And We're Relieved. Not the Same Horrible Sleep from Saturday Night. Phew. Glad That Was Short Lived.

I have no idea what set me off at 4 a.m. in the morning, but I had shooting pain from my lower back, so much that it startled me away and I jumped out of bed. It didn't let up for over an hour and it was so painful that I was also drenched. In the back of my fly head I was thinking, "Oh, shit. I might need to go into a hospital." Immediately following I thought, "Oh, shit. Who the #$@#$ would take over all the work that I do if I wasn't there to do it?" 

So, from 4 a.m. to 5 a.m. I stretched, I rolled on the floor, I sat in chairs, and I found ways to massage the pain. After an hour, whatever it was went away. I was thinking, "did my appendix just explode?" but it was in the back and not the front. 

I've self-diagnosed with a pinched nerve of some sort. Too much of my life is spent sitting and writing, and I really need to start a gym habit again to keep myself limber. Aging is not fun, and I have memories of many before me with how awful back pain was for them. Not enjoyable...not in the least.

Today, however, this morning, I begin the 3rd week of Connecticut Writing Project summer programs. I enjoyed the Saturday and Sunday down time, although those were days to catch up on the other work. Here's to another week and prayers for calm, joy, creativity, and laughter. I can gripe about how much labor it takes to pull of each year, but it really is remarkable...work that fuels me for the stuff I don't enjoy so much during the academic year.

And with that...time to hit I-95

This is Not Actually Karal, But It Pretty Much Was. I Just Didn't Have My Camera On Me. So Much for the Bath

I've been saying for months that Karal needed a bath. Her shedding has become ridiculous and I knew she had an outdoor smell to her. So, after writing for several hours yesterday I got her in the tub and dig a good cleaning. She's not as resistant as my other dogs have been, but she also doesn't enjoy it. I dried her off, brought her downstairs, and let her outback so I could clean the mess mad win the tub.

Bad decision. 

When I got to the back door, Karal was mud from nostrils to the tip of her tail. She was still wet when I let her out back and my guess was she chose to role in the garden to coat herself with the earthly smell she much more preferred. I was like, "ugh," and then spent a while washing her again and cleaning the tub. It was a mess.

Life. I suppose it's about covering up our natural tendencies, but the instincts will always kick in, no matter what creature we are. We're dirty, messy, impossible, and not meant to be clean in a civilized way. She is in my house to remind me of this. We're not always meant to be contained, cleansed, orderly, and fit for the indoors. Sometimes, we simply need to be covered in mud - that is our instinct.

After the 2nd washing, I took her to the garage to stay before leashing her up for a long walk to dry. That was much better and more successful. I didn't get as much fur off of her as Cynde and Mike did Max (their  ball of shedding fur), but it was a significant amount. It filled a quarter of the bathroom garbage can and it took quite a while to spray down the mud and mop the floors.

Oh, dog ownership. It never ceases to amaze me...such a reminder of what life is really about.

Flying Into the Weekend Ready to Rest My Eyes But Am Already Thinking About the Programs for Next Week. Kids are Rejuvenating

For years, I've heard from parents that they are thankful that I've created a space for kids to find other kids like them who love to read and write. The first day always seems scary, because kids arrive nervous and there are so many of them...you think, what happens if any of them have a terrible time. What happens, though, is magical (in the same way it happens for teachers and adults who do NWP programs). A bond starts to occur...humanity comes alive...people connect with people. A community is formed.

"Thank you for hosting a space where kids can find one another...their people...the quirky, creative, and intellectual kids. My son has found a his place." 

That was an email I received yesterday. Makes me happy, because the first couple of days I didn't know. 

I'm lucky because I get to move into the spaces directing, organizing, and doing various workshops all helping the literacy labs to achieve their weekly goals. Yes, it's 7 a.m - 9 pm day, but I do fall asleep rather quick because I can't keep my eyes open. 

Of course, I'm waking today thinking about taking flight next week, already finding an easy-to-do project for the little labbers on day two, when we look at the engineering of things in the sky.

But I do know I need DOWN time for two days...and I mean DOWN. The rejuvenation is a must. 

