it was a good day

Well, I'm extremely tired, so as has become my custom, I'm going to keep this short.

1. School went well. Lots of different short activities. Talked symbolism in Haroun and the Sea of Stories; heard from the kids about their own ideas. My favorite interaction: Student 1: "Are turtle doves a symbol of anything, Mr. Maerke" Me: "I don't know. Why don't you use the computer to see if you can find an answer." Student 1: "Sweet." Students 2, 3, 4: "Hey, can I look up something too?" Me: "Is it about symbolism?" Students 2 and 4: "Yes." Student 3: "Uh, nope." Me: "Yes and yes. What are you looking up?" "Student 2: "What time the Chiefs' game starts tonite." Me: "Nope." Student 1: "Hey, 2 turtle doves from the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' song represents the Old and the New Testaments from the Bible. I found a site that tells about everything. The five golden rings isn't about rings at all, it's about the first five books of the Bible." Student 12: "What's with the Bible?"

2. Exploratory even went well today. We read. We watched a video of Irving Roth's testimony. We even watched Channel One. They're getting the hang of things. Good thing, because it's the fourth week of school. Tomorrow we respond to the video on the wiki. I'm excited.

3. After school I did my best to get organized. I'm not great at that, but I tried.

4. I met with Lisa and Sarah about their experiences in Berkeley with the NWP MAKE initiative. They had some really cool stories to tell, and I loved hearing them. I'm hoping that experience really was a positive one for them, and helps them find a niche. We talked quite a bit about a mini-grant for the site. I don't even know if a mini-grant is necessary, but it sounds like they're going to spend some time working one up. When I heard what they were doing I was really excited. It sounds amazing and wonderful and I'm totally jealous of their experiences.

5. At the meeting with Lisa and Sarah, at Panera Bread on N. Kansas Expressway, I saw a former student and his mom. It wasn't a pleasant meeting because none of our meetings when I had the student in my classes were pleasant. All are unfortunate.

6. I could have gotten more grading done than I did, but I'm totally ok with out it. It'll get done.

3 thoughts from today

1. Today, at school, I slept for about 1.5 hours on a couch in a closet. It was awesome. I wish I could do that more.

2. It seems that, regardless of how much I comfort myself with food--today it was a smoothie from Cold Stone Creamery, chicken and potato soup (that I made with Kristin), Triscuit, Oreos--I still somehow lose weight. Maybe I do have a worm or a parasite.

3. I'm not a good leader; I'm just a good doer that occasionally does things well enough for people to appreciate and attempt to emulate. I wish I were more transparent in my thoughts (that might be scary) and actions, so that I really could be replaceable. I've always thought of that as the best indicator of good leadership. I like to ask myself the question: how fast I could be replaced by someone I've led? If I'm not replaced, and the job goes undone--like middle school soccer at Pleasant View--then I've been more negative than positive. If the outcome reveals that people were totally dependent upon me, then I've done the opposite of leadership. If I'm replaced easily, and the transition is smooth, then I've done a good job. But I don't have any examples of that right now, so I'm back where I began: I'm not a good leader.