winter quarter prose poetry

Just like its season, the winter quarter of the academic year stretches long and cold, a bleak foreshadowing of years of toil to come.

It is said that this will pass. Yet it will certainly come again. Same time next year. Same cold car in the mornings. Same stuffy noses. Same. Same. Same.

My frozen toes groan the melancholy of my never ending nineteen graduate credits.

Oh woe.

future focus

I've been thinking a lot about the future lately, and it's made me aware of the calendar-centric nature of academia in general, regardless of the level. Because I'm a graduate student working on a degree in elementary education, I'm completely immersed in the world of education at both ends of the spectrum. For my personal work as a student, the focus is on my own growth and my future career. For my students, little kids who are just starting out, it's as if their lives are nothing but future! Preparing them for their lives as participants in our society is the whole point, and we accomplish this bit by bit within the yearly calendar. Sometimes I feel like everything is about tomorrow. But, as a stay-at-home mother for a decade, my focus was on the present so much of the time that it mostly feels refreshing to look up and out and think about the grand scheme of things more.

In other news, though there is the expected whining from those whose standard of living might be affected if they can't adjust and live within their means, Congress has placed stricter than expected caps on executive bonuses. As someone who's hoping to see some of the stimulus package dollars make their way into my local classrooms, I can't help but be a bit pleased by this. I'm cautiously optimistic that our schools could end up benefiting from this bill. And it's pretty hard for me to work up much sympathy for someone who'll be "limited" to only half a million dollars a year income. My school district sure could hire a lot of highly qualified teachers for one of those folks' yearly pay. *sigh*

In other news...

My winter student teaching is going smashinly well. Unfortunately, my brilliant cooperating teacher/ mentor had a rough car accident and will be out for a month or so. Fortunately, she'll be fine and is in good spirits. Unfortunately, this means that I'm taking over every last bit of it right away, starting with the report cards I completed the day after said accident. Fortunately, the long term substitute they hired is fabulous, just retired after teaching for 30 years, and can definitely help guide me, especially on classroom management.

All in all, I'm feeling more fortunate than un- lately. The kids are responding well to my instruction and rules and so on. I've been receiving wonderful support from the administration at the elementary school, all the other teachers there, and my university faculty advisor. All of this is making me feel pretty confident about my chosen profession!

Only vaguely related to education, but still...

Americans have a complex relationship with babies and breasts. Having just last week weaned my third child at the age of 31 months (about the same age her older sisters each stopped nursing), I know that continuing to breastfeed a child when you're apart for some days is difficult, but certainly not impossible. Ultimately, I'm grateful that I was always able to be with them full time when they were very small and only had to spend daytimes away after they had each reached at least two years of age. Leaving my youngest to go off to grad school was not exactly easy, but leaving her with her loving daddy made it just fine for her, even if I did miss her during seminars and so forth. But now she's a big girl and is just fine with hugs and kisses and no nursing. *sigh*.

No, this has little to nothing to do with my standard topic, which is education. Bear in mind,though, that studies have shown a correlation between extended breastfeeding and increased intelligence. I have some mighty fine anecdotal evidence studying cuttlefish in my living room right now to back that up. I'm just saying. Parental involvement probably counts for more than what babies are fed, but let's not discount nutrition. I'm not even saying that the diet has to be ideal. I've rarely been able to afford what I'd consider a perfect diet (totally organic, local, fresh, always balanced...) but I know enough to mix it up with the food groups and avoid the obviously unhealthy prepackaged foods.

Long story short, my youngest is officially no longer a baby, and I'll be keeping a stash of granola bars in my desk at school just in case anyone skipped breakfast. And kudos to all the mommies and daddies and grannies and thoughtful daycare providers who are making the world a better place, one well cared for child at a time!