This week, I decided to tie up some loose ends. The nature of my classroom creates many loose ends, and sometimes I just want them all to be tied up in a neat bow, and finished. I don’t know why- it doesn’t last long. It just makes me feel better I guess. So I went in determined to do nothing but tie, tie, tie. No sidebars, no interjecting personal stories to drive a point, just tie, tie, tie. Well, it was all going as planned…until journal share. Alex had written about a dream he had, and someone asked “what part of the brain does that come from, and how come I can’t remember mine?” We wrote that question down to add to the list of questions on my website…another loose end. During workshop I realized that several kids needed a refresher on states of matter so that they could finish their powerpoint project…small group time scheduled….another loose end. Then during choice time someone found moviemaker, and asked if I would show them how to use it….now he wants to do his matter project on moviemaker, and spends the next 20 minutes sketching ideas and firing questions at me….loose end. After school, a student emails me to ask whether she should get a pink or orange cast on her broken hand….so I post a blog survey for my kids, and decide we will take that data and use it to make bar graphs for math tomorrow. That will give me a chance to show them create-a graph, which we have not done yet this year. 2 more loose ends…hmmmm. So I think I ended the day with at least 5 more loose ends than I started with….it was a good day. I guess I should just let my loose ends go….because that’s when I see the most…..I see kids who are not afraid to ask questions, I see my instruction changing to meet student needs, I see curiousity, flexibility, and reality. I see loose ends. Ah well, I was never really a “bow” kinda gal anyway:)

Just a quick new blog to say that my current vice is watching Current TV while folding socks on Sundays.  You all have probably known about it for awhile since it has been around since 2005, but I just recently ran across it in my attempt to distract myself from sock matching.   I like it because it is almost totally viewer created content, with a huge variety of topics.  This morning I learned what it’s like to have a mom with cancer, found out what waterboarding was (yikes), and watched as several young Katrina survivors told stories about how life is for them now.  They also have viewers doing music and movie reviews, current google search trends, and random statistics about things like the 5 lowest paying jobs in America.  I guess it is sort of like CBS Sunday Morning for the 21st century junkie.  No story lasts more than a few minutes, which I suppose reflects the attention span of the current audience.  I do wonder who filters the content though…it’s privately funded cable, and they say on their website that Al Gore is somehow involved in it.  So I guess if you have issues with that, you might not want to watch…otherwise, take a look.  I have already gotten a few ideas that will somehow reflect into my teaching I am sure.  Hmm..Branson Elementary Current podcast perhaps?