Category Archives: teaching

W^2 –moon, calm

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, May 18, 2022

sunset on the lake, waxing moon, calm. Lake Margrethe, Grayling, MI Saturday, May 14, 2022 8:59 PM EDT

This week for my W^2 post, the calm after the storm.

This past weekend I asked my wife I made a quick trip to the lake and back. Up late Friday afternoon and home late Sunday night.

We had chores to do, and I was looking for a bit of calm as the school year winds (and grinds) to a finish. As in my previous post, W^2 – beauty and the beast, weather intervened. The skies opened and a thunderstorm rolled across the lake bringing hail and almost an inch and half of rain in about thirty minutes.

Once the storm passes, the skies cleared and there was calm. Calm enough to sit at the end of the dock and admire the sunset or flip the other way and admire the moon rise.

It was an excellent weekend, and I got a taste of summer, early. We also got the calm we needed and craved.

It is Wednesday, the middle of the week and there are as I sit and type ten more days of school this year and then it is summer. Today and I going to try and convince my 6th graders that there is a lot of space in the atmosphere for air particles (aka atoms and molecules) to move and I hope it provides the calm they need to weather the final days of the year. I know it is going to be going to be a great day. I know it and I can feel it, so I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, making the most of every day and trying to compress learning just like air particles can be compressed.

What brings you a little calm these days?

Be Curious, not Judgmental

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It is the Saturday morning before Easter and I am up early, before anyone else. Normally, I’d be at Loaves and Fishes volunteering helping families in need of food get the food they need, but Loaves and Fishes is closed for the holiday. I did work Thursday after school as it was the last day that families could get food this week and it was terribly busy.

trees along the path, Herrick Lake Forest Preserve, Wheaton, IL. April 10, 2022 5:29 PM

Yesterday I was reading my devotional, The One Year Uncommon Life Daily Challenge by Tony Dungy. I was reading the entry for July 21st. I know yesterday was April 15th, but I started reading the journal a couple of years ago and I started almost two years ago on April 25, 2020, by starting with the January 1st entry. The intent was to read each day and finish a year later on April 24, 2021, with the December 31st entry, but that didn’t happen. Things happen and life gets in the way of good intentions. But each time I have read an entry; I have felt as though the passage is speaking directly to me. Yesterday’s title was “Discernment instead of Judgement.” As I read the entry, I reflected on its meaning, and I immediately thought of the TV comedy series Ted Lasso. Last week, a colleague and I had been talking about teaching science and the topic of Ted Lasso wisdom had come up. He mentioned a Ted Lasso quote, “Be Curious, not judgmental,” and we chuckled because I encourage my students to be curious and full of wonder in science. Continue reading Be Curious, not Judgmental →

W^2 – restorative

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, December 15, 2021

The lake has a layer of ice in the background, winter is near, Herrick Lake Forest Preserve Wheaton, IL December 11, 2021, 3:25 PM

Saturday afternoon Fern and I took a walk at our local forest preserve. It was the first time in while she and I stepped out together on a hike. I couldn’t find my gloves, it was very windy, and my fingers were cold holding the leash and my new hiking stick. Temperatures last Saturday were above freezing, but when we passed the south end of the lake, we could see a crust of ice coating the surface. I did learn one thing, don’t use a hiking stick with Fern on a leash.

It was a good walk to clear the head, move the legs, and breath some fresh air. Like so many things in life, I just to make time for them. Restorative.

There are six days, counting today, until school is out for winter. The solstice arrives in five. It’s going to be an amazing day and it’s already begun. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, working on ways to restore, refresh, and move. Peace.

Where did you go for your most recent walk? Please share.

W^2 – waxing moon

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Venus and a waxing moon, DuPage Forest Preserve Headquarters, Wheaton, IL November 7, 2021, 5:26 PM

We’ve been watching the skies in my science classes this past week. We have been watching Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus in the early evening sky. It has been fun to watch the planets as well as my students when I begin class by asking,

“Did anyone go outside last night?”

Their eyes light up and some even produce photographs of the night sky they took on their phones. It’s exciting to see the wonder and enthusiasm for discovering something new. I found the video below and I was excited to learn about a partial lunar eclipse on the evening of November 18-19. You can check it out below. I will set my alarm to see partial lunar and I hope that it is a clear night. Watching and listening to my students makes me realize I am doing what I am supposed to be doing as I begin my seventh decade today. Yes, it is my birthday, and I am 60. I still feel like a young man full of curiosity and wonder. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, thinking like a young person keeps me young and full of excitement about what’s coming next.

What keeps you going?

W^2 – evening walk

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Fern and her shadow on our evening walk, Wheaton, IL October 12, 2021, 6:35 PM

The days are getting shorter, and the sun sets earlier each evening as a reminder that we are headed into winter. Then the process will reverse again as it always does. Until that time, fern and I will have to start earlier in the afternoon. We’ll continue to Make the Days Count, one day at a time, one step, or sniff, at time, starting earlier each day.

When do you make time walk?

