Share Four Somethings

Linking up with Jenn for Share Four Somethings...

May was an eventful month around here. I remember that March was a remarkably uneventful month. I guess that's how life is- phases of busyness and phases of not so much. I don't mind calm and quiet at all; however, I love to spend time celebrating and seeing people whom I don't get to see a lot of. So busy times are all good as well. 

What I loved: 

When I looked through photos for the month, a few things stood out at me and they centered around me being the passenger of a car so I'm going to use that as a springboard:

1. At the very beginning of the month (it seems like a long time ago...), at my brother's invitation to drive, I decided to go to my aunt's celebration of life in Michigan. I drove to my brother's house in northern Indiana and he drove us into Michigan for the event. In his minivan, I got to sit beside MG which was a highlight 😀. At my aunt's celebration of life, I got to hear some new (to me) stories about my grandparent's emigration from Germany and I learned more about my aunt than I had previously known. Also I got to see cousins and my aunt whom I don't see often due to not living near any of my relatives.

Cutest seat row buddy...

2. Towards the middle of the month, Abby graduated from college! Her school is only about an hour from our house so getting there is no big deal. I offered to drive us to the ceremony. I often volunteer to drive on the weekends when we go somewhere. Donnie's week days are so busy with work while mine are not. I like to offer to drive when we go places to give him as much a break as possible on the weekends. If he's a passenger, he can scroll on his phone, catch a cat nap, text with friends or family or whatever- not driving is just a bit of break physically and mentally. Sometimes he takes me up on my offer to drive and sometimes he doesn't. He didn't take me up on my offer to drive so he drove us to Oxford and then to Hamilton after the ceremony for a dinner out. I have driven to Oxford a lot over the past four years; I enjoyed being a passenger and viewing the interesting terrain we cover on the trip there. 

In Hamilton where we ate dinner after graduation

3. This past week, Alyssa asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her. She wanted to pick up some new clothes to take on vacation with her (she's heading to South Carolina with friends soon) and to get a few things for upcoming sorority events. I told her I'd love to go but she'd have to drive as my car was out of commission for the day. Normally, Alyssa likes me to drive because she doesn't love to drive (especially on the interstate and our shopping destination required an interstate drive) and she doesn't want to use the gas in her car since she pays for it herself (when our kids got their licenses, we provided them with a car (the girls did share for a while when it worked out for one to need the car and the other didn't), paid the car insurance for the car, but made the kids pay for their gas. Paying for their own gas is an entry into, Sorry, Life is Expensive and You have a Finite Amount of Money so Spend Wisely reality while not having any life necessity expenses such as food and shelter to worry about). But she really wanted to go shopping so she drove us. We had a good time despite both of us raising our voices at each other a couple of times in the car (there was an actual mistake on my part regarding telling her which lane ended, a perceived mistake on my part, an inadvertent mistake on her part (from her being unfamiliar with the road and me failing to mention what she felt I should have told her!))- fortunately the occasions that led to raised voices did not result in anything bad happening- they were minor blips (almost literally) in the road. It was all good! And shopping was fun and Alyssa got some great items that she liked.

The normal seating option was not available at one of the stores that Alyssa likes to frequent. My purse was heavy with water bottles for both of us among other items. I knew I wanted to sit down while Alyssa tried items on. I found this bin in the dressing room area, turned it over, and plopped down on it, hoping that it would hold my weight. Since there was a mirror right in front of me, I decided to take some pics. The following three photos are dramatizations of my fears that my weight on the bins would cause a collapse. 

My happy face that the bin remained structurally intact!

Alyssa and I stopped by Chik-fil-A for a repast (it had been months since either of us had had it!) that included eating one of their chocolate chunk cookies after we ate our chicken. We forgot how good they are (it had probably been years since I'd had one!)

Some things I learned:

I have a like/dislike relationship with hosting! I already knew that but May solidified it. I like having people over but I don't like the decisions that have to be made with regard to what to eat, making sure there's enough of everything, even whom to invite- lots of decisions. We hosted three weekends in a row. They were all for good reasons. We hosted a Mother's Day lunch (it was our idea to host; my MIL was fine with going out to eat!), a dinner to celebrate Abby graduating (again, Abby didn't ask for it. It was my idea). Memorial Day weekend seemed like a good time to have friends over, just because that's what people do and most people had Monday off making it a good "party" weekend. I know not every month is going to be like this- I mean, it's in our power to make it like that and I think we'll succeed!

