We gathered up the dogs and left just as many other neighbors were leaving the subdivision. The smoke plumes were quite close at this time. We parked at a safe distance just outside our subdivision to watch all the activity which included neighbors walking their horses out, people taking pictures of the fire crossing Old Hempstead Highway, and emergency vehicles roaring by. I finally realized that I had my Canon Rebel in the car and continued to take pictures with it rather than my phone. It was amazing how high the flames and smoke were and how quickly it moved across the road headed straight for our homes!

Eventually, we made our way to our friend’s home,Kathy & Bob, who made the unfortunate mistake of calling us as we stood gaping at the flames. We spent two nights and two days on our regular schedule of getting up early, heading off to work, getting some supper and heading back to bed. All the while, we are checking up on the wildfire status using internet news sites and (of all places) Facebook. The worst thing an evacuee can do is follow the news reports on the local TV sites. Not only are they grossly inaccurate, they are also depressing! This was a lesson I should have remembered after Katrina.

We were allowed back into the subdivision on Thursday. Friday afternoon, Dave had just returned with the dogs but I was still at school when the Sheriff came speeding over the hill towards our street. Two officers peeled off one direction in their patrol cars, one headed our direction. Dave hadn’t even taken the leashes off the dogs when the Sheriff yelled over the fence, “Get out now, we are not coming back to warn you again.” There was no time to pack anything! Dave loaded the dogs back into the car. He frantically texted me about the activity and the DC10 flying over dropping red flame retardant.

This evacuation found me with little more than what I was wearing, only two of my electronics (luckily, I had the recharging units) and my school bag. We stayed three more nights in a hotel near another set of friends who were gracious enough to keep our dogs again. After breakfast on Saturday, we made a trip to the store for toothbrushes, and clothes. We spent hours checking the wildfire status using the hotel’s internet and our Ipads. The maps we were seeing had the fire sending its tentacles back into our subdivision but we had no way of knowing exactly where.

We were allowed back into our home after five days of evacuation all together. The electricity had been off for at least three days but clean up was so much easier than when our refrigerator had sat for three weeks without electricity after Hurricane Katrina. There were burned fields just outside of our subdivision and trails of graded fire lines within our subdivision. A few days later, we drove around our surrounding neighborhoods. This is when we realized just how close our home was to danger and how impressive our firefighters worked to save the homes in harm’s way. We stared at the white picket fences that were melted to the ground and the reddish tint on the road from the flame retardant.

The contrast between green and charred tree trunks and bushes greets me everyday as I pull into my subdivision but I am still very thankful. Our emergency personnel and fire fighters did ONE VERY IMPRESSIVE job protecting our homes!

“When Patrol Sgt. Dwayne Finley of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office went to investigate a reported explosion at a business, what he saw when he went inside was believed to be bloody hoof prints on the carpet.

As he continued to check the interior of the business, he entered the last office and a large eight point buck jumped up from behind a desk. The deer attached the sergeant, trying to gore him with his atlers. Sgt. Finley was able to shoot the deer before being injured.”

The best reason for placing this on my weblog is because this is so ripe for puns! If you have one, add it to the comment section. I know my husband and son will have a few. You don’t want to be outdone by them!

The title of the article is “Blogger takes virtual bike ride through Tomball” by Dustin Bass (dbass@hcnonline.com) The article is about Clifford Walk who is using Google Maps new walking directions feature to chart his course from baseball stadium to another baseball stadium. He climbs on his exercise bike and pedals away until he reaches the appropriate mileage, then makes a blog entry about the special baseball events that occurred at that stadium. He’s combined his love of baseball with exercise and brought it into the virtual world! (Unfortunately, the link given in the article didn’t work and I couldn’t locate the article link online so you will have to email Dustin Bass above for more details.)

I can see grandmothers bicycling to their grandchildren’s homes, boyfriends making their way to their girlfriend’s house or even just virtually pedaling my way to the local coffee shop! First, I will need a bike, tho! Perhaps this will start a few more rider/bloggers out there!

I began the workshop with a factual piece about the local lighthouses but as the workshop progressed I understood the value of using the medium for storytelling. Ultimately I realized how valuable the process would be to the gifted learner. Yesterday, I found an article looking why humans tell stories in the Scientific American Mind, Aug/Sep 2008 issue titled, “The Secrets of Storytelling” which only solidified the importance of storytelling with the quote, “The imaginary world of stories may serve as a proving ground for vital social skills.” The author provided research that suggested that children who listened to stories developed empathy and ability to read other people’s emotions.

