Yep. Do you even need captions? Awesome. So glad I did it. Looking forward to next year. PS my costar is the Wink of KatWink, my friend Sarah Winklekotter. She's cool.
This just in: My final time was 2 hours 13 minutes. I feel good about that.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
I'm a triathlete! Woot woot!
Yep. Do you even need captions? Awesome. So glad I did it. Looking forward to next year. PS my costar is the Wink of KatWink, my friend Sarah Winklekotter. She's cool.
This just in: My final time was 2 hours 13 minutes. I feel good about that.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Debbie Downer
This will be a sad post.. . .but I'm just thinking about it and want to get it down. My students are writing memoirs via multi-genre project. This is pretty much a glorified portfolio. Anyway, their assignment yesterday was to write about "home." We've been reading excerpts from "The House on Mango Street" as examples and I wrote a little blurb about my "home." We talked about the differences between a house and a home. This is what I got from one of my best students:
"I have never lived in a stable home. I have always been moving around from place to place not because my parents couldn't take care of me but because they didn't want to... I lived a very hard life learning to cope and live with seeing things that a 8 year old boy or any age person should have to see. For example, one day I was at my friends house playing blackjack, were laughing having a great time. He was my best friend, I could talk to him about anything and everything. I could always count on him and he was always there from me when I needed him most and when no one else was. . .
While we were playing he asked me something, he asked me to promise him that we would always be there for each other and that we would be best friends no matter what happened. Of course I promised but then someone started shooting at the house we were in. I pushed and told him to get at the ground but I guess I was too late, he had been shot twice in the chest and once in the stomach. As he was passing I held him in my arms and he told me 'Remember our promise, friends forever' I told him of course just hold on you will make it. He smiled and said thank you. He died right there in my arms, that is something nobody should ever see of have to go through.
I have never had a real home, I don't know what its like to have a home or a place to get away. . ."
It absolutely broke my heart. I had no idea. He is a soccer star. He's popular. He's got a girlfriend. He got one of the highest scores on the CRT. For real? Today I had a chance to talk to him and just said, "Really? Is what you wrote for real?" and he just nodded. I don't know if he acted sheepish or embarrassed or just sad. I told him how sorry I was that he has had it so hard. I told him that he could live with me but it was probably illegal. I told him that he could "get away" in my classroom any time, and to let me know if there was ever anything I could do. I gave him a high five. He didn't say much. It was a different side of him. It's just not fair.
"I have never lived in a stable home. I have always been moving around from place to place not because my parents couldn't take care of me but because they didn't want to... I lived a very hard life learning to cope and live with seeing things that a 8 year old boy or any age person should have to see. For example, one day I was at my friends house playing blackjack, were laughing having a great time. He was my best friend, I could talk to him about anything and everything. I could always count on him and he was always there from me when I needed him most and when no one else was. . .
While we were playing he asked me something, he asked me to promise him that we would always be there for each other and that we would be best friends no matter what happened. Of course I promised but then someone started shooting at the house we were in. I pushed and told him to get at the ground but I guess I was too late, he had been shot twice in the chest and once in the stomach. As he was passing I held him in my arms and he told me 'Remember our promise, friends forever' I told him of course just hold on you will make it. He smiled and said thank you. He died right there in my arms, that is something nobody should ever see of have to go through.
I have never had a real home, I don't know what its like to have a home or a place to get away. . ."
It absolutely broke my heart. I had no idea. He is a soccer star. He's popular. He's got a girlfriend. He got one of the highest scores on the CRT. For real? Today I had a chance to talk to him and just said, "Really? Is what you wrote for real?" and he just nodded. I don't know if he acted sheepish or embarrassed or just sad. I told him how sorry I was that he has had it so hard. I told him that he could live with me but it was probably illegal. I told him that he could "get away" in my classroom any time, and to let me know if there was ever anything I could do. I gave him a high five. He didn't say much. It was a different side of him. It's just not fair.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)