10 More Days...

10 more days until summer break
9 more evenings to set my alarm (although the birds wake me up before my alarm)
8 more days that I will meet with my high school class (besides the Saturday lunch)
7 more days to make sure I have lesson plans written for
6 more mornings to meet with my middle school students
5 more chances to practice for the semester exams
4 more chances that my high school students have to improve their writing pieces for their portfolios
3 more farewell parties for my elementary students
2 more exams to grade
1 more chance to welcome students to school during my last hallway duty of the year
0 chances to wish for more time to learn or to grade or to teach: SUMMER IS HERE!

Family Wedding, Children & Flowers

No wedding would be perfect without flowers. There were flowers on the tables at the reception. Flowers decorated the tables at the rehearsal dinner as well. An of course, the bride carries her bouquet of roses just like the bridesmaids. Well, the brides bouquet was actually bigger (and heavier) than the others.

This past Saturday was my nephew Daniel's wedding. He was marrying Julia. I was looking forward to the wedding. I even had a task: take care of the children in the wedding party (with the help of my daughter). I was a little doubtful that the 2 1/2 and 1 year old would sit together in the wagon that the 6 year old would pull. But to my surprise, the older one was perfectly happy to be pulled in the wagon--maybe the mints that we gave her also helped. The younger one obviously believed that she would see more if her father carried her to the front and then gave her to her grandmother--as she sat in the front row.

There was so much joy, happiness and laughter at the wedding.

At this wedding, some of the happiest people were the groom's grandparents. Over 100 years of marriage between the two couples. Could anyone ask for more?

Saturday Mornings

Saturday mornings are time to meet friends. It is often the time that I get together with my friend Faith. Faith has MS (multiple sclerosis) and thus does no longer drive. On Saturday mornings her mother comes to town, and Faith and I chat over coffee or breakfast.

Years ago, Faith used to come twice a week to my house to stay with my daughter when I was in grad school. Now I entertain her with stories about my students, neighbors or anything else that has happened during the week that is worth sharing. Lately we have also spent some time updating Faith's Facebook page and reading funny comments posted by her friends.

We used to meet at a small coffee shop that was owned by a Korean lady. About two years ago, "our Korean Lady" closed her coffee shop and her cleaning business and retired. We had to find a new coffee shop that was easily accessible by wheelchair (not as easy as you would think). Last Saturday Faith and I were having breakfast at a nearby diner. We had just sat down when I looked to my left and saw a familiar face: "our Korean Lady" was eating breakfast right next to us!!!! What a wonderful surprise! We had not seen her since she closed up her business. But to our surprise, she is a business woman again! She has opened a new business in town. According to her, retirement did not give her enough to do!!! Can you imagine that??

Somehow Faith and I finished our breakfast really fast, and decided to take a walk outside. I was pushing Faith in the wheelchair up the hill. Workout for me for sure, but also, this walk became an evaluation of our town's sidewalk smoothness. I lost count how many times I had to turn the wheelchair around in order to get over an uneven part of a sidewalk. Should I write the city council a letter and inform them of our findings? They could hire us to walk all the city sidewalks this summer and pass on our evaluation of their suitability for wheelchairs. Might be too costly...

Saturday mornings are always full of surprises! That is why I like to share them with friends!
Do you have a Saturday morning ritual?

Which Method of Irrigation Should I Use?

 I have been thinking about my word for the year; irrigate.

What are some methods that irrigation is used in nature?
According to http://ga.water.usgs.gov/, flood irrigation is still used the most often. Pour water on the field, and then just allow it to flow
Another way is drip irrigation; pouring water through plastic pipes that have holes in them.
Then there is also spray irrigation. I am sure you can imagine what this would look like; especially if you have ever watered your lawn. How
 about the new better spray irrigation

So, how do these examples assist me in my endeavor to irrigate? How do I practice irrigation in my daily life? How do I refresh those around me?
How can I turn sadness, frustration, anger and disappointment into something positive? Which method of irrigation should I use?

