Stepping in With ISTEP

Calling all Indiana teachers and students,

Today is your first day of ISTEP testing.  Did I hear a moan? 

I have been called again to the school where I have retired from to help for various reasons during this testing time.  (Nice to have someone out there who knows the rules of the game and can step in to help where ever.) 

This year, a student broke his wrist 3 weeks ago.  Will he need help to write to the language arts prompt?  Mom says, "Yes."  Student really doesn't want help, but I enter the picture to be there just in case he does.  I have been asked if I can attend all 4 days of testing.  I can do that!

I jump on it because I'm always looking for excuses to see my former trench buddies.  Then I realise after the commitment that I have to get up early for 4 days--not so tempting as soon as it registers.  But I will only be there until 10:00 or so.  I could take 4 naps.  Now that I get 8 hours every night almost, I don't take naps anymore.  It would be nice to try a nap again.  Or I could just wait until bedtime and get a great night's sleep without having to get up to visit the bathroom or toss and turn because I'm still trying to solve the world's problems at night in my sleep.  I can do this.

I'm a morning person as a rule, but I've become a dallier in my retirement.  The dally is coffee, emails, checking the weather, the birds, my projects, and whatever I have to do in order to stay in my robe longer.  One cannot clean house, for example, in a robe, so that task is not ever in question in the morning.  When I do have to appear somewhere early, the rule is:  No piddling first.  Get ready, and then dally with what time I have left.  Not having time to dally--that's the rub.   

Okay, geared up and ready to do my job.  When teaching, you hit that door and you're off!  I go into the office and am told to sit down and wait.  What?  Wait?  I'm ready to ISTEP. 

I stand around for a while and make small talk with the secretaries, but they ignore me because they have better things to do in the morning than talk to someone who sleeps in every day!  Yes, you have to be careful what you do and say to practicing teachers and working office staff.   You don't want to alienate yourself too much by that great big smile whenever you walk in, but that's just what happens!!   Then you don't want to rattle on and on about anything because you don't have that morning stimulation anymore and crave it.  You know you're alive when you're hit with at least 20-25 7th graders at a time all day. 

Even though it's Tuesday, office staff acts like it's Monday for a very good reason--students are all in different classrooms and there is no list to help find them. What if a student needs to be located? Curses. The begging begins for the list. One staff member even says, "What day is today?" ISTEP has just stepped up the ante for even the office staff.  I even feel like I'm in a doctor's office, waiting for the bad news.  I'm an outsider now, too. 

Okay, I sit.  Finally, I am assigned to one student.  Wow, a teacher's dream job--one student!  And I know and see that he is a self-starter, polite, and ready to perform.  He admits he scores well, but he doesn't feel that he does well during the testing--even unrest in the heart of a very good student.  No one likes to be tested--NO ONE.

My title today is "Scribe."  I like it.  It's an age old profession, and I get to be one today!!!

I think about my job and know I will have to print since cursive is a thing of the past these days.  It will be hard for me because I just don't print well--I would fail first grade!!  I can do it.  I am a Scribe!

The student will have to put in any punctuation and spell anything that is thought to be beyond his grade level.  He will dictate, and I will write.  I tell him he has a secretary to make him feel more comfortable.  But how can you feel more comfortable when you leave the room with an older woman to help you write when you're a basketball jock and an "A" student? 

Maybe I should be chewing gum, swaggering, and carrying my cell phone, playing "Girl on Fire" by Alicia Keyes when we left the room.  But, like I said, this student is good, polite, and a good sport.  I find he's independent and a "writer" in the truest realm--3 pages to answer a prompt.  He does not falter or ask me for help.  That green cast with the black signatures seem to make those fingers go even faster than most students who don't have a broken wrist.  I offer my help again after 30 minutes, but he continues on his own.  I realize I'm going to be fired or laid off if I don't get to help him.

He's done, and I'm done already dancing to the tune of the ISTEP Jump.

I did nothing but prepare my post for today which has completely changed since writing it in my writers notebook.  I'm not suppose to be writing for me, but scribing!  I am not a Scribe and still don't know what it feels like to be one!   My shoulders droop.

