Adventures of the Local and [Mostly] Human Kind

 Life is...

...going local.

Hi Kids,

Thanks for coming out (virtually) in force to celebrate Big D's 61st birthday by reading our last post.  And great news: We saw UCLA's Dr. Cloughesy last week, via Zoom.  The man gives a mean neuro exam, even at a distance!  He declared Darrell's recent scan clear.  Phew!  Such relief!  Are you well?  Adventuring on?

You know think of you and your adventures daily. Keep sharing please!

Andi and Darrell

 

Tomorrow (Monday, 8/23) is the first day of the Fall 2021 semester.  My retirement deal has me teaching this fall and next before I'm fully out of the CSUF picture.

Every semester back is a transition that brings some crankiness--in addition to the wonderful anticipation that comes with sharing in the adventures of scores of aspiring teachers.  Transitions are just hard.  They force Darrell and me to turn our gaze from travel, extended art projects, long morning conversations, and longer hikes.  But this semester's transition has extra layers.  

 

Some of the layers it brings are layers of uncertainty.  I'm back to campus after nearly two years. My Math Methods courses are all hybrid.  That means we're back in person for many sessions...face-to-face during a pandemic that just won't quit.  Lots of rules to be followed given COVID 19, like staying away from campus with any positive COVID test.  Already my colleagues and I have students writing with positive tests, sad not to be with their peers on the first day of the journey.  What to say to students who can't come to school because of COVID?  We're figuring it out.  

 

Some of the layers this semester brings are literal layers.  Everyone is required to be masked (of course; safety first).  You know my glasses fog up.  And you know too that I and my fellow hearing impaired homies watch people's faces to maximize understanding of spoken messages.  

 

Also, facial expressions are important in classroom communication. Maybe now Darrell's early innovation of hand signal smiles will finally catch on!  (Here's that April, 2020 post, with visuals, of course.)  

I'll wear an amplification system so my students can hear me better through my mask.  When I picked up my system, I asked for 30 more of these sets so I could hear my students.  So far no go.

Imagine, then, my finished first-day look with foggy glasses, a mask, and a headset.  Just enjoy that image. Somehow it'll be okay.  We'll all make it okay.  I believe the words I told my students:  That no matter what else happens in the world, good teachers and students together create the world they want to live in:  a world of empathy, laughter, learning, and love.

So that takes care of the "local" part of this post as well as much of the "human" part of our upcoming adventures.  Much of it, but not all.  This semester also promises to bring more family occasions, like family weddings and like opportunities to sit with Ivy and Nova.  Hurrah!  Adventures of the local and human kind!  

 Our adventures aren't totally human-centered though.  For instance, Nova is growing pumpkins.  

 

Stay tuned for more progress in the Pumpkin Adventure.

 

Also, Nova loves "skeltons."  Here she is