The News From Pine Hill

This Year's Christmas Letter-- on December 30th!

2010-12-30T13:18:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,
The fact that I am writing a Christmas letter on December 30 might give you an idea of what kind of year we’ve had. I should be taking down the tree and getting the grading done for report cards, but I would rather take this time to send a holiday greeting and touch base with you all.
The May flood didn’t wash us away, but it did a tremendous amount of damage to our part of town. We are still seeing the vestiges of the high water. We walked along one of our greenway trails this week and saw a truck tailgate way up in a tree next to the Harpeth River! We had quite a bit of damage at the golf course, and it took a lot of hard work to bring it back. The creek deposited about 5 feet of sand on one fairway and green, plus lots of debris everywhere. We thought we had lost the whole clubhouse, but were very thankful that only the basement garage flooded and the driving range structure washed away. We went to the Opryland Hotel in early December and it seems just like it used to be—but we could see the water line in the trees outside our window!
Without dwelling too much on the bad stuff, I can say that we are looking forward to a better 2011. David’s mother passed away the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and his father has been in declining health throughout the whole year. He is now in assisted living, which is a great relief to us.
Now for the more positive stuff—David is still traveling a lot and enjoying success with Vernier. We took advantage of some of his more interesting trips this year and accompanied him to Idaho and Utah. We also went to the consultant’s meeting in Portland, Oregon this summer. It looks like we’ll have the opportunity to go to Hawaii again as well!
Ben is a sophomore at Hume Fogg High School. He is doing well, although I will say this year has presented more of a challenge than previous years. He is having to work much harder, and staying organized is even more of a challenge than before. (Isn’t that true for all of us?)He still plays the violin, and was a part of the orchestra for the school production of Les Miserables. I have to admit some skepticism about a high school putting on a play like Les Mis, but they were terrific. All of the parents and teachers were very proud!
Olivia started kindergarten this year! It’s hard to believe our baby is ready for school, but off she goes with her stuffed animal every day! She spends a lot of time with Mimmie, my mom, who lives in the basement mother-in-law apartment. Olivia is our artist. She amazes us with her drawings and 3D constructions.
I started at a new school AGAIN this year. Other than the distance, it is an ideal place for me, working with a principal I worked with before. I am serving the inner city kids, which is definitely my passion. I am a Model Classroom teacher, which means that I share a classroom with another veteran teacher and we coach other teachers as part of our day. It’s been a treat to have another person to plan with for these children, and we have had what feels like significant success.
We hope this letter finds you well, happy, and looking forward to the new year. Please look us up and pay us a visit if you're ever this way!

In Memorium

2010-12-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

I don't know how to start-- so I'm just diving in...
My father passed away over 5 years ago. He was sick for a long time, and by the end of his life my relationship with his wife was one of suspicion and strain. I didn't know how close he was to the end, I had nothing to do with his services or memorials, and the aftermath of his death was conflicted and clouded. I no longer have anything to do with his wife or her family, and she has everything that my father owned at the end. In order to remember him in a positive light, I have to work to clear the hurdle of all that ugliness, including my own failings as a daughter.

He was a good man who loved to write notes of acknowledgement especially to kids in his life. He loved my son, and would have loved my daughter. He was a kind and dutiful person who abided by a sense of honor and honesty, which led him to "do the right thing" and believe that others would do the right thing also. No matter how many times it turned out to be a misguided belief, he held fast and refused to hold a grudge. If I think of how disappointed he would be in what happened to his plans once he died, I can't imagine how he would rationalize or compartmentalize, but I know he would muddle through and keep going, and so will I.

Neel Alexander Moore
March 4, 1941 - February 15, 2005

My sweet mother in law died the weekend after Thanksgiving, after suffereing from Alzheimer's for over a decade, and I remarked to David how wonderful it was to be able to remember her without the filter of sorrow and dread that went with her illness-- every time we saw her there was more evidence of loss, or a misunderstanding about time or people. Earlier there were often miscommunications because we didn't know right away that we were not on the same wavelength with her. The stress level was so high, while she lived at home and after she was in the facility, that the memory of her was clouded.

Of course, the finality of her death was so sad-- you can't be completely ready for it-- but the relief afterwards has been amazing. In truth, her suffering has been minimal since she lost awareness of most things around her, so it's not relief that comes from knowing she's not in pain or distress. The relief comes from the days after her death, as we worked to plan a memorial, and in so doing we found ourselves remembering her in a way that hasn't been possible through the filter of grief. In our work to create a portrait of who we knew her to be, we found her again.

She was a lovely, kind, intelligent woman who loved music, travel, learning, and nurturing family and friends.

Ann Rankin Carter
March 31, 1931- November 28, 2010

Revelations from the classroom

2010-12-19T15:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes all that philosophical and theoretical stuff you learned (and some of us even taught) in teacher education seems so remote and idealized that it bears no resemblance to the real world of teaching children. It's not hard to see all those Washington folks are quite removed from real kids, and the professors talk a good line about the planning and aiming high and all that. BUT on a day to day basis, kids are just kids and they all have their issues. Some of them have extremely serious issues, and all of us who studied Maslow's hierarchy of needs know that hunger, fear, and lack of sleep are issues that have to be dealt with first, before the reading comprehension and math with regrouping gets its time in the child's realm of attention.

