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Mr. Mac
A Classroom is a Community
Friday, May 24, 2024
Thursday, May 16, 2024
A Mommom Memory❤️
One time, when we were kids, a bat had somehow gotten into the house.
(True story!)
Mommom was visiting this one particular weekend. Suddenly, my Mom, and all my siblings started screaming upstairs!
Mommom and I bolted up the steps to find a bat flying up and down the hallway. Mom and my siblings were huddled behind the bed in a back bedroom, screaming away!
Mommom immediately snapped into action!
She told me to go downstairs and get her a broom, a pair of pliers, and a jar with a lid.
So I did.
When I got back with the items she pretty-much looked just like this (See the picture below, minus the mask, and add a veil over her head. This looks JUST LIKE HER! Not my picture. Credit goes to the anonymous artist).
She had somehow gotten the bat into the front bedroom.
She looked at me, and in all seriousness she said…
“I’m going in!”
I told her I was going with her.
We walked in, and shut the door behind us.
While in the room, Mommom stood near the center, in a perfect warrior’s stance…the broom wielded like Excalibur!
The bat is circling, and circling.
She swings, misses. She swings again, misses. She swings again and knocks that flittermouse into oblivion!
It bounced off the wall, and landed on the carpet. Poor thing didn’t know what hit it!
With the pliers, she grabbed it by the wing, and calmly lifted it. She gave it a look over, then placed the dead bat into the jar, and screwed the lid on tight!
“Go take this out to the trash,” she said.
Like the good squire that I was, I took it!
Such an amazing, unforgettable event! 🦇
Monday, April 8, 2024
The Deep-Quiet
In a good classroom, and throughout the day, there is something called quiet-noise
This is a kind of white noise that is audible only to a teacher. When the students are all working and (To the untrained ear) not a sound can be heard...a teacher’s ear can detect the quiet-noise. One student moves in their seat, others are writing answers, someone sniffles, another scratches. It all culminates as quiet-noise. A teacher’s ear hears it well.
The BEST classrooms, now and again, experience something in addition to quiet-noise. Less often, but profound indeed…a DEEP-quiet can permeate our space. It shushes even the quiet-noise.
The deep-quiet is not only heard, but felt, and though it doesn’t last, it is incredible! For instance, it can happen during a novel read. As you read-aloud through a certain chapter, you feel the quiet-noise diminishing. The shuffling stops. The fidgeting stops. Everything completely stops, but anticipation. Then, you look out and see your students waiting, with bated breath, to what comes next. The deep-quiet is the best part of the day, the best part of the week.
There is no way to measure the deep-quiet, so some may ask the question…
“How can this be part of a school that mandates a data-driven classroom?”
I have no answer for that.
I can only say that there are many parts to a classroom. Some measurable and some not. The importance of the measurable is valid...sure. The importance of what is not measurable is...priceless!❤️
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