The Joy of Cooking

Baking is therapy. Both the baking and the eating are good for the soul. Baking bread is particularly soothing. Plus there is nothing that fills the house with a smell that is close to comparable in connoting warmth, home, and love than a rich, yeasty bread.

I have been yearning to try my hand at cinnamon raisin bread since LK gifted me with a gorgeous mixer. This morning I woke up thinning about it. So the morning mission was to try a loaf.

Pure joy.

Some Days

Some days it turns out should have been spent just staying in bed. Yesterday had moments where I was tempted to call it one of those days. But, thanks to some wonderful people, it was the best day of the week.

You all know about the crazy windy weather that has brought winter temperatures back to Ontario after a gorgeous week of above spring temps and balmy breezes. Thursday night it sounded like the roof was going to be ripped off the house. We woke up in the morning to more snow and "snow devils" blowing madly about like whirling dervishes. Underneath all of it was a thin layer of black ice.

At school (since the whole community lived in a 25-square km area, we very rarely have snow days.) we were informed that the commuters from town (except for our slightly mad PE teacher who rove 3 hours in the ice and snow) were all staying put snug in their beds. As it was payday Friday and there were remarkably few students at school, it was a lovely laid-back morning. My 1/2-a-class worked on posters to review the reading comprehension strategy that we have been studying. This ended up taking most of the morning.

As the Sprouts, LK and I had an afternoon filled with dental appointments, we were planning to leave early so we could get to our first appointment in time. Unfortunately when we turned the key to start the car, the car wasn't interested in going anywhere. So, back into the school we went.

When we marched back into the school at first Fearless Leader looked questioningly. After our explanation he offered the school bus for a couple of days. I think was was joking. Then a high school teacher offered his car if we needed it. Then a resource teacher offered her keys if we needed to try another boost. Our bus driver went hunting for gas line antifreeze. In short, our community helped out. And they cracked jokes and teased in the Anishinanbe way. It was wonderful.

When I called the dentist I was expecting to get a lecture about cancelling on short notice and a hefty fee for wasting the dentist's time. Instead I got a warm smile over the phone and reassurance that it was no problem. The receptionist was wonderful and dealt very graciously with my three phone calls. No charge for the cancellation.

Finally, when I called CAA trying to get a tow - which we thought might be necessary at that point - the fellow on the other end of the line made several suggestions to avoid a tow and save us a huge towing fee. (Mental note: upgrade CAA membership to include tows of over 100km- since that is the distance to the nearest garage).

In the midst of upgrading our CAA membership, LK stepped into the doorway and announced that the car was running! Probably the warm weather followed by cold resulted in some moisture in car parts where it is not supposed to be, and the Suby needed some cajoling to get going. Only we were now 45 minutes behind, and had cancelled the dental appointments. Since the time was already booked off work (and it was halfway over, plus our classes were busy with their substitute teachers) we went anyway.

Instead of being a day filled with headaches and frustration (and a long anticipated trip to see the dentist), it was filled with community, caring, laughter, and a relaxed afternoon in town with my family.

As we curved around Silver Lake on the way home I was overflowing with contentment. The blowing snow danced around the setting sun, setting it afire with orange glow. Shadows stretched welcoming fingers across the lake, and we looked forward to the warmth of home.

And it really is Home.

Got Guts?

I am currently hosting a student teacher in my classroom. This is something that I love to do; it is a chance to see up-and-coming pedagogy used by someone else, a chance to support the continuation of quality teaching in classrooms, and the chance to challenge myself to practice what I preach more closely in front of another adult. It is fun, challenging, and provides a nice change of pace in the middle of the year.

The downside for me is that I am a control freak. It is really hard to let go of "my" classroom and let someone else make it theirs. I know that it is really good for me, as the classroom isn't really mine to start with. It forces me to let go and let someone else have a chance to fly. And it gives me the chance to support them (and have comfort that I am not the only one)when lessons do not always go according to plan and students don't act the way we want them to.

Today was a good, although challenging, day. My soon-to-be colleague had a bit of a rough time with the class this morning. She soldiered bravely on, and I resisted the strong impulse to jump in and rescue her mid-lesson. At lunch we sat down and debriefed. Then she took a few minutes to herself and to get a break (we didn't really have a break in today's schedule)and then came back to teach her next lesson. She showed courage in getting right back into things after having students challenge her authority. I was impressed with her calm and her courage.

