Too Cool for School

this picture makes me smile

my genes in full force

the end is near, ya'll. i'm days away from being fully licensed to teach language arts to the high schoolers of fairfax county! (what? you old farts didn't get the memo, either? they be callin English - language arts now.) it only took 16 weeks of my life, 174 gray hairs, and 453 "moooom, you're always on the computer" gripes from the kids! and now the hubs is on my case to get a job - ASAP. now, wait just a minute mister. 4 score and seven years ago (really 8), i've either been pregnant, working, or staying at home and raising two pretty cute, semi-well-behaved kids. i have yet to enjoy the freedom i was given 3 months ago when A enrolled in preschool. now that i'm done with this intensive teaching program and have written 50 papers (yep, that's right!), peer critiqued 160 papers and have read hundreds of pages, can i please get a minute to myself?? there is tennis to be played, half-marathons to be trained for (your eyes do not deceive you), weight to be lost, children to be spoiled, and holidays to be enjoyed.

and really? is there going to be a fabulous job opening right smack in the middle of the year for little ole me? i think not. and even if there is, i'm sure there will be others in the fall of 2011.

i just need some quality time with me, myself, and i. 6 hours a day to be exact. i need some peace and quiet and solitude to make up for the fact that i've been busting my balls for the past - oh soon to be 8 years of my life since i became pregnant and gave birth to our first and soon to be 7 year old daughter, miss d. just having written that i am a mom to a 7 year old still makes me freak out just a little. woah. how and when did my kid grow up so fast? girlfriend is already in a band and everything. she's the lead singer too. they have band practice every tuesday and wednesday at recess and on those mornings she asks that i pick a - and i quote, "sassy" outfit for her to wear.

anyway, where was i? so i'm trying to really savor the last months before i enter the work force, hand in time sheets and immerse myself in the world where girls wear ugg slippers to school and the boys all look like shaggy from scooby-doo (my astute observations from my one week of student teaching at a local high school).

i will now share with you one of the papers i wrote during this semester. my teacher liked it so much, that she sent it as an email to the rest of the students to read. it felt like 3rd grade all over again - my heyday as teacher's pet. we had to write a metaphor about what it felt like to develop a lesson plan for our future class.

Teaching Your Child How To Ride a Bike

One of our many responsibilities as a parent is to teach our child how to ride a bike. It can be a long, arduous learning process for some children, while others learn rather quickly. The various stages involved in teaching kids how to ride a bike are akin to the development of the culminating project for my poetry unit.

The student who enters my 9th grade English class has had her training wheels for quite some time. She has learned how to read and write or pedal and steer, without having to worry about keeping the bike upright. As I teach her about the similes, metaphors, rhythm and rhyme found in a poem, I am walking alongside her and asking her to think about the poem's meaning or balancing on the wheels of the bike alone.

Once she has demonstrated successful pedaling and steering or poetry analysis and identification of different poetic forms and literary devices, I can gradually raise the training wheels higher off the ground so that the bike is a little more unstable. As my student gains confidence on the less balanced bike, eventually she will be ready to have the stabilizers removed all together and will be able to complete a culminating project. When I see she is comfortable with the essential understandings and adept at answering the essential questions through formative assessments, I remove the training wheels from the bike.

I then hold the back of the seat of the bike and one handle-bar. I push and run along with the student, instructing her to keep pedaling and look straight forward. She begins writing her own poems or finding poems with a common theme. I take my hand off the seat when I feel the student is balancing on her own accord. I give some words of encouragement and constructive feedback as I review her outline and rough drafts and take my hand off the handle bar, allowing her to ride entirely by herself and complete the project. It is an exhilarating feeling to witness her ride the bike on her own and hand in her completed project. I feel a sense of pride that I have taught her a valuable life skill she can enjoy and use throughout her life. I feel a sense of pride that I have made a small difference as I did when I taught my six year old how to ride a bike.

***

i will admit that i told a little white lie in the last sentence: i haven't exactly taught D how to ride a bike just yet. i mean, come on. you gotta remember- i have a law degree too. it's not like i can just forget my roots. there's got to be some BS in there somewhere. :)