Can't Believe Week Two of Summer Programs Comes to an End Today (Three More weeks to Go). I Am So Lucky to Be an Educator Across So Many Ages

I returned yesterday from doing a workshop with Bellarmine College freshmen, and saw the Little Labbers were challenged to engineer their own marshmallow robots. I couldn't help but take a quick photo (and yes, I heard Big Brother is back on...I didn't even think about Zingbot when creating an engineering them)(for those that don't know...I have a weird connection with the stupidest show on earth. I like the soap opera feel and the game play. I hate the social game of it all and get frustrated when anyone feels backstabbed - THAT'S THE INTENT OF THE GAME).

The young novelist are putting finishing touches on their characters and I'm always delighted to get emails like this, "My kid hates school. He despises camps. I don't know what you're doing over there on campus, but he is begging his father and I to sign him up for another week. Keep doing what you're doing." I think it is a testimony to the CWP teachers as around 15 students who only signed up for week one of Novel are signing up for week two, too. Most of the little labbers are repeaters this year and their parents automatically signed them up for both weeks, knowing the programs are different. 

And yes, I've been sound asleep by 10 p.m. each night out of our exhaustion. I actually go to bed at 9, knowing I likely won't make it to 10 pm - kid work and good work is tiring work.

I should also acknowledge that yesterday was Karallyne Caramel Kharma Cupcake's 5th birthday. I got her at age one in August, 2021, but she had a birthdate of July 9, 2020 on her paperwork. The little ball of energy that was adopted and returned 3 times in her first year of life. I can attest to that energy, but have definitely seen it slow down this year (huh? weird how it parallels my own desire to slow down?).

I have to hit the road. Most of the campus shuts down on Friday (but a few have 1/2 day). Our crew is usually the last one's to leave (and I imagine I'm heading straight towards a nap).

It's Friday! I'm just thankful that the compliments of the work are sustainably upbeat and positive. It is something...this National Writing Project way.

Another Fabulous Day Collaborating with @FairfieldSOE @FairfieldU. Thankful to Dr. John Drazan and His Engineering Team

For several years, Dr. John Drazan and I have talked basketball, youth programming, community-engaged  learning, and collaboration. Until this summer, we haven't found the exact way to do so, although the past two summers we've received hints. William King, an ESL teacher and coach at Central High School, who works closely with CWP-Fairfield and is a Fairfield University Grad has been bringing students to both of our programs. On a whim, I wrote a grant to see if we could better organize and, lucky for us, it was funded by the Bridgeport Rotary Club, which is allowing us to bring teachers to John's programs and our young people to his program to learn with colleges students mentoring King's high school students.

Yesterday simply was a fusion of all the worlds...human togetherness as planned by the grant. We engineered this. 

I was not only amazed by how well Dr. Drazan communicated the work he does as a college researcher to our Little Lab for Big Imaginations (grades 3-5), but also how well his college students work with King's high school students to mentor them to also work with young people on their STEM research. It is an art, indeed. The kids loved rotating through the different options to test speed, agility, resilience, and perseverance....all part of what Dr. Drazan studies with his students. 

In the Little Lab, we've been working on Engineering Human togetherness with a strong emphasis that writers engineer language, too. We build quite a library of books and the activities helped to lead to this point and will culminate with students writing their pieces for publication...the 14th year in a 40 year tradition at Fairfield University. 

I'm still processing the magic of what we witnessed: 16 kids, six teachers, a dozen Fairfield students, and ten as many high school kids using engineering to partner with each other to learn. I'm glad we bought the kids magic wands and wizard hats. That about right.

On another note, I took Karal for a long walk where a woman approached me, looking very tired and saying needed water. I wasn't near my house, so I said I didn't live nearby. She said she was homeless. Later, when I went to buy marshmallows for activities tomorrow, I noticed she was set up in a little gazebo near the park by my house...She must of wandered that way. I came home and couldn't get her out of my mind. I went back out in my car and drove to the park to bring her a tall bottle of cold water. She was writing on pieces of paper (journaling), but my guess is she was quite confused in her ways, too. I couldn't imagine wandering in this heat without a home or fresh water to drink. She took the water and said, "Bless you." I simply responded, "No. Bless you. You deserve to cool yourself off." 