This is another more solidifying of something that I already knew: I'm glad to live in a common sense governed area. I don't agree with everything that politicians/leaders decide in the area or even in the state, but by and large common sense prevails. That is not so everywhere and I was reminded of that when I listened to a podcast Thursday while running on the treadmill. Yes, I listen to political podcasts while I exercise. 😆(Can I blame my twelve minute miles on listening to the gravely voice of Matt Walsh or the staid voice of Charlie Kirk instead of upbeat music? Perhaps not. But I'm moving and learning things at the same time so it's a win-win.) The podcaster quoted from a story out of San Francisco. The superintendent of SF public schools declared a new measure by which to grade and pass students. Dubbed "grading for equity" the plan would dramatically lower the standards students would need to achieve in order to pass. 

From the San Fransisco Standard:

The core components of the proposed grading approach include allowing students to retake tests; excluding factors like lateness, effort, and participation from final grades; omitting classwork and homework from grading; and basing 100% of the grade on “summative” testing, according to an SFUSD staff report.

The initiative was aiming to make grading practices more accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational. The district has budgeted $172,000 for a consulting group to develop this plan, pending Board of Education approval.

According to MSN.com article:

According to The Voice of San Francisco, the new system will be modeled in part on the San Leandro Unified School District, where students can earn an A with a score as low as 80 percent and pass with a D at just 21 percent. Under the forthcoming San Francisco policy, a score of 41 percent will qualify as a C.

The good news is that after much backlash from parents and anyone else with an iota of common sense, the current plan is on hold. (I guess the San Leandro community isn't as fortunate...).

May I share an anecdote regarding subbing this year at our district's 6th grade building? The last thirty five minutes of the school day consist of a study hall. The idea being that if a student is having trouble and needs to ask questions on an assignment, he or she can ask a teacher about it. Real teachers (not subs) have access to Google Classroom where they can see assignments that have been given for all subjects. That way, teachers know if students have homework assigned or upcoming tests to study for during study hall.

As a sub, I don't have access to that, so I am reliant on a student's honesty to know if he or she has work to do. One day, while subbing, during study hall, I noticed one student was not doing any work. He had struck me during the instructional time of the day as one who may be a work avoider. So when I saw him doing nothing during study hall, I asked him why he wasn't working on anything. He told me that he had completed everything and that there was nothing for him to work on or study.

Soon an aide came to the room. She asked me if I realized that this student was not working on anything, I told her, that yes, I realized it and had asked him about what he needed to work on. I told her that he had told me he had nothing to work on. Upon hearing this, the aide burst out laughing. I asked her what was funny. She told me. She said this particular student (his family had moved into the district about two months prior) had not completed a single assignment since he'd been a student at our school. Ever. I asked her what she meant by that. She said, "Exactly that. He has not completed an assignment since he's been a student here." She was laughing at the absurdity of the student's lie to me. For in reality, the student had much work to do. He just didn't want to do it so he told me he had none.

Under what circumstances would it be beneficial (long term anyway) to anyone to let a student who consistently does no work or poor work to pass? I have no idea what the school is going to do with the student whom I just described. All I know is that if he is allowed to pass without doing assignments, no one has done him any favors. And it would be a slap in the face to the students who do their work, to the teachers who assign work with the expectation that works get done and to the taxpayers whose hard earned money is taken from them under the auspices of providing public education, not providing taxpayer funded child care equity centers.

Some things that went well:

I alluded to hosting this month and despite some of my ambivalent feelings about hosting, the events themselves went really well. I'm so grateful for friends and family who celebrate with us, laugh with us, and bring so much to the table (literally and figuratively).

We celebrated Mother's Day, Abby's college graduation and a long weekend. Many good memories were made!

Some Things We Let Go Of

The school year ended so I had to let go of work for the summer. Shucks! Abby's college years ended so I let go of having two kids in college. This was not a bad or good thing- just a thing that was inevitable as time inevitably passed and school years came and went...