Most of the time teaching is great. There are no better people to work with in the world than kids. But sometimes, when they are not doing so well, they take it out on the adults around them. Then teaching takes the guts of a soldier and the stamina of a marathoner. That is when we really show our worth. And those who can hack it, do teach.

I am excited to be working with someone who has the guts and is on her way to developing all the other tools of the trade that make teachers artists.

And there was a sweet surprise for me that was a "just because" treat (LK and I don't celebrate Valentine's - we don't like being dictated how and when we express our love for each other). My mp3 player stopped working on my last walk and I mentioned that I might need a new one. So yesterday my DH handed me a little box and smiled, "Happy not-Valentine's Day."

How did I get so lucky? I so do not deserve this man.

Valentine's Treats

Yesterday afternoon I baked 120 cupcakes. My class and I decorated them today with pink icing, heart shaped and chocolate sprinkles, and cinnamon hearts. We were raising money for our end-of-year field trip. While it was lots of fun, my piping-bag muscles are not too happy with me.

After the cupcake baking yesterday, it was time for Valentine's cards to be prepared for today's celebrations. This year LK sat down with Jo and helped him write his cards. As always, when he gets time with his Papa, Jo was glowing with delight. It was wonderful to watch them work on it together.

Teacher Report Card

Every year teachers are evaluated by their administrators. They use rubrics or checklists- much like we use when assessing our students. My annual assessment was today.

At a minute to one Fearless Leader bounds into the classroom with a big grin and announces to my Teacher-Candidate colleague and I, "I'll just be here behind your desk." He proceeds to dig into the mountain of paperwork that is teaching with a zeal that makes me slightly nervous.

After the math lesson, while students are working on their assignments, one student leans over and says, "He's on your laptop!" in shocked tones. (Under no circumstances are students allowed to touch the teacher laptop.) I assured her that is is okay and that he is doing a report card on me just like I recently wrote for her. That gave her pause.

I am thankful for the relationship I have with Fearless Leader. During the time he was in the room he joked with students, teased me, and set our TC colleague at ease. It makes me realize how fortunate I am to be working in a place where I can chat with my boss while he is evaluating my work.

The weight floated off my shoulders as he walked out the door (because regardless of how much you get along with the boss; being evaluated to stressful). And then he poked his head back in ten minutes later, "Just so you know, you did fine. Some teachers were wondering if I didn't say anything." You think?

Mental note: validate my students every single day. It really matters.

Vawentines

On the way to school this morning a plaintive voice piped up from the back seat, "Mama, I forgot my valwentines!"

It was the second morning in a row that plaintive lament has been piped up from the back seat. We bought the valentines in the weekend. Fiona picked out Barbie ones with pink glittery tattoos (that her mama thinks would be fun as a fashion accessory). Jo is thrilled to have Cars valentines, and cannot wait to hand them out to his classmates at the daycare. But he just can't seem to remember that Valentines Day is not for another week.

Another holiday countdown started.

Jig I Cannot

Elementary school teachers are often Renaissance-persons; having to be able to teach every subject area with some level of competency at some time in their careers. Lots of background knowledge and wide interests are essential. Despite our best efforts at knowing a little bit about everything, no one can really teach it all well. My area of weakness is dance.

Most of the arts are easy; I am a music major, almost theatre minor (short one course) with an very artsy-fartsy family background. But I have never taken an ounce of dance. I like to dance; Friday nights at Don Cherry's in Hamilton was a weekly staple of my university social life. My dorm mates and I took to the dance floor at nine and left at last call. We were all having too much fun to drink much.

But, according to the Ontario curriculum, that isn't quite what I am expected to teach my students.

So, with no dance background, and no teacher guides or textbooks, I took a leap; our first activity in our dance unit is going to be Line Dancing. And since I have one and a half left feet, I went hunting on the Web for some guidance. I found this, which is the first of a series of really well done dance steps tutorials. BINGO! Put together with an example of Line Dancing from an old GAP commercial (also courtesy of the fab Web) as the hook/intro and we had the start of our first lesson.

I was a bit unsure until we started. We laughed so hard and had so much fun. I think we may include dance twice a week.