• flood irrigation--flood those around me with surprises, smiles, and encouragement
• drip irrigation--spread happiness to a few well reserved or needed areas; or to a few people in need of happiness
• spray irrigation--spray surface happiness to a larger area (not sure what the surface happiness would look like...I think my students would all say "extra credit")
• better spray irrigation--use my resources more carefully and irrigate right at the spot where it is needed the most ( I am thinking about a teacher that feels that she is being picked on by the principal...)

One Journey

He came with unbound curly hair

and the saddest eyes with no bottom in sight.

He had no confidence.

He wondered if he should have waited to start school

until he knew more English.

He wanted to experience life,

but life had already pitched him around a few times.

He had a hard time concentrating.

"Ms, do I have to do it now? Couldn't I do it at home?"

He did not come the next day.

He came the day after,

but the work was not done.

"Ms, I just don't know how to organize my life."

There it was again: this deep sadness accompanied with a bright smile.

Next day, he didn't come again.

Talent show announcement was broadcast.

He came the next day with hair in a tight ponytail

and with joy filling at least part of each eye.

He had hope in his voice.

He wrote his journal,

and made me swallow my tears.

He made me remember 

how eyes tell us stories.

He came with a suit and tie carrying his guitar.

There was a bounce in his step.

His eyes were smiling.

He came with hope.

He played with skill and passion

He awed us all!

He received a standing applause. 

He still came with questions:

"Ms, do you think I really played well?"

But he left, with smile on his face, and a promise

to come on Monday.

©JaanaTerhune

Goodbye Spring Break & Welcome 4th Quarter

During the March Slice of Life challenge, someone wrote a post "Hello Spring Break." (Sorry, I can't remember who it was.) Now that my spring break is over, I thought is appropriate to say a proper goodbye to it, and a warm welcome to the last quarter of the school year.

Goodbye

• goodbye morning coffee by the window
• goodbye cooking and having friends over for dinner (at least during the week)
• goodbye visiting friends during daylight hours
• goodbye Slice of Life challenge 2013
• goodbye leisurely times reading a book that has nothing to do with school
• goodbye surfing the net looking for new ways to organize
• goodbye listening to the bird trying to break my window (at least most of the time)
• goodbye sleeping in on the mornings
• goodbye for not setting my alarm

Welcome

• welcome 4th quarter
• welcome last push for superior grades (I am totally thinking positively)
• welcome longer days and more sunshine
• welcome all the spring activities at school; career and multicultural day
• welcome spring field trips
• welcome the end of ELL testing (only a few more days and my life can begin anew
• welcome birds early in the morning (you could find a later time to complete your daily communication)
• welcome more frequent dusting days (you know how the sun shows everything you did not want to see)
• welcome more leisurely blogging schedule
• welcome a few more weeks seeing my seniors
• welcome new students and the beginning of their  English learning process
• welcome a few more weeks with my fellow teachers before summer break
• welcome continued class blogging (per student request)

What are you welcoming or saying goodbye to today?

(Stacey asked the question "Why do you write?" today on the http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/ website. As my post today does not deal with why I write, I thought I would add a link to a post that I wrote in March Why Do I Write?. )

Words are so Important

Words are so important;

they can heal or hurt;

they can lift you up

or tear you down.

Words are so important;

they can change the direction

of your life and

lead you to a new beginning.

Words are so important;

they can comfort you

in the midst of 

overwhelming grief.

Words are so important;

they can tell a story

either true or fiction

for pleasure or for work.

Words are so important;

they can make us laugh

or cry

or both at the same time.

Words are so important;

we yell them, we whisper them,

we shout them, we command them,

we sign them, we write them,

we ponder them, we swallow them,

we publish them, we fear them,

we sing them, we picture them,

we speak them, we broadcast them;

Words are so important.

©JaanaTerhune

All month in March I was never at the point of asking myself what to write. Yesterday when I started looking at my drafts or thinking about new writing, nothing felt right. Nothing was clicking. Not even writing about nothing. Then I read my daughter's blog post (You can read it here). First of all, her poem is beautiful and so full of meaning. Secondly, I started remembering that April is poetry month (can you tell that I am on spring break). Maybe a poem for me? Maybe about words?