Dear Jordan LeAnn,

I saw you almost a week ago.  You saw me, too.  I realized you were not allowed to speak to me, and so, I held back and didn't rush and hug you like I wanted. I'm using my blog as a last resort.  One day, I'm sure you will search "Aakhus", and you will find my blog. I'm sure you are curious if your biological father's family loves and misses you.  We do.  We love you.  I'm not writing this to explain any reasons why we are not allowed to see or talk to you.  I don't understand that, either. 

I know that we love you.  One day when you're an adult you can choose if you want to get to know us again.  I want you to know that we are here and waiting.

Love,
Auntie Bobbi

New Standards

This year, new English Language Arts Standards are put into place.  The newest twist from the old standards to the new standards include Minnesota Indians - I'm not quite sure why they are not worded as Minnesota Native Americans - but the standards say Indians...

  These standards are to be implemented this year in my classroom:

7.5.9.9
8.5.9.9
7.7.9.9 
 8.7.9.9 
11.4.9.9
11.9.1.1 
11.12.6.6

You can find the exact wording of the standards here:

 http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/EdExc/StanCurri/K-12AcademicStandards/index.htm

Mostly the Department of Education has noticed a lack of knowledge about the plight of Minnesota Objibwe and Dakota - Why they don't word it that?  I'm not sure, but as I researched lesson plans for these standards I've learned a lot about Minnesota History that I hadn't paid attention to before. 

Jason and I took the girls to Itasca last week to research Native American perspective in Itasca - I hadn't thought of the perspective that even though Schoolcraft was given credit in finding the headwaters of the Mississippi when, in fact, he had a Native American guide who helped him find it.

We saw Burial Mounds and wild rice.  I was just realizing that I didn't even know what I didn't know yet.

Last night, I came across a Minnpost article by Paul Udstrand.  University of Minnesota students have made an effort for us to understand the Dakota War of 1862 and the ramifications it had and has on Dakota and Objibwe even to this day.  The article gives a link to a documentary on YouTube - written and produced by these students.  For an amateur documentary, An Overdue Apology gives a lot of great information.

Hester Prynne's Facebook Profile

This year, my Practical English class will be reading The Scarlet Letter. I hope they find the treatment of Hester Prynne as horrifying as I did when I was a freshman in college.

I hope they find the double standards in their own world.  I hope they look beyond their own worries and wonder what judgments they place on other kids.  I hope the lesson sticks.

Of course, many teachers have found the idea of the Facebook Profile as a characterization assignment to go along with any book.

I am curious on how they will portray Hester's relationship status - will they list her as single, married, or "it's complicated"?

I hope they make the connection on how they view others' facebook profiles and offer judgment to the way the townspeople judged Hester.

I guess the learning ought not stop with the students.  I guess I should think about my own condescending view of my own morality.  Maybe, I ought to learn a lesson from Nathaniel Hawthorne, too..  I hope that lesson sticks, too.

Inheritance

This summer has been a busy summer for me.  Everyday has been devoted to reading my material for the coming year.  I will be teaching seventh and eighth graders along with a section of Practical English for eleventh and twelfth grade.

In college, I was always so excited to create my own material and pick the books my students would read.  The fact is that I inherit work from the previous instructor. What I didn't count on is that even though I didn't personally pick these books out, I've been forced to look at books in a new light.

 I never would have read Call of the Wild by Jack London.  It wasn't my "type' of book at all. I taught the book in a previous district and found that I loved it.  I found that it forced me to grow not only as a teacher but as a person, too.  It forced me to look at nature in a new light.

This summer, I have read The Pigman, A Day No Pigs Would Die, and Treasure Island.  I am delighted.I get to think beyond my own tastes. 

Even though I consider myself to be a well-read individual, I'm surprising myself with new reads all the time.  I'm  delighted with "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce.  

And to think, I haven't even come to the fun part!  I haven't even started writing lesson plans to go along with these treasures.

Mothers and Daughters

Source: google.com via Kristie on Pinterest

I remember, not so long ago, being a teenage girl and not having a mother who listened to me. It seemed like we were always at odds.  Her brain always seemed to be turned off to my ideas or she seemed to only be half listening.

Now that I'm a mother with a teenage daughter, I can see that even though it seemed as though my mother wasn't listening, she already knew what I was thinking.

I'm finding that I need to grow as a mother.  I have to communicate to my kids that I'm listening to them even though I most likely know what they will say. My daughters need to feel as though I'm listening to them.  They are individuals who are in command of their own lives.  I'm not the owner.  I'm only the mentor.

Apocalypse - a Story of a Water Beetle

 One day, at the end of the school year, I decided to take a little walk to Cenex during a break.  When I left the school, the streets were unusually quiet.  The air felt strange to me.  I felt as though some life lesson or major life event was about to take place.
 
I skipped a bit and looked down.  That's when I saw a bug.  This bug was the biggest bug I had ever seen in my entire life.  So, I took a picture of it with my cell phone.

 

 

The picture was very, very disappointing.  There's no way anyone could have imagined how  big this bug was to me.

That's when I saw two seniors walking into the school.  I was actually relieved because I started wondering if, in fact, I had been left behind and was living in an apocalyptic world inhabited just by me and these scary looking bugs.

 They pondered the bug with me for a while, and we went on our separate ways.  I, to Cenex - They, to class.

I thought about this bug.  I wondered about it and suddenly found myself in front of the store with a big bang.  My shoe had caught on to the first step.  I fell with a thud with my cheek basically smearing down the glass door.  It was not unlike a bird who flies into a fresh window.

A man rushed out of the store and helped me up.  I brushed myself off and found myself inside Cenex which had a bustle of people giggling at my mishap.

I reached for the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and reached inside my purse to find the money to pay.  And, inside I found I had some yogurt which had sprayed it's contents entirely over my delightful purse.  Key lime pie flavored coins and make up were part of my world.

I went back to school and cleaned up in the teacher's lounge sharing my story with my colleagues. The Biology teacher knew which bug I was talking about right away.

I hadn't imagined size of this bug.  And I wasn't LEFT BEHIND to fight an apocalyptic battle against zombies, either.

Today is the sort of day that makes me think of haikus

A cool, gentle rain
Making me forget worries
I don't have worries.