we can go to the library.
ME: Great! Let's keep working on this tomorrow.
A.: And everyday until we answer it!
ME: Okay!
(I walk away and turn around.)
(A. grabs T., leans over and hugs him.)
Was it Kafka who said, a learning child is like an axe to break the frozen sea inside you? (wink)
Comments
The Astros have been in even worse shape, using three starters with less than two years of major-league experience. Signing Clemens to go with right-hander Roy Oswalt and left-hander Andy Pettitte again gives them a legitimate Big Three once again. If Clemens, after several minor-league tuneups, proves anywhere near as good as he was last season, he will give the team precisely the lift it needs.
—posted by antonantonyy at June 2, 2006 2:32 AM
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