I thought about calling the police, but I imagine others have called. I simply wanted to give her a little refreshment to fight the temperatures. Not much...but it hit me hard. I'm thankful for any and all who look out for those who struggle like she seemed to be. The gesture was small...at first I tried to keep it out of my mind, but I couldn't. She only wanted water...an hour later, when I knew where she was settled and I was buy my refrigerator at home, getting water was a no-brainer. I simply went out in my car to where she was under a sleeping bag with all her papers and handed her the bottle. It's no way for anyone to live.

Perhaps, as a civilized society, we should engineer better ways to look out for others, no matter their circumstance. With all the excess this nation has, it simply seems we could be doing more.

A Simple Reason Why I Love the Teachers Teaching Teachers Style of Professional Development. Life Long Learning & Picking Up New Tricks

The request was to get rubbing alcohol, baking powder, and turmeric. I was told by a teacher she wanted to try to make invisible ink with the little kids. We also needed Q-tips and those tiny plastic paintbrushes. The rest was in her instruction. Sure enough. The kids practiced in their notebooks what they wanted to share with others with invisible ink. Then the Tumeric was added and, lo and behold, the messages came through. I told the creator of this message that she mastered a portrait of me, because this is how I was feeling after day two of week two. The kids had so much fun with this.

I say it every year, too. It's amazing how much writing the teachers get out of kids in such a short time. The Novel Writing lab simply wants the adults to get out of the way. They seriously would write for six hours straight with no instruction if they were allowed to. The little labbers are getting that way. Any sense of chipmunk or squirrel behavior dissipates in the afternoon of Day One, and suddenly they all want to compose (it does help that outside play in the heat makes them enjoy inside writing time more). It's hard to believe it is already Wednesday, though.

The summer work also makes me realize how much I appreciate school principals and vice principals. In any given day there is a tremendous amount of learning going on in all the spaces and it would be nearly impossible to keep up with all the bodies, ideas, projects, instruction, and artwork going on. Managing an entire school must be impossible (and no one did it better that Ron Freeman in Louisville - he always told me to stay out of administration and I listened to him...it's a calling like teaching, especially if you do it right...I couldn't do it because I have no patience for the majority in K-12 teaching who do it all wrong and don't see anything wrong with how they do it. I couldn't live with myself if I had to oversee and tolerate that...my expectations are too high for fellow teachers).

It is midweek, and we're visiting the Engineering Annex again so the college kids who are working with the high school kids can work with our little kids with BIG IMAGINATIONS. It's a first for us, but we did receive funding for the partnership, and this is a pilot year. 

I'm also looking forward to the afternoon when the older kids share their writing with me in one-on-one conferences.

Bring on the Summer Naps...the Little Labbers and Young Novelists Have Started and Working with a Hundred Kids Take a Lot of Mental Meandering

I love it, and it's funny how the classroom clock simply says "1". Why, yes...it was day one and by the time you read this we'll be entering Day 2. I have to say, however, that the biggest note of 2025 thus far is how much the regulars are disappointed that it will be a summer without Abu. I mean, Abu's been with our programs most summers since they began and he's sort of a legend with teachers, parents, siblings, and campers. The older kids were like, "What do you mean he took another job and no longer has summers to spend with us?" All I could say is, "Hey, it's much harder on me. I don't have him in my home, either." Our summer shenanigans are irreplaceable.

I'm excited to bring graduate students into the fold this year and offer them some opportunities to get teaching experience before student teaching next spring. They're working in Little Lab and Novel Writing for the next two weeks, then transitioning to Ubuntu Academy. Today's bonus lesson was learning both Danish and Spanish, the languages two of them teach.

The wizard hats and magic wands also arrived and, of course, I went with the light up ones with sound effects which caused Stefania Vendrella, lead teacher this week, to say, "Crandall, I'm going to kill you." I don't blame her...I'm every teacher's worse nightmare because I buy toys that I think will be fun, but then they become a distraction. Needless to say they were monitored rather quickly.

It was also Bellarmine College's first day, so there was a return of last year's crew and the newbies for this year, which caused for many first-day jitters as every one arrived at the same time...drop offs became a lil' tricky.

Now for day two...and we'll see what we're gonna do! Always the happiest time of the year.