Gems Among the Ruins

Fiorella has been going through pages she wrote many, many years ago and these are a few of the gems she unearthed:

Sometimes nonsense is the only thing that makes sense.
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Children are not production models.
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Creativity is a turn of mind that cannot be taught or tested, and, by its very nature, is inimical to the classroom.
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I see what I see and say what I say
If you don't like it, go away
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Her teaching manifesto: Yes, I want my students to master  the subject matter, to write well, and to develop a love of literature, but I also want them to be better human beings for having been in my classes. They are the means by which I hope to change the world.

From the Past to the Future

Fio has started cleaning out her upstairs office, and this afternoon, she went through a bundle of stuff from when she was teaching--accolades from students, their parents, and colleagues. Needless to say, she's not tossing a single page. In fact, she may even request they all be put in her coffin as grave goods.
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Hip, hip hooray! Fio and friend Patricia are off and running on the romance/murder mystery, and the ideas are flying fast and furious. Keep an eagle eye out for excerpts.
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Sabrina's story (formerly Phillipa's story) is riding high. Fiorella is whizzing through 40 pages of revisions a day now, but will probably slow down to about 20 per day when she crosses the halfway mark. The good thing is that she's finally worked out all the plot knots so all that's left is pulling the whole thing together (gulp).
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Lolly's story got a solid boost last week when Fiorella had to close down the murder mystery until friend Patricia got back from California, and Fio is more excited about it than ever. It's wonderful to start reading something you packed away five years ago and realize it is hot, hot, hot!
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Fio's gradually adjusting to her new computer, but she's going to have to run off to Click tomorrow to learn how to make her Kindle reappear and how to "find" numbered pages. She'll also visit a Michael's store for adhesive alphabet letters and Mazda for touch-up paint. Yes, your Fio is a busy bee.

Newspapers

Fiorella's mother had been a journalism teacher, and the family always subscribed to a newspaper, much to Fio's benefit.  She learned to read from comic strips, and a newspaper validated her childhood art by publishing it.  In high school, she edited the longest-running Latin student publication in the country one year and the state Latin student publication the next year.  Later on, she married the son of two journalists. In graduate school, she originated a department newsletter. Later, in between teaching and grading, she wrote for the local newspaper and even set up two tabloids on her own.  Yes, Fiorella loves newspapers. but her own children are barely aware of them.  Why bother when they have television and computers at their beck and call?

Fiorella is sad.

Room 300

When Fio taught English at Austin Community College, all of the liberal arts adjuncts were housed in a bull pen office together. As Fio was sitting at her desk one day, she couldn't help but listen in as a good-looking male student talked to his Spanish teacher about how he should be in a higher level class, etc. He smiled a lot and sparkled his eyes at her, and she seemed to be buying it all.

After he left, Fio wondered if she should say something to the young teacher, casually mention that some golden boys think they can charm female teachers into their good graces? No, Fio decided. Let her figure that one out for herself.

Fio later learned that Prince Charming hadn't moved the young teacher in the least. She was gay.

Treacher's Credo

1) Meet the students where they are
2) Prepare, prepare, prepare
3) Keep a steady course
4) Be wise, be kind, be fair.