BUT on better days, and when you have a chance to stop and think, you realize that there are times when you transcend the daily grind and achieve something really fantastic-- when your underprivileged sweethearts make a connection they haven't had the opportunity to make before. I can't take credit for the whole success story-- I have a teaching partner who is at least half of the team, but we managed to tap into so many of those pedagogical constructs we learned in college.

All of this came about becasue we weren't sure how much time we should really spend on the Pilgrims and the Mayflower.

Starting with constructivist theory-- where we think about what the kids already know about a topic and build on it--however much or little that is. In our case, a couple of our kids (second graders) had a quiet argument about whether the pilgrims were pigs or turkeys. Using what they already know is also called accessing schema, which we liken to hooks for connecting to new knowledge. Then those hooks allow them to make more connections and on and on it goes. We have been teaching about metacognition, thinking about what we're thinking while we read, so that we can make sure we're "getting it" and not missing words or meanings.

So how do we get the breakthroughs? MAKE IT REAL! We did as much as we possibly could to help the children feel what they pilgrims felt.
Some examples:
Each child was assigned the name of one of the Pilgrim children. They realized that there were families, younger and older children, and some children without their parents on the Mayflower. During our research, a few children's names popped up, including how there were two brothers who got into mischief and almost blew up the ship! At the end, we told the children what happened to them, whether they lived through the first year or on to old age. Some were quite surprised to hear that they lived to be in their 80's or 90's and had lots of children!

We thought about only being able to take a few things, and I put on a wrap and pretended to think like a Pilgrim mother, considering which items I should take and which I would have to leave behind. Should I take the painting or the tools? The blanket or the decorative table linens? The toy or the pot? Over time, the impractical nature of some of their choices began to dawn on them.

We measured out the size of the Mayflower in our parking lot, thought about how much room each family would have, how much room the shallop took out of their area, and how dark and cramped it would be for two months. The measurement required for this was pretty challenging, but they learned a lot.

We brought in foods, including milk, an apple, and some flour, to see what would happen to those items and why they would be good choices for a two month voyage. In their culminating booklet, many wrote about the foods, having quite a sensory experience after the milk was unrefrigerated for a couple of weeks!

Unfortunately, one of the connections they made had to do with the fact that water didn't stay fresh and drinkable on the boat, so everyone had to drink beer, even the kids.

By the end of the month long unit, they had been immersed enough in the topic to begin to understand why we study this topic-- they understand a little more about religious freedom and how some of the ideas for this government were first brought to this soil with the Pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact.

Mission Accomplished, and lots of pedagogical truths confirmed!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T14:34:00.000-08:00

To think just a couple of weeks ago we were playing outside in shirt sleeves!

Well, it's spitting snow at us today, and we have barely left the warmth of the house! We are recovering from the whirlwind of Christmas and have almost managed to clean up, but there are still some loose ends to tie and some decorations to add to the boxes in storage. Now we are enjoying giving the gift of a suet feeder to the birds. We have only seen one red bellied woodpecker at the feeder so far, but I expect it will be discovered soon. It seems such a small thing to do for such a lot of enjoyment.
That's the news from Pine Hill!
Happy New Year from Marti, David, Ben and Olivia!

Holiday Hello

2007-12-18T17:11:00.001-08:00

Olivia with her little swing.

David and Ben at Virginia Beach

The spectacular Grand Canyon!

Merry Christmas from Pine Hill!

I hope you and yours have had a wonderful year! It has been active at exciting in Nashville (and elsewhere, as in the Grand Canyon photo above) this year. We have traveled a lot of places in this great country and have had a lot of fun at home as well. Here is some news and a few snapshots of the highlights.

Ben is now 12 and in the seventh grade at Bellevue Middle School. We are really proud of him and his accomplishments. He still plays the violin and takes lots of hikes in the woods. He is great with his little sister, and did not wind up moving into his tree house, which is what he said he would do when she was born. Of course, since I've said they do well together, she is now throwing a fit on the floor while Ben tries to watch TV. I am also dreading March 24, when we will suddenly have a teenager and wonder what we were thinking. I saw a bumper sticker that said "Teenagers are the reason some species eat their young." I remember thinking that it could be a bitter meal! Ben is a great kid, and I really hope we make it through the next few years with a little color left in our hair!

Olivia is VERY 2! She has a lot of personality and talks all the time now. Most frequently heard Olivia-isms are "Wet go!" "What are you doing? ... Oh!" and " 'top it!" She loves to go outside and "Fwing" on her little swingset and play in the sand in her play yard. Mom still keeps her some, but O goes to daycare about 3 days a week, because we all need a rest.

This year included trips to Minnesota and Wisconsin, Virginia Beach, Saguaro National Park and the Grand Canyon. We have gotten to see some really wonderful scenery and wildlife. Not least on that list is the bald eagle we saw from the kitchen window this fall. After a terribly dry and hot summer, we were treated to spectacular fall foliage. Our house is surrounded by trees, and the leaves have been just gorgeous!

David is still traveling and teaching. He is really busy with a new product, the Labquest, that has come out this year. The book that we wrote earlier received a teacher's choice award, which means a lot to us. David is working now to adapt it for use with the Labquest, and we are hopeful that its popularity will continue. I am teaching first grade at Charlotte Park Elementary School. I am really enjoying having the same schedule as Ben and being able to travel with David in the summers.

That's the news from Pine Hill!

We hope the Christmas season finds you enjoying life and family!

Marti, David, Ben, and Olivia