I did see my fellow teachers and experienced the ISTEP Drone. 

However, all is not lost.  On to the community library to sort books for our Mega Book Sale the end of March! 

Life is good.



 

Retirement Thoughts

It's Monday, but I'm retired.
I relish sleeping in
When everyone else has to go.

I'm able to do what I really
Want to do.
Volunteer, babysit, see friends,
And read, write, reflect.
Yet to travel more.

I don't do all those
Things I said I would
When I retired like
Clean more,
Organize more.

Right now, ideas for a post
Are popping in and out.
But what to choose?
I have all day today to choose.

It's still not easy
To write every day.
The list is in front of me.
"It's still Monday!"
Even if I am retired.

I was busy all weekend.
Shopping, enjoying family,
Attending a  retirement party,
Getting ready for a new week.

I keep my weekends
Inspite of my new life.
I really slow down
Or step it up.
Enjoying weekends never die.

The sun is shining so bright.
Gets me excited
Of warmer days to come
And earlier mornings to enjoy.

Just want to share
What I have earned,
Thankful I made it this far.
Always thinking, "There still
Is more time to give."

Thinking Inside the Box

Ever take a look at Etsy.com?  I do mainly for fun and relaxation--never buying.  I feel most of the products are for the young at heart, but I took an interest one day in a steamer trunk that was pictured.  When I clicked on it, I was in for a surprise.  There were 39,336 similar items of this nature.  I got to page 25 of 250 pages and had to take a break.  I haven't been back since but what a surprising realisation!

I re-discovered the importance of boxes!!!  I always knew they were great because I've always loved boxes as much as I love rocks.  Good thing I don't pile boxes up like I do rocks.  I have to force myself to throw away any box I get--even if it's from Amazon.com. There are boxes of everything if you really think about it.

I looked up the definition of  "boxes" on dictionary.com and found the definition of "a container, case, receptacle, usually rectangular or square of wood, metal, cardboard, etc. and often with a lid or removable cover.  Synonyms are bin, carton, case, casket, chest, coffer, create, pack, package.

I started making a list of distinctive types of boxes that are used for a variety of reasons.  Fascinating.

trunk                                       industrial tool storage metal box
primitive trunk                        match box                                 
suitcase                                   box of nails
jewelry box                             shoeshine box
fishing tackle box                   wooden crate
lunch box                                 hope chest
bread tin                                  index box
cash box                                   metal egg
pencil box                                       carton
tissue box                                 pirate chest
junk box                                   drawer
cereal box                                 milk carton
post office box                          candy box
salt box                                      tobacco tin
funeral casket                            coffee/tea cans
printer's tray                              bird cage
Quaker Oat box                         raisin box
recipe box                                  card/stationary box
cardboard box                            Tupperware box
cookie box

How many posts can I/you conjure up from this list of boxes? 

Think Outside the Box                                

      

Writing Takes a Walk

 

 

 

 

I decided to see what is happening outside today.  It was 75% sunny which drew me out of the house.  It was only 29 degrees and windy--not springy at all.  I had hoped for more, but I really did want to formally say good-bye to most snow and temperatures in the teens.  I heard children playing outside and morning doves cooing.  I thought, "Good omens of what is yet to come." 

As I walked down to the field, I noticed a myriad of what looked like large snowballs of different sizes and shapes.  These were created by snow plows plowing through snow and ice from this last week.  They looked like parts of something that didn't belong anymore.  I was to meet my son Eric and his two dogs, but they were far into the field, so I trekked toward the beach area of our lake. 

 

 

 

 

Canadian honkers on the beach shore literally honked at my intrusion and flew away.  Across the lake swans were swimming in the melted sections of the lake.  The lake was not frozen for very long or at any long period this winter.  When we first moved here almost 24 years ago, we could take snowmobiles on the lake and ice fish.  This hasn't been happening lately.  Global warming?  I don't know.  What I do know, Indiana winters are much milder.  Since I'm not a winter person, that suits me just fine. 

