Assessing Literacy Learners

Yeah...

I got 36/40 on my paper... that's 90% (I wanna see the comments & stuff & see why I missed 4 points)

I got 19/20 on my reading responses... that's 95%

I got 20/20 on my discussion leading... that's 100%

And so I got an A in my class that I didn't like and that sucked out my soul. I have kept my 4.0 average, and, after getting an A in this last class, I better keep a 4.0 for the remainder...

Progressive Dinner

We're doing an old trick that we've never done before...

Since Mom, Tracy & Dan live within a half mile of each other, we are having a progressive dinner. We started at Dan's house. He and Janel had prepared several appetizers, enough to feed us for the night. Spinach dip, BLT dip, weiners, taco dip, along with lotsa happy drinks.

We moved on to Mom & Dad's house for lasagna & mostaccoli. The p's also provided a healthy selection including red rose' & white zinfandel, along with several choice light domestic beers. I'll meet you anytime you want at our italian restaurant.

Now we wait at Mom & Dad's for Tracy & Dave to be ready with their dessert fare. They are insisting that we be surprised, but I do know they will have malibu hot chocolate, and that's enough for me.

The Full Moon on 12/26/04

Does anyone know if there is an actual explanation for crazy behavior during a full moon? I know that the moon is at it's furthest from the sun during a full moon, and that the moon's pull on Earth is opposite of the sun's pull. I don't know what that has to do with crazy behavior.


the moon at mom's house

Night behind the city lights

Jake & Dad


Dan & Janel


Mom & Tania

Here are some pictures of the Chicago Trip

This is Tania, Mom, Jake, Dan, Janel, and Marc outside of Uncle Julio's Hacienda. Dad took the picture.


Here we are looking into Cloud Gate. "The Bean."


Here's the star of this particular blog. Looking at you through Cloud Gate. Look at him. So unaware. He has no idea, does he?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I am tired... it's been a long Christmas Eve.

it's only about 2:00 am. My cats are down in the basement waiting for me to come to bed. How exciting! We played 90's version of trivial pursuit, that was the smartest I have ever felt while playing that game, although there were still quite a lot of answers I couldn't begin to guess. Then we played another game that was fun but I can't remember what it was called. I need sleep!

Valhalla

I learned a new word today. I've heard it in two places: Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, and in a Led Zeppelin song, "The Immigrant Song." The word is "valhalla".

When I used to hear this in the Led Zeppelin song, I just thought it was some weird obscure word I would never find, so I just didn't try. Then I read it in Zinn's book, (actually I heard it read by Matt Damon on CD), and I had to look it up. If you click on the Zeppelin link, the Immigrant Song plays automatically, by luck on my part.

The Oxford Desk Dictionary & Thesaurus
Valhalla (n.) (in Norse mythology) palace in which the souls of slain heroes feasted for eternity

Then I lifted this "definition" from:
"Valhalla." Encyclopedia Mythica from Encyclopedia Mythica online. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/v/valhalla.html. December 23, 2004].
I think this gives a more detailed definition of the word.

"Valhalla, Hall of the Slain, in Norse mythology is the hall presided over by Odin. This vast hall has five hundred and forty doors. The rafters are spears, the hall is roofed with shields and breast-plates litter the benches. A wolf guards the western door and an eagle hovers over it. It is here that the Valkyries, Odin's messengers and spirits of war, bring half of the heroes that died on the battle fields (the rest go to Freya's hall Folkvang). These heroes, the Einherjar, are prepared in Valhalla for the oncoming battle of Ragnarok. When the battle commences, eight hundred warriors will march shoulder to shoulder out of each door. "


So there's Valhalla for ya. It's funny that Led Zeppelin has that word in that song, I really don't know what "The Immigrant Song" is all about. I also know that in "The Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin, an awesome song, by the way, Robert Plant says, "the ringwraiths ride in black... ride on..."
The only other place I have read about ringwraiths is in the Lord of the Rings. I know what ringwraiths are, I just wonder if Plant (or the songwriter, whoever that was) was a Tolkien fan.

Did I do any good for myself by ironing out this wrinkle in my brain?

Cloud Gate

Okay, here's a picture of cloud gate taken by someone with more time, energy, & pixels than me. Really, I might have been able to take this picture, but this is one of those things where you just have to see it in person. It's cool.

Cloud Gate


Check out the website if ya want more info... There's also ice skating and an outdoor concert stage thing too.

