Sunday, March 04, 2007

Inside Jay's head on March 4

Yesterday I was blessed to receive a letter from a previous student in Portland at the Cedar Lodge. I am fortunate to average about a contact a month from students who are now Juniors and Seniors in high school. If I was better at writing them more, I would be even luckier and hear from them more often.

In every letter I am always amazed at how articulate these young adults are: thinking and writing. In every contact I am delightfully perplexed at how beautifully they matured. Some struggled to write complete sentences and now form entire letters with better speling and grammar than me. Some students were phobic of math and now have the confidence and desire to be in honors classes.

What happened? That is always my joyful question. Is it the simple maturation from 13 to 17? If this is the case, then what is the point of middle school? Is middle school really necessary in its current generic format? Would students mature the same ways they have if they went to school where they played, where they experimented with ideas and games, where they tried theater, music, sports and outdoor recreation instead of nouns, verbs and spelling?

I feel these students would become articulate mature beings without the current middle school concept. I bang my head against my desk daily over students who do not bring a pencil to class (every day!), let alone those who do not complete any of their assignments. I then have students who write with the sort of imagination and description that make me grin. I honestly have no control over either one - it just seems to be what and where they are right now. I could give the student without the pencil lunch detention and I could force past perfect participles on the creative writer, but are either going to make a difference?

What is the purpose of middle school?

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Becca and I have had some excellent conversations about NDD - Nature Defecit Disorder (for more on this see Last Child In The Woods by Richard Louv ). How do we insure that our sons will want to play outside? How did it happen for me? I was encouraged to play outside by my parents but not like I desire and do now. The K-12 machine had no play in my ontology that way. How do I prevent NDD when it comes to Owain?

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We had a fantastic community meal a week ago with a new friend Dan. Dan is the son of Winnie, who married my uncle Harold (dad's oldest brother) and she lives in Bruce, WI, about an hour NE of our place. Harold just died from cancer. We still stay in contact with Winnie because she is cool. She is a true anti-NDD-style innovater. She grows her own food and has informed me that many of the things I consider weeds are actually edible greens (lamb's quarter, needles and most recently the root of the nasty pasture burr). We had her son Dan over a couple of weeks ago. We knew it would be great conversation and that he would be a kindred spirit, as when he was 17 he finished high school early so he could ride a horse north 300 miles back to Wisconsin where he grew up. He made his home in a root cellar until his parents were able to move back. He also logs for a living and does a majority of it in the winter with draft horses.

After a great dinner and wonderful stories, it was decided that Chris and I will trade work with Dan: Dan is going to help us cut down a few large dead Elms (one being the width of our dinner table) and Chris and I are going to help him with some houses he is building. We are also going to go over and take a look at some harnesses, carts and sleighs he is going to be selling. Apparently Dan's grandfather started a 2-acre organic blueberry lot in the 60's, and Dan now oversees the plants, so we'll get to do some picking this summer. Hurray. Plus, he is going to help us spur on our sad, slow berry plants.

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Chris and I (OK really Chris) are thinking about and reading about edible forest gardening. This means nut trees, pears, apples, and bush berries around and beneath the trees. I wanted to order all these trees this spring, but Chris helped me think a little bit first and we are going to hold off on the order until we plan more exactly what we need and where we can plant. You know me - just do it and think later. We are mulling over an edible forest garden behind and around the garage area.

Charis and I had lunch yesterday at Haymarket Grill, one of a few restaurants in the Chippewa Valley that support local, organic foods. I asked them how they purchase their produce. We learned that I can call him and tell him what I have or walk in the front door with boxes and he will buy it. He says he has his spring greens and heirloom tomatoes taken care of but needs red potatoes and sweet onions. Would it be profitable? Something to think about.

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We are struggling with Owain's third cold in the last three months. I find myself cursing the air a lot. I hate being helpless in this evil circle for Charis and Owain. Charis is sick and not at full strength from her inconsistent thyroid and problems stemming from a weak immune system. Some of these problems can not be solved completely until she stops breast feeding. It is not time to stop breast feeding. Therefore, Charis is never fully healthy and easily succeptable to illness, which exposes Owain, and Owain becomes sick, making longer nights and days for Charis which then make her more tired and weaken her immune system and she becomes sick again, and the cycle continues.

Thankfully, Owain is still a joyful trooper by day, but the poor guy can not sleep. Last night he spent 3 hours on my shoulder which helped a bit. He likes to walk around the house while you hold him up under the armpits. His recent favorite is to chase a ball and kick it. He literally does go after it and kicks it with much excitement. He also loves to slam the button on our toy farm that plays "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" or "The Farmer in the Dell." I am blessed to not to have either song stuck in my head. Otherwise, I would have to smash the farm.



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Sadly, we just finished our last jar of applesauce. I actually shed a tear. We have one last jar of salsa, but still lots of frozen tomatoes in the freezer. I just kegged two porters (a Black Butte clone I varied a little with more chocolate grains and a porter with fresh ginger and cocoa - please see below) Both are awesome. Please come visit!



Jay

8 comments:

anya milton said...

OK, on Owain's colds: Have you guys been, as Dr. William Sears puts it, "hosing the nose?" Saline spray and a sucker is the best natural line of defense. Once the mucus thickens, it provides the perfect breeding ground for nasties. Especially during this time when he's probably teething intensely. Is he drooling a lot? This means that there's going to be more mucus than normal, so keep everything flowing. There is this great stuff called Simply Saline (for baby and adults) we all at the Milton household swear by it. I can't imagine that he's getting exposed to too much seeing as how he's not in daycare, however there could be some secondary exposure brought home from school.

So that's my two sense. Take it or leave it.

charissimo said...

Yep, we're familiar with the nose-hosing. Owain hates it with a passion! In fact, it takes both Jay and I to do it because he's such a strong little bugger, but it's our regular procedure before bed these days. I didn't know about the mucus thing though, so thanks for the tip! So far he's gotten a cold from Ellis and a cold from me, as far as I know. Nothing like having a bunch of boogers stuck to the boobs!

C

The Process said...

C- I just want to tell you how impressed I am by your dedication to breastfeeding through the food and sick issues. Owain has a good mama!

Anonymous said...

I jus want to know if that is organic beer.

Anonymous said...

Jay, I guess I am going to try to reply to your question of "what is the purpose of middle grades?

The informal answer:
This is only my opinion, but I think Mug’s are ultimately about relationships. Your former students contact you not about what they learned in terms of the A,B,C's but how you treated them as an individual. They grew as a person from your kindness and care. In M.G.'s, it's about making connections among young people and the places they know and how the ideas fit together so students can self-evaluate where they fit into this big-old-world.

The formal answer:
If M.G.'s are to be centers for learning, they must be data driven; student-focused places that help young people know their strength and achievement gaps. They must embrace the National Middle Grades Platform. Teachers must know their own personal cultural biases and racial tolerance. Teachers must teach students how to learn and model critical thinking skills. Teacher must never assume that their students know how to learn or behave in schools. This must be part of the curriculum.

Let me know Jay what you think of my comments? thank you for trying to live a different life.

charissimo said...

This is a comment from Jay - we're having a hard time posting from his account.

CC

Dear Anonymoui (is that plural for two anonymous?),

I wish I could say the beer was organic. We are working that way. The hops I grew and they are organic. I would like to start brewing beer the more professional way with all grains and a created mash. The equipment is expensive. Someday if we have the equipment then I would like to grow the grains. If I then used a wild yeast from our air the beer would be totally organic. Or I could buy organic ingredients on line, but then the mail is not delivered organically with the burning of fossil fuels, but ah I digress and wrote too many run-ons.

Middle Schools: I agree totally with your first paragraph. I almost agree with all of the second. My nature revolts against anything standard and required. So the words National Middle Grades Platform turn me back. But in truth I do not even know what they are. Yes, yes, teachers must know their own personal cultural bias and how it affects the classroom. (I was blessed a few years back to be on a racial tolerance training team. The whole training was about not being color blind. I have to wake up and know that I am a white man and see my world that way. I need to recognize and appreciate the difference a woman, someone from Mexico or South Africa will see everything.) Yes teachers must teach racial and culture understanding and tolerance, and critical thinking skills. I feel like half of my job is teaching students how to behave. The question is, should they be forced to behave and live in the seated arrangement for an 8 hour day? No.
I agree with you but think there are so many more creative ways to teach tolerance, behavior and critical thinking. Why not through the arts, outdoor education and sports? Why not through community projects? Why are my students sitting in my classroom creating newspapers when they could be volunteering at the local newspaper for a week or two?
I wish we could sit down and talk over an organic beer or two.

Jay

Matthew said...

Jay, I'm thinking about your question: "how do I prevent NDD when it comes to Owain?" It's a profound question full of snags and intricacies...but I want to answer it by ignorning all that and reading it simply. NDD is caused by a lack of being outside and a lack of being in unprogrammed situations. You, as the intentional, caring, thotful dad that you are, will never allow that to happen. You want to go outside, you do and will take Owain outside with you (even in the intense cold!). You do and you will continue to create opportunities to hangout and/or work and/or explore outside. Part of your amazing journey to rural America is for this reason, eh? Your question is a bit of poison in a way, "preventing NDD" is not the issue, creating a good life is...and you are doing so already. -Matt

Anonymous said...

Jay
I like the way you think about M.G. kids. We seem to think in the same way about all this stuff. I too agree that learning outside the school is so huge. I sometimes say "all we can teach kids within these four walls is limited to these four walls." I've been blessed with the ability to lead many, many trips for kids away from the four walls. Most of these trips have been adventure based such as sailing on Lake Michigan, rock climbing, camping, caving, and urban exploration, etc. The look and wonder in the eyes of students is why I choose to find new ways to get them out into the world.

Anyway, talk to you soon.
I didn't sleep much last night, need to rest. I'll take you up on one of those beers someday. They look so yummy. I Kinda wish I had one or five of those yummy things right now. peace and take care.