Pensive, restless, pondering poetry (and maybe alliteration) and a birthday wish

Charlotte and I are home, again. The snow just doesn't seem to stop this year. I wanted to blog before diving into my day; primarily, right now, I'm supposed to be planning a tenth grade poetry unit.

There is so much to think about, even more so when I'm not thinking about work all day. I like it, actually; I like how my focus changes when I'm home, and it is easier to concentrate on what is most important. The funny thing is that even with work thoughts out of the equation, there are still more than enough thoughts to fill my day. There is perpetually something to be done, and while I see how being home could become mundane and lose its sparkle after a while, I truly treasure it when I am here. Who ever thought I would say that?

At the same time, I must take one trip a day to get out of the house. My friend, Kristi, (the Pampered Chef one) is a stay-at-home mom who rarely if ever leaves her house during the day. I cannot be like that. I must take Charlotte on some kind of outing every day, whether it's to Target (one of my very favorite places), Bed, Bath and Beyond (where we went yesterday) or even the library (in fact, I do have some books to donate....hmmm). The cold and Charlotte's unwillingness to learn how to walk :) make going places a little more difficult. Plus, I'm to the point of winter where I am tired of wearing a coat. Coats are bulky and restrict your movement, the sleeves scoot up and your wrists get cold; I'm basically over wearing a coat. That's unfortunate because right now it is 20 degrees outside, but it feels like 3. Three degrees! Oh well. I'm still taking the girl somewhere today before we go to church.

I'm going to post this and work on my poetry unit, which I texted Rafe yesterday is "bomb-diggity." True story. Here's another true story: English teachers HATE teaching poetry. Isn't that funny? People think that all English teachers must be like Robin Williams in Dead Poet's Society (Allison?), unconventional and passionate when it comes to verse. Not so much. In my observation, kids hate poetry because of the way they've been taught it, so we, as high school teachers drudge through it because 1) the kids hate it, whine and complain about it and 2) we have to distill poetry into 20 terms that may turn up on a standardized test, but because of those 20 terms, we have to teach it. I've never really done a good job of teaching poetry, I don't think, and the last time I taught a unit like this, all of Langston Hughes' poetry hadn't been poached from 10th grade English by the 9th grade English teachers (grr...). But I think this unit is very promising...one of the songs I think I'm going to use, just for fun, is "The Ninjas" by BNL. (I tried desperately to find you a royalty-free picture of a ninja, but I guess there isn't that much demand for that kind of media request.) The chorus of the song is a limerick, which is not one of our 20 terms, but fun, and it goes like this:

The ninjas are deadly and silent

They're also unspeakably violent,

They speak Japanese, do whatever they please,

And if you tear off their masks, they'll be smilin'.

Ooh, and do you see that? Slant rhyme! Gotta write that one down...

One last thing; it is my sister-in-law, Kristen's birthday today (she's in the green below). Woo Hoo!! Kristen, I bought you a hilarious, wonderful card and have not sent it yet. It is on its way!