It's Good to Know, Even Graduate School Alumni Call to Catch Up When There's a Reunion in Town. Thankful. And We Got Noodles as a Result

I learned in the day, yesterday, that two of my favorite students of yesteryear were gathering in Connecticut for a mini-reunion and they wanted to get dinner with me Ally and Darlene were in a co-horticultural together, bonded over intellectual brilliance and a passion to teach, and found total amusement from learning, challenging me, and keeping me on my toes. They also respected me enough to vent and to share the frustrations of emptying the ocean with a fork...which is teaching. 

I had a 14-hour day, but I'd be damned if I didn't take an opportunity to meet with students who were so important to my instruction for several years. They presented at CWP conferences, were passionate about working with YA writers, and loved kids. Their work, too, was worthy of publication, if only there was more time to write with them in a Masters program.

We went to Mecha noodle bar and I had the pho I've been craving for weeks. I heard about teaching in Connecticut and teaching in Oklahoma, learned about students they cherish and who have impacted their lives, and discussed teaching in a time where some feel that best practices are malpractice, including the importance of diversity, equity, inclusivity, and empathy. Amazing to know that 100% of what works for building. classroom communities are policed by individuals who stand against joy, purpose, truth, and possibility. Not an easy time, at all, to be in a K-12 classroom, especially when you care for the best in all kids.

I also had an incredible graduate class tonight, where a 5th grade's report on a blob fish won the evening, as well as a class playlist (thanks to Gholdy Muhammad's influence in Unearthing Joy, another seminal book for teachers that a core of U.S. citizens are trying to ban from use in our schools. Ignorance isn't even the right word any more. It's total stupidity, and beyond short-sighted. Ah, but that is where we are.

I had a picture of the sunset, too, that could have captured yesterday's accomplishment, but I got home late, was thinking about teaching as the core of all I do, and chose to go with students of yesteryear, instead. It's now Tuesday, and I begin early and end late. I'm simply thankful that the morning meetings were turned into ZOOM calls, which is very helpful to those of us who are on campus late at night (which I'll be again tonight).

Poor Karal. I'm glad she can't text, because she might be "Are you ever going to be home to give me doggie treats and offer me a lap to fall asleep on." I got home by 9. She got her biscuits and her lap. All should be well.