 

 

 

On the way home, I noticed some green plants reaching for the sky already--probably bulbs of some kind.  I also picked up a few notable rocks which I have been doing since I was a child.  I'm in a zone when I look/choose rocks.  It's a zone just for me and my thoughts.  When people go on vacation, I ask for a rock or a shell if they are on beaches--the best gifts and souvenirs ever.   

 

On my way back to the yard, I picked up the morning paper. 

 

What better way to spend a Saturday morning with winter saying its good-byes, spring peaking through the dirt, birds wanting to be noticed, rocks wanting to be added to my rock pile, and newspapers waiting to be read with my last cup of coffee of the day. 

 

Not only is the weather warming up, but so is my writing.

Bam!

It's March 1.
SOLS Challenge begins today!
What to write?
Spring is on its way.
Robins are here.
Snow is melting.
Grandchild is due.
Quilt unfinished.
What to write?
Requests for helping out on ISTEP are out.
Should I bake cookies for the teachers?
Husband all of a sudden wants to talk.
What to write?
Life was so quiet up until today.
Phone keeps ringing.
List of writing ideas before me.
Reading posts--71 already!
All so good!!
Wish I had a Chloe to inspire me, too.
Panic.
Need to warm up my mind.
What to write?
Need to clean fan blades.
E-mailing too much this morning--anticipation.
This is how my mind really does work.
Get it together.
What to write?
Slow down.
00000000000000000000000000000
Robe sleeve keeps printing "0's when I reach for the mouse!
Eat the Muenster cheese and Dill Triscuits already.
Focus.
Husband talking again!  What's this?  Now?
Will be my 103 post in 3 years--shame--should be over 300 at least!
It's okay.
I'm amongst friends and family.

I wrote! 
It was really a joy.
Over the hump.

Isn't turquoise a great color?

The Third Try

In Terje's post today, justforamonth.blogspot.com/2013/02/solsc.html, she expresses her feelings about the March Slice of Life Challenge.  I have had some of the same doubts as to whether I want to do this for the third year.  I write, but not every day.  Can I come up with good ideas and expand them?  I do have list to start my journey, but will they work when I have to write?  Do I have to be an every day writer to be a writer?  Why should I try?  That's it right there--try, try again. 

As Terje pointed out, I could try for the "magic of three." 

My first year of participation was hard for me and scary, but I made every day.  The second year was more enjoyable and easier to come up with ideas because I found out the smallest bits of life are the best topics.  Still, I had hard days.  What will year number three teach me?

I like to write about my life/beliefs because I find my children/relatives/friends reading my blog, learning things about me they never knew and would never know if I didn't share them here.  That is part of my motivation/legacy.  I love words and always have.  I don't think I will ever publish a real book, but I will publish my blog for myself one day. 

I have grandchildren and have shared my love of writing with them.  I just had a discussion with 8-year-old Lucas about my Neville mouse story because he asked me how I was doing.  Wow, someone is listening!!!  I told him I was stuck and he asked me where Neville was in my story.  I told him he was making friends with the French restaurant cat Charles.  He proceeded to tell me what I could do with their friendship.  Lucas had a great idea and that sticky note now sits on the top of my story.

My sons have commented on my posts and are always waiting for the next one.  My son Ben just recently commented on my Feb. 5 post, telling me what it meant to him--priceless. 

I think I write because I know I will be heard when I have something important to share.  Can I find importance again every day in March this year?  I will try.

Good luck to all bloggers this March.

Small But Not Little

The little things that count,
Warming your very being.

Small events, words, images,
Speaking loudly to your inner soul.

-grassy-green backyards
-affirmation during conflict
-four o'clocks
-aroma of dill
-wag of a tail
-words on a page/note
-just a look/touch
-support without words
-growth of a child
-warmth of a blanket
-sunshine
-familiar voice
-soup
-uncontrollable laughter
-snowflakes
-grasp of a cup
-flow of water
-smell of dirt
-paper and pen
-colors

Larger than life.