Back to my production. My writing underwent four total rewrites and edits before I was happy with it. It is usually quite difficult to get a student to put this much work into a written piece but the result is so worth it. (The National Writing Project has lessons that focus on the rewriting/editing process that appeal to children.)

Two side notes: I recently found that the New Canal Lighthouse actually fell in Dec. 2005 and had to be completely dismantled so my information is not quite accurate on that point. Also, I hope that I covered the complicated copyright issues correctly.

Thanks to Martha Green and her staff for researching and assembling the workshop!

Most all the bags were packed and sitting by the bus parked in front of the lodge early the next morning when E reminded me about the promise I made the night before. He and I made our way up the path into the underbrush and looked for the marker we had chosen the night before and we began our search. Amazingly, I found the ring within about a minute of arriving. How we missed it, I will never know. E was relieved and happy. I could also feel his trust in me as his teacher had risen 100% that morning. He could tell that I truly cared about him.

This year, out of all the lessons coming out of the classroom, building trust with the class was the one for me. (Each year seems to have its lesson for the teacher.) Trust is wrapped up in the little things we do from day to day in our classroom. It’s fetching that special type of card stock paper for a project, remembering to bring in an ingredient for a recipe, smiling, chatting, following through with promises, and a zillion other things.

During a conversation the first week in May, a co-worker mentioned that sometimes it takes him nearly half the school year to build trust with his new class of students. It became clear that this was the issue in my class. This group of children was taking longer than most to develop that certainty that I was going to lead them, teach them and expose them to learning situations without embarrassing them, without stretching them too far beyond their needs or belittling them when something goes wrong. A big chore for any professional!

After some fits and starts, I can say it took well into February when the students began to trust me. Situations, attitudes, perceptions, stresses along with school culture and teacher experience all played a role in our slow development. The last part of the school year was the most productive for my students in many ways other than just in their class projects and assignments. We had quality discussions, inside jokes, playful fun. All these things the students will remember more than any lesson on grammar or ancient history that I taught.

Just today, I felt good enough to sit down to the computer. I’ve been just cruising around, visiting some favorite blogs, trying out some new blogs. I even visited my own (leaving your own blog alone so long in cyberspace is not good) and I noticed a comment left by Michelle at http://www.michellehix.blogspot.com/. She has a really cool site with a few neat widgets on it. The best one is Shelfari and, of course, with me being a teacher of English, I could not pass on it!

I have to get my son to figure out why the widget won’t load up in my sidebar. It’s probably something very simple but it’s New Year’s Eve and I don’t want to bug him. He’s out with friends getting ready to celebrate the new year. My daughter is out in Jackson Square in New Orleans, my husband went to our friends in SW Houston, my sister is in Times Square and I’m sitting in front my laptop with my box of kleenex. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Another interesting toy that I’ve had time to play with is Google Reader. Now, I can keep up with the news and actually have something interesting to add to casual conversations without becoming a news-junkie like a few people I know.

Somehow, I feel like the little kid who got all these toys for Christmas but ended up playing in the cardboard box that the new washer came in. These two ‘toys’ were free (actually not quite free. I ((my husband)) paid for the internet connection, the electricity, the kitchen table, the lemonade in the Pizza Hut Fred Flintstone glass we bought when we were going out together 25 years ago….I think you get the picture.)

Anyway, here’s wishing everyone a Happy New Year and lots of new ‘toys’
Angie

My little holiday sure seems out of place, now that I come to think of it.

Amber’s home from France now and we’ve been preparing her for her final year at Tulane. We went through the house looking for things she can use in her first apartment and we decided to refinish some old furniture that we had been saving in hopes that one of our kids would need it. She’s the lucky winner! We’ve sanded and painted several pieces and now I have the job of making new cushion covers while she is gone once again (France for 3 weeks). We also went to New Orleans to see her new place and visit with old friends in Mandeville. I did not read in the car, but I did read every minute of free time that I had.

I’ll forever connect Harry Potter and the St. Louis Hotel on the corner of Bienville and Royal now. I finished the book on Sunday morning. Just like everyone else, I feel just a little sad that the story is finished. I find myself thinking about the story and the characters as I go about my everyday activities. And I do have a few questions which may be enough of a motivation to start reading the series again from the first book. If I do, I’ll let you know because you won’t be hearing from me for several days!

Please Welcome!

I’ve been teaching a Writer’s Workshop and I wanted to introduce my new contributors to the site. I have eight creative writers who have posted some of their fantastic work on the Incitement 2007 page.

Take some time to read enjoy their writing by clicking on the Incitement 2007 link in the Categories (right sidebar). Then make a few comments (good and constructive). Let them know they have an audience!

Thanks