W^2 – huge oak

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, September 29, 2021

the huge oak, Blackwell Forest Preserve, Warrenville, IL September 12, 2021, 9:24 AM

I often joke, “I put the late, in Clayton.” This week’s photograph is from three weeks ago when Fern and I took an ambitious morning hike at a new forest preserve to us. I’d been there plenty of times but never taken Fern for a hike. It was a steamy morning and we turned and headed home before finishing the planned distance. It was a good hike but both of us were spent. I had for too much to accomplish on the 15th and again on the 22nd, so on the 29th here is the huge oak, it’s a tree not a street. It looks like it’s been where it is for a while, and I anticipate it’ll be there long after me, even if I am on time. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, sometimes a delay and sometimes on time.

What is your timing, are you punctual or late?

another complete summer

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Summer is OFFICIALLY complete.

We’re at the lake for the Labor Day weekend. W and I drove up Friday night after school, B drove up Wednesday with the dogs stopping in Lansing along the way, and O arrived Friday after classes. All here, second year in a row.

Yesterday we all worked hard to get the boats, the lifts, and the docks out of the water. We finished our chores just as the rain began early in the evening.

O cooked dinner and we gathered at the table before calling it a day. I was the first to hit the rack, admitting I was too tired for a game at the table.

This morning when I woke, the clouds were gone, and the weather had changed, and it was sunny, cool, and breezy. A perfect day to wrap up our summer before returning home early Monday morning.

O’s cooking breakfast and it smells wonderful here and it’s almost ready.  It’s gonna be a great day I know it and I can feel it. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, coming together and working together to move from one season to the next.

How was your summer?

W^2 – empty nest

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Michigan State College marker, date unknow. East Lansing, MI August 28, 2021 6:10 PM

Saturday morning, we loaded our car and took off to take our youngest daughter off to college. It was a hot day and we got everything into her un-air-conditioned dorm room. We helped her unpack and put things away and then drove home. The drive home seemed so much longer than the drive there. Same distance, different circumstances, lighter load and for the first time in twenty-three and half years we are on our own again. Life begins anew. I remember my first week or so away from home and off to college, but I never thought how hard it was on my mom. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, beginning a new journey all over again.

Do you remember your first day away home?

today was O’s first day of class and I sent her greetings from my class! (notice my Alma mater on my mask – Texas A&M University) – Naperville, IL September 1, 2021 10:15 AM

Sunday and resilience

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It’s Sunday morning and I am sitting at my summer office, knowing full well ‘summer’ is another nine months away. The days are numbered on the summer office with a few more days left in August. Soon it will be too cold, too wet, or both to sit outside and work. But,

I’ll make hay while the sun shines. Farmer’s wisdom

The birds are flocking to the feeders, and I watched three hummingbirds hash it out over at the hummingbird feeder. Sorry, no photo, those birds are just too quick.

School restarted Thursday with students sitting in my classroom albeit masked (all of us were masked) but sitting in my classroom; AND, happy to be there. Last fall, I created a menagerie of ‘students’ to keep me company while I taught using a camera and microphone. This year, ALL of my students are in the room. I am keeping those five students to remind me of our resilience and persistence.

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor E. Frankl Austrian neurologist, Holocaust survivor

There has been a lot of talk in the media about learning loss. The pundits love to point out deficiencies in public education because it’s easy to point out what’s wrong. It’s much more challenging to find what is good and that is what Making the Days COUNT dot org is all about. Always has been. There is far more good in the world than the media is apt to share. So, that’s why I have tuned it out. The loudest sound in the room isn’t always right, it’s just loud.

Getting back to school was easy. Continue reading Sunday and resilience →

Summer Days: Week 10 and back to school

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It’s Day 68 +2 and I am back to school. My first day back was Monday and my new students arrive tomorrow on Thursday. I am excited and nervous, and I am certain they are too.

I woke early Monday morning, much earlier than I was accustomed to over break. I sat outside listening to the birds’ chirp while sipping coffee and working through my morning routine. I realized that the sun rose after 6 AM and it was similar to the final sunset after 8 PM or later a few days ago, this was the last time until next spring that sun rise before 6 in the morning. Summer is winding down and being back in school is a sure sign that summer’s days are waning.

Yesterday we had meet and greets for a few students to come into school, meet their teachers, and find their classrooms. It was exciting to meet them and hopefully I will remember them on Thursday when they sit up front as a suggested. I made notes before I left school of whom I met. I am excited and I am sure they are, too.

games can teach us about how science works…

Monday morning, I arrived early, before the meetings began, I opened the packages that arrived last week. The contents are in the photo below – they are games I am going to use to help develop science skills – observation, classification, evidence, claims and reasoning.

“In the summer, we write life’s summary with the slow waves of love flowing over the sandy beach. The slow breeze and the warm sun write our memories.”
― Debasish Mridha

I only have 5 photos for this final summer days post and there is a decided ‘lake’ theme to four of the five. Continue reading Summer Days: Week 10 and back to school →