Teaching, Living, and Learning

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Ava

Noah and a giant strawberry

Josh and Stacey

Kaylee and Noah at Christmas

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing my four grandchildren (see photos) for a few hours. My first stop was in Brooklyn, CT, where it was wonderful to see Noah with his charming new haircut, his bright beaming face prettier than ever. After chatting with Jaimie and Jess for a while, I drove Noah up to visit with Kaylee, Josh, Luke, and Krissy. We hung out at their shady home on Howe Lane, and then Luke and I and the kids went to Barnes and Noble for a few hours of fun. Josh, as usual, was active, buoyant, and happy, while Kaylee entertained Noah like only the best of older cousins do. When I brought Noah back home (he dozed off in the back seat), I had a chance to pay my respects to the adorable Ava Elizabeth (nearly 3 months old now). She studied my face, smiled at me, and even (I swear) talked to me. Looking at her, I realized, for the thousand thousandth time, just how fortunate a granddad I am.

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I found this quote (below) in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. She's describing Fanny Price's home at Mansfield, but the words exactly remind me of the atmosphere I try to maintain in my classroom:
" ... no sounds of contention, no raised voice, no abrupt bursts, no tread of violence, was ever heard; all proceeded in a regular course of cheerful orderliness; everybody had their due importance; everybody's feelings were consulted."

...........

The following quote is from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I would like my classroom to be like Dr. Strong's school:

"Dr. Strong's was an excellent school...It was very gravely and decorously ordered, and on a sound system; with an appeal, in everything, to the honor and good faith of the [students], and an avowed intention to rely on their possession of these qualities unless they proved themselves unworthy of it, which worked wonders. We all felt that we had a share in the management of the place, and in sustaining its character and dignity."

If I replaced "agent" with "teacher", this passage from a short story might, I hope, describe me in my classroom:
"The agent spent his days in following what seemed to many observers to be only a dull routine, but all his steadiness of purpose, all his simple intentness, all his gifts of strategy and powers of foresight, and of turning an interruption into an opportunity, were brought to bear upon this dull routine with a keen pleasure."
-- from "The Gray Mills of Farley" by Sarah Orne Jewett