Daniel (with a sneaky grin): Mr. Hoggatt, do you have hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia?

Me (with a knowing smile): No, I've never been afraid of long words.

He thought he had me!

Our trip to Missouri State University in Springfield is just around the corner.  We will use our regular school day to visit the school on Wednesday, April 6.
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Electronics and music players (with school-friendly games and music) are acceptable for this trip.  We just ask that the volume be turned off of earphones be worn while in use.  Sack lunches (in completely throw-away containers) are requested from home, or will be charged through the cafeteria just like a regular school lunch.

Read the sentence below.  Do you see any problems?

Do not rewrite the sentence.  In fact, don't even fix the sentence.  Instead, on your paper, tell the writer three things that need to be corrected.

On Tuesday, I built a cottage, a book shop, a pub, and a castle.  What did you accomplish on your day off?

Actually, my wife and I assisted in the touring production of Beauty and the Beast at the beautiful Bicknell Family Center for the Arts on the campus of Pittsburg State University.  Our day started at 7:30 a.m., unloading five semi-trucks - props, sets, costumes, lights, luggage, musical instruments, and sound equipment.  While my wife was recruited to the costume room - repairing tears and pressing wrinkles, I spent the better part of my day constructing the elaborate (and heavy) sets.

A little before showtime, I was needed in costuming.  Backstage, I was in charge of costumes for four of the men in the cast.  These actors played various roles in the production - villagers, gargoyles, cutlery, and even the beast stuntman who gets "stabbed" and falls to his presumed death.  With a couple of quick changes, and several costume changes, I am happy to proclaim that my part of the show went without a hitch.  Whew!

After spraying and rehanging all of the costume parts - multiple vests, breeches, pants, vests, aprons, shoes, knee pads, elbow pads, gargoyle claws, hats, a muscle suit, and more - we finally walked out of the Bicknell Center at 10:30 p.m., and we're looking forward to another day, today.

Here's to doing things that give you positive experiences and glimpses at uniqueness.  I like doing things that most people will never do.  Certainly, working on stage and back stage at a nationally-touring musical is one more.

What's next?  I'm not exactly resting over my Spring Break.  Now, I have to keep preparing for this Sunday.  I will preach for a congregation in Columbus, Sunday morning (Sermon title:  Fishing with Nets), and I preach here in Joplin, Sunday evening (Sermon title:  Dove on Fire).

What information is necessary in order to answer our central question?

How close was the actual solution to your estimate?

What would have helped you achieve a more accurate estimate?

Did you make any mistakes along the way?
Fix them.

How might you avoid such a mistake in the future?

Explain your work to someone else?  Did s/he do the work differently?
​Can you explain the process using the other person's methods?

This one is a brush with real history.  Though it's a bit predictable, it was entertaining and informative to keep my attention.  I would have preferred a darker ending to the one author Deborah Hopkinson provides, but an author has to make those choices throughout the writing process.

One student asked me if there would be homework to do over Spring Break, so here it is.  Not only will I expect every student to read for 30 minutes every day, we will also try something I like to call March Multiple Madness. This is a completely original idea (from my own brain) in which students are placed randomly on an organized list that I'm calling a bracket.  They will compete head-to-head to say a randomly chosen list of multiples, starting at zero and working all the way to end of the list (below) and back down.  Whoever makes it correctly through the list the fastest will move to the next section of the bracket, culminating in a sole champion for the 2016 season - er - school year.

Don't fumble!

Ha ha!  That's a joke; I actually know that March Madness is really about baseball.

Today is a good day to wade in the ocean
Smelling the salty air
Soft sand oozes between tired toes
Waves lap, lap, lap over my bare legs
Wondering what creatures share the water with me
Dreaming about a voyage to flowery wonderlands
Ukuleles dancing in the distance
 
Today is a good day to swim in the ocean
Floating upon a serene mirror
Losing thoughts in the cool, coppery mist of morning
Where old water meets fresh breeze
And sea gulls call for stale breadcrumbs
Their annoying screeches becoming an unmistakable part
Of an otherwise peaceful setting
 
Today is a good day to relax in the ocean
Looking up at the sun and wondering
What lies beyond the pure white clouds on the horizon
Whether thundering storms or lilting rainbows, promise or challenge
Pondering alternatives
Making careful choices
That will affect life’s direction
 
Today is a good day to splash in the ocean
Losing myself in the vast mystery and beauty of God’s creation
Allowing troubles to sink into unexplored trenches
Trumpeting success as it floats to the surface of the roaring liquid
Unobstructed by doubts and fears
Uninhibited by rusty anchor chains
That hold me, unmoving, in a place I do not want to stay
 
Today is a good day to dive deep into the ocean
Avoiding the rumbling beasts of bitterness
Swimming past snarling, chum-seeking sharks of snark and gutteral growling
Leaving in silence the jellyfish’s mean-spirited stings
Today is the day I reach for vast, undefined goals
Today is the day I swim forward, with all others
Sometimes confused, at times resolute, in the crowded, noisy ocean of life

After reviewing video footage from some of Cecil Floyd's buses, we have felt an urgent need to reinforce bus safety and bus procedures to our students.  Some of the footage does not look like the same polite, well-behaved students we experience in the classroom.

In a recent meeting some teachers who have observed bus behaviors of late have suggested that some students do not show respect to the drivers at all.  Others observed that the students also are not showing respect to one another.  I'm certain that these remarks are overblown, but at the same time, our class has discussed the need to care for others and not get caught up in our own minds to the point that no one else matters.  A comparison might be made to an explorer using a machete to blaze his trail through the jungle; in our case, there should be no need to plow through the hallways or onto the bus while mowing other people down like they are so much grass.

It's really no different than any other time in our lives:  we must learn to deal with / care about / tolerate others.  To make friends, one must first show friendship to other people.  Rather than talk constantly about what I do and think, I should show interest in others.  Our class is always a work in progress, so we will continue to explore ways to make others feel good about themselves.  In doing so, they will also feel good about hanging around with us.

Groups in our classroom made cards for the bus drivers to express appreciation for their getting students to and from school every day.  Soon, our school will host the bus drivers in an assembly, as well, in hopes of building truer respect from our students to our transportation providers.

Mathstakes - or Math Mistakes - are an attempt to encourage students to find and correct mistakes.  Most are introduced with a visual prompt, but there is no other word prompt outside of the visual.  In addressing the visual, learners must first find, or construct, what they believe the problem.  They must then figure out what was done in the visual to solve the given problem.  The problem and solution are always provided in the visual.
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After this, learners are charged with the task of determining whether the solution is appropriate.  If so, they must defend it; if not, they must explain - or teach - a better process.