Millenium Park

Sweet Home Chicago

It was another traditional trip to Chi-town for Christmas shopping, food & fun. Something new on our trip this year was "the bean", officially known as "Cloudgate" at Millenia Park. Pictures to come. Basically, this bean shaped sculpture of stainless steel gives infinite reflections of the skyline and people standing nearby. Under the bean, people stand and look up into the cone-shaped underside that really looks trippy and I would not recommend this for anyone with a weak stomach or anyone who is easily motion-sick. I tried to get pictures of this, but I think photos don't do Cloudgate justice. You be the judge of that. Ended the day, as usual, at Lou Malnati's. The wait was an hour and the waitress was obnoxious and lazy, but the pizza there more than compensates. Pictures Soon!

good people

good people go to work every day :)

good people say hello

good people think of other people first

good people go to bed early

good people are polite

good people die young

good people give to charity

good people are selfless

good people have pets

good people sing in the shower

good people know what the sunset looked like yesterday and what phase the moon is in

good people eat mangos

{:0)

Punch Drunk Love

I'm watching the movie Punch Drunk Love. It's pretty different, not Adam Sandler's typical movie. He just kicked the crap out of four guys with a tire iron. Now he's running around with a phone receiver (disconnected) and he's on a mission. I've seen this movie before, I like it quite a bit. It's pretty crazy, it shows what can happen to a guy who grows up with mostly sisters (especially crazy ones.)

It's almost Christmas!

The Paper is Done

Yeah we went to class on Tuesday... I was all set to talk about my paper; we only had to "discuss" our Reading Assessment Case Study for 5-10 minutes... Now if we finished discussing everyone's papers, we were told we wouldn't have to return the following Tuesday.

So before class, all the students talked about keeping it short and getting done. The professor came in; we began to discuss papers. Don't get me wrong, I was interested in other people's papers. However, I couldn't help but realize that each person was taking, oh, about 15-20 minutes to discuss their work. I began to get nervous. They began to get hungry. They ordered pizza, and I gave up hopes of staying in Peoria next week. The biggest loss in that scenario was that I would miss my first graders singing "Paint the Town December!" and "Hearts Around the World."

I will be very upset if the people who showed up, begged to go first, and spoke for 15-20 minutes, do not show up and listen to me discuss my paper next week. How Rude!

The Funniest Interaction

During a painting & coloring activity today, one of my first-graders came to me and said, "Mr. D., I ain't got no paints."

I don't like to correct spoken grammar, I really don't care about it, but I was in a playful mood, so I laughed and said, "I ain't got no paints?"

Her eyes flickered as she laughed at the mistake she made. She rolled her eyes then and looked away as though she was humoring me and corrected herself:

"I don't got no paints."

I could only laugh and give her a set of paints.

This is the same girl who, when discussing her favorite animal, said, "I like waccoons cuz they eat gawbage."

My Paper is Almost Done!

Yep...

Okay, I am in my fourth of 12 classes getting my master's in reading at ISU... This class has killed my soul for the last three months... I have learned, but only at the cost of my personal life (dwindling anyway) and my sense of humor. The crease between my eyes has become a deep crevasse, and my head is constantly knotted with preoccupation and feelings of inadequacy: the class is called "Assessing Literacy Learners" and I feel that there is never an answer that is totally right. Truth and certainty slither and writhe even as you grasp harder and with any effort you put forth.
Okay, maybe I could have tried harder: I don't know though, I was so discouraged. I have not been that way in a class in a long time. And I get the feeling that the point is to make us think: Okay, I get the point... I am thinking. Let the misery and pain end. Okay, I'm going back to work on the paper. I think it'll be done in an hour! I can't wait! Serenity Now!

New Name for my Blog

Alright, I was reading a book called something like "The Writer's Notebook" to my students... it's a children's chapter book on how to live a writing kind of life, by Ralph Fletcher. I love it when I live the "writing kind of life" because it makes me feel like I have mystique and it makes things just seem more meaningful.

I haven't felt that way in a while. The book said that you have to have a special place where you write your ideas, or actually the metaphor was that you are trying to "catch" or "trap" special experiences by having a routine or ritual for writing. As I read this to my first graders, it occurred to me that my new ritual for writing is my blog. That made me happy. Because I won't be wasting paper, and I won't have a notebook to lose (unless I lose my "notebook" computer).

So here it is, my ritual. I think from here out my blog will be called "campfire," because I think traditionally rituals happen around/near a fire. Also, many good conversations happen near a campfire. That'll remind me that I have mystique and to find the special meaning in things.

Speaking of meaning, today I had a revelation about the word committee. It was revealed to me that committee seems to have the the word commit in it, and that makes sense, because when you are on a committee, you commit to a cause or something like that. That's all I have to say about that.