sometimes learning smells like apple crisp

Pancakes, it is the first kitchen lab the freshmen do and it is to show them that they THINK they know how to cook and read directions but of course the pancakes always burn and always taste horrible. My sup. came in a few weeks ago when I had the freshman cooking pancakes. My room reeked! The students had burnt batter to the electric burners and had missed the pan completely and sprayed the counter with cooking oil, then used one tablespoon of baking soda instead of 1 teaspoon of baking powder. What was unknown to all of us in my tiny classroom was that even though the vent was on and the windows open the hallway now stunk. The sup. asked me what in the world we were doing? "I replied learning! students, what did we learn today?" They started talking about remembering what a little t means and to read the box before using the item and that "medium high" isn't the same as medium, etc. etc. (with prompting of course-they never just answer freely). My sup. told me that it smelled all the way down the hall, I replied with a huge smile (hoping he and the students would find me funny which they didn't) "sometimes learning stinks" he didn't say anything just walked out but my students all day long would tell people when they asked what smelled that it was "learning."

Today we made apple crisp, sometimes this lab works out well, sometimes not because the students make it in the microwave and if they push the zero one too many times 2 minutes goes to 20 and it's usually 4 or 5 before anyone notices and yeah....burnt apple crisp STINKS!

However I am very very proud of my students they did well, enjoyed it and could tell me (with prompting of course) what they learned. So now I am going to finish my lunch and remind myself that everyday can't be a good day and while there are tons of things to do before Monday I need to enjoy today. Today learning smelled great!

Snowing morning roads

This morning I left a little early so that I could hopefully get a few things done before students get in and I did which began my day out well. What made my morning really nice was the calm quietness that comes with a first real snow. Like everyone is holding thier breath and just looking at the wonder of it. Yes it snowed on Friday but it didn't stick, there was no evidence that it had snowed versus drizzled. So this morning when the gentle wind blew the dusting of snow across my crunchy rock road I smiled. The treat of the snowy morning was when the brilliant moon peaked out from behind the clouds and illuminated the road. It is so pretty when there is just enough snow that it lightly covers the black top but it has silted down through the grass and the road becomes a twisted white ribbon, lying on a fuzzy back rug, that seems to be pulling you into a Alice in Wonderland like maze where you feel like you should be getting bigger and then the road curves and all of a sudden gets wider (due to the turning lanes) and you feel so tiny of a sudden.