Leveraging Learning

 That's me. Now you know.  Five days in and I still don't feel great. Who are these people lucky enough to get COVID for 48 hours? Sitting on my sofa or on my patio for a bunch of days is not as blissful as I had imagined - especially since I've felt like crap for much of that time. Julie Andrews would encourage me to list my favorite things in a moment like this. I promise to do that, but only after I list some things that really chap my ass about having COVID. Jammies should have pockets. Yesterday was the first time I wore actual pants in several days. This decision was motivated by a desire to at least seem like a productive member of society as well as a desire to stop losing my Chapstick. Pockets are easy to make and all jammies should have them. Chris Pine is an unconvincing Robert the Bruce. Captain Kirk, sure. Scottish patriot, not so much. Trying to get kids at school to finish a project remotely is hard. It was one thing when we were all remote, but with just me ...

 Over these last two weeks, kids at our school and across our state took the dreaded state-wide assessment. I was asked to administer the test to a lovely group of 7th graders, about half of whom I had previously taught. Practically no one looks forward to these experiences, but I was impressed with all the kids who showed up ready. They had a sense of determination and effort combined with a desire to do their best. In a project based school like ours, kids don't have a ton of exposure to formal testing but these kids had learned some skills over the year and were ready to show them off. That is, until we started the math portion. The same kids who carefully and tirelessly wrote essays and analyzed form the week before appeared dejected and defeated by math questions that I personally thought were fun. I saw them plan and organize thoughts for their writing but stare in blank frustration at math problems that I knew they could reason their way around.  It made me sad that all...

Meg goes to Vanity Fair, Bygosh Kids  One of my favorite parts of Little Women is when Meg is packing for her trip to visit friends. Marmee and all of the March sisters help. They discuss the attributes and purpose of each item so that Meg will know exactly what to wear and when. They also share their own things - new stockings, for example - so that Meg will have what she needs for her journey. As a kid, I didn't travel without my family very often, but in my college years, I noticed that I was particularly bad at packing for myself. I remember going the Poconos without a bathing suit and to Chicago in March without gloves (although this was because my travel companion said it would be "warm").  As a young person, these feel harder. You're broke, for starters, so getting there and having to buy things feels hard. And you're more certain that people are judging you for what you wear/have or don't. Yes, these experiences make you stronger and more knowledgeable...