Finding Our Wings

Thanks to gift vouchers from family and each other, Don and I ventured out of our routine a bit this winter and spring. We began well within our comfort zones with weekend excursions to Condon, Portland, and Lincoln City, then timidly ventured into the unknown of San Mateo. Our trips were short, simple, and delineated by time constraints, but served to bring us much needed respite with a touch of adventure.

 

Although Don and I very willingly put portions of our lives on hold over the last sixteen years, it was difficult to also sacrifice visiting our kids in their own homes, some of which we have never seen. In spite of that, they went over and above in their support of us and their grandparents so we are now anxious to begin making that time up to them before we do anything else. Eventually, we will be able to touch base with the rest of our family, as well, and maybe even plan an adventure of our own, but we are quickly finding out that we have to pace ourselves and our budgets. We hope everyone will be patient with us as we play catch up.

 

 

Our trips thus far have been good learning experiences, though, which have made us more confident with airports, car rentals, and Google map navigation. I might even be able to single-handedly purchase a plane ticket now without clutching the arm of one of my kids lest they leave and I make a wrong decision. Also, once Don has retired, it will be easier to work around my subbing schedule so that we have fewer time constraints.

 

 

In the meantime, we savor what we’ve done so far and continue to budget and to plan. Our wings are a bit rusty, but they still seem to work so, look out! One of these days, probably after you’ve given up on us, we might land in your neighborhood to see what you’re up to.

Story Walk

 In case you are wondering, and even if you are not, here's what I've been up to for the past ten weeks:

See those kids above and their babysitter? They are enjoying the literacy project that I helped create. In the course of taking a Literacy Leadership graduate class, I needed to initiate a literacy reform project and jumped in with the local librarian to create a Story Walk along the fence where many children and adults walk to and from school. It is also the path used in the summer to get to the city park and swimming pool.

What is a story walk you ask? It is a combination of dismantled books, poems reprinted line by line, comics, words, letters, and pictures chosen to challenge and intrigue everyone from emerging to conventional readers. Every few weeks the selection is replaced with new materials.

Did you know that mental maturity and drill have less to do with literacy learning than children having an abundance of print experiences before starting school and that "easy access to books, magazines, and other reading materials is an essential factor to schools where children become readers and writers" (Allington & Cunningham, 2007, p. 63).  

Also, low-income children tend to fall as much as two months behind in their reading achievement during the summer months because they have less access to computers and reading materials so relying solely on school materials nine months per year is inadequate literary access (Viadero, 2010). Besides that, “children whose knowledge of a topic is limited have difficulty comprehending much of what they read and difficulty communicating in writing about that topic" (Allington & Cunningham, 2007, p. 52). So this project is an effort to expand background knowledge and draw more families into public libraries.

Hopefully, as people walk along they will read, think, and discuss the print, practicing their reading skills and expanding their repertoire of print experiences. They may also become acquainted with the materials available at the public library and be more motivated to make use of it year round.

The project is a bit time consuming since the materials have to be prepared, laminated, and secured to the fence, which is about a 12 hour process, but it is creative and fun. And if it motivates struggling readers, then it is definitely worth the effort and time. Of course,  gathering the project data through interviews, surveys, and research, then compiling and interpreting it before creating and implementing a reform plan, summarizing the results, and evaluating the process was also a bit time consuming. Twelve pages worth of time, in fact, but also worth the effort.

So that's where part of my time has gone - along with a couple book studies and weekly response papers. Oh, yeah...and helping Mom on the side...er, in the middle.

Worth It

 

Mom is wielding a bean bag in the above picture, fulfilling her occupational therapist's belief in her that she can knock down every pin. Twenty minutes and over fifty tries later, it was a reality recorded in the picture below. Faith provided the motivation and willingness to risk failure, but hard work, trial-error-adjustment, and determination created the success.

Also pictured on the right is the pole that the physical therapist has helped her to learn to use as a transfer aid. The horizontal bar lifts and rotates around the pole, then lowers to lock into place to use as a grip. It all adds up to a little more freedom, muscle building, and greater self-esteem. 

Besides fear, Mom has had to overcome self-doubt, apathy, and bias (she didn't want the therapies nor aids in the beginning) and accept help (regardless of its form) in order to move forward in her healing. Before the therapy started, she was depending on faith, alone, for her progress, but we all know that God expects more from us than that. The journey has been psychological, emotional, and physical, and so have the achievements.

So what are we dreaming of that is worth our faith, hard work, and determination?

You Never Know

When our kids were little, Don and I used to celebrate our wedding anniversary after they were in bed by cooking steaks and baked potatoes (sans microwave) and having a late night picnic dinner on our living room floor at Aunt Blanches’ coffee table. Although I tried to plot a way for us to spend an hour or two alone this year, too, it kind of backfired when Mom ended up in the hospital with her second stroke in two months. So, instead of a picnic dinner in the park or a movie, we grabbed a quick lunch at Arby’s between our separate doctor appointments and visiting Mom in the hospital. I guess after thirty-seven years we’ve learned nothing if not how to be flexible.

Luckily, both strokes were light and left Mom with only minor changes. She has lost a little peripheral vision on the right side as well as some short term memory. Speech and swallowing have been slightly affected and there is weakness in her right hand, but the first two have improved noticeably and she works relentlessly at all three. Thankfully, Mom is still able to bear her own weight and take small steps (with assistance) and her mind is still quite sharp. We have Home Health therapists and nurses coming out our ears, but we have learned a lot from them.

These changes are emotional for all of us. Mom fluctuates between being scared, discouraged, thankful, and irritated and I think we all battle moments of claustrophobia because of how enmeshed our lives have become. Even those people or institutions meant to help us sometimes seem to have more control over our lives than we do, which can be disconcerting, to say the least.  But we just keep plugging along and thanking God for each other, family, friends, and time. After all, you just never know.

At the hospital we learned about a shower cap that washes your hair without any dripping.

This pen from Staples gives Mom the greatest control over her writing.

 

This place setting of silverware from "Good Fit" provides a knife that cuts meat by a "rocking" rather than sawing action and utensils that bend at the neck and have thick, rubber handles for greater control for arthritic hands.

What 'Cha Readin'?

Welp! I just finished my last assignment and have another two graduate credits under my belt. The courses I’ve been taking this year for a reading endorsement have been very enjoyable, thanks to the instructors and the reading material. I really like taking online courses. Although, they require a lot of self-motivation and technical problems could potentially wreak havoc, I have had some understanding instructors that know how to make it all work.

This term I took a course that had us reading a truckload of children’s literature, from pre-school through young adult levels. Besides getting acquainted with what is out there, we also learned what to watch for in quality and culturally authentic authorship, and how to match books to children’s development levels rather than just using the book’s reading level as a guide. It was enlightening to have some substantial guidelines to help discriminate between books that are nice reads versus books that actually fit a child’s cognitive, psychosocial, moral development level and nudge growth in those areas as well. We also discussed censoring and banned and challenged books, which is scary for teachers and librarians to think about.

Stimulating as it is to take these courses, it is also nice to finish one up. I’ve been able to start reading and writing for fun again, hence the new blog entry, but I think I will continue to intersperse more children’s literature in with my own choices. I was quite impressed with some of what’s out there for kids. Besides using them for read-alouds to the whole class or for students to read individually, much of it also lends itself well for curriculum lessons. I just hope I can somehow retain everything I’ve learned. My memory these days closely resembles a sieve.