Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for the Slice of Life Challenge.
Find more celebration posts at Ruth’s blog.
Thursday was an adventurous morning, so I created a Slice of Life model post for my students.
When I got to school this morning, I saw a crowd of teachers looking at a wall of the school. In fact, they had their phones out and were taking pictures. I finally saw what they were looking at. A rat!
Ms. Katie wasn’t taking a picture. She was making an emergency phone call to the maintenance department.
I was on car line duty, so I could watch the whole adventure take place. Mr. Rat stayed in place in the crook of the corner for a while. Then there was Mr. Leonard with a black trash can.
The rat scurried around the corner and the chase was on!
Not long after Mr. Leonard and Ms. Katie disappeared around the side of the school, the cafeteria side which was smelling strongly of syrup, the maintenance department trucks (there were 2) showed up. I didn’t see the action, but I assumed the ratty rat was caught and disposed of.
As we walked back into school, Mrs. Delahoussaye reminded me, “We are taking over their environment, the canefields. They have every right to be here.”
I’m not sure I agree.
One of my students started drawing a picture a day on the whiteboard. Here’s a collage of her drawings:
Speaking of art, the mural is complete. Here’s a picture of the completed gator mural by Mary Lacy.
Today is my oldest daughter’s wedding. Talk about a celebration. She wants me to read a Margaret Atwood poem at her ceremony. It’s not sentimental (not Maggie’s nor Margaret Atwood’s style), but I still hope I can get through it without choking up.
Habitation
by Margaret AtwoodMarriage is not
a house or even a tentit is before that, and colder:
the edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back where we squat
outside, eating popcornthe edge of the receding glacier
where painfully and with wonder
at having survived even
this farwe are learning to make fire
Reflections on the Teche 