Crushes

This week my students read Cynthia Rylant's story "Checkouts," and their starting activity when they came into class was to make a list of at least ten words to describe the kind of person you might get a crush on. My examples were "smart" and "cute."

They argued that this was too private and personal; I repeatedly pointed out how I had written hugely right under the directions YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO SHARE THESE, and asked what they thought the story we were reading today might be about. My brilliant students guessed: two kids with a crush on each other! When I asked who wanted to share, more kids shared than I'd expected. I also did a lot of peeking over shoulders--these kinds of writing activities might be my #1 best way to get to know my kids and what's going on with them.

"Boy," "girl," and "good abs" appeared frequently on their lists, and the first two especially were words that led to students modifying their own lists whenever anyone shared them out. If you didn't put "boy" or "girl" on your list--well you know what that means!!! "Sexy" also made lots of appearances, including eleven times on Jordan's list alone (Jordan the boy, not Jordan the girl). "Asian" (from an Asian student) and "close to family" caught my eye. One girl wrote, among other things, "Kanye West." My two favorite responses were “will call every day," on a boy's list, one of my younger-seeming eighth graders, still interested in Pokemon, and “not a late night texter"--since of course that could get your phone taken away, not to mention your parents in your business.

We had a great conversation about the story's title, too, and they wrote some tragic and romantic and hilarious alternate endings. I am proud of myself for putting the lesson together--the story is in our textbook, but it's not a story I personally really love. I'm a good enough teacher now that I was able to remind myself that lots of times the kids really connect with stories that aren't my favorites, which makes sense since I'm 32 and they're 13. So teach the story that will grab them, Ms. Nelson, even if you aren't so into it, instead of the one that's your favorite (though it was a good week all around for a story about crushes). Anyway, we're saving "Raymond's Run" for next week.

The Walking Tour of Tilburg

I went on Khris Soden's Portland Tour of Tilburg with Rachel yesterday and loved it. Soden is an excellent tour guide, thorough and precise. But the best part, as with any public performance project I've ever been part of, was the passers-by and their responses. (And I do think that going on a guided tour of Tilburg through Portland, with a guide waving a small flag of the Netherlands and talking loudly about a king's summer estate as the group stands staring at a parking garage consulting their pamphlets, most certainly counts as participating in a public performance project.) My favorite: in Pioneer Square, Soden explains to the tour that Tilburg shuts down on Sundays, so be sure to complete your shopping on another day; Sundays are best for sitting at a cafe and reading the paper, that sort of thing. As the tour moves on to our next destination, an elderly man towing an oxygen tank with tubes in his nose says loudly to me and Rachel, "The shops are open on Sundays, he's full of BS."

Go here to experience a virtual Portland Tour of Tilburg, or here to learn more about Khris Soden and this project.

Something else seen...

I don't know what to say about her. Miraculous, of course. But besides that?

More Things Seen

This bunny flyer was posted in the cafe at Powell's downtown. Simple and perfect. I tore off a bunny for Donna, of course, who appreciated it enormously, of course.

Carrying around embarrassing things...

Walking over to Peet's Coffee after school, I found a brand new, still shrink-wrapped Monopoly set, LORD OF THE RINGS edition, in someone's free box. The game was enormous--too big to fit in my backpack, and I didn't have an extra bag with me like I usually do these days. So I set off trekking through southeast Portland with the Lord of the Rings edition of Monopoly tucked under my arm. Got to Peet's, gave the Lord of the Rings edition of Monopoly its own chair, and eventually decided to go to Powell's across the street. First I sheepishly asked the guy working at Peet's if I could have a bag for my Lord of the Rings edition of Monopoly that I'd found on the street, explaining unnecessarily that carrying it around was making me feel like a big dork. He smiled somewhat sympathetically, but I wasn't sure if he was smiling with me or at me, so of course I explained: "I teach eighth grade! If you're an eighth grade teacher, you cannot walk by a free shrink-wrapped board game on the street."

"Sure," he said. "I teach eighth grade too."

"Shut up," I said, and he gave me a nice big paper shopping bag.

Wheels

Today: guy on unicycle pedaling along holding his cup of coffee.

Things Other People Saw

Text from Lauren, NYC:
Man strolling down 2nd ave with a mustache, pippi longstocking braids and a SPEEDO and nothing else.

Text from Megan, driving cross country:
Missouri! Giant catsup bottle!

Message from Rachel, Boston:
Hey Elissa, I'm at the DMV getting my license transferred over, and guess what? There's a fire drill! So we're like all standing in the street, like me and... wow, hundreds of other people and we're waiting for... waiting to get back in so that we can wait for another two hours to get whatever we need to get done done. Luckily I'm still like fifty away so even if I wander off and come back it will be fine. Anyway. I just thought that was kind of interesting, I'm not actually that annoyed by it but I've never had this happen anywhere except in a school. So maybe the building really is on fire! Except no one else except the people in the DMV seem to care, like the Dunkin' Donuts people aren't evacuating. But anyway, who knows. I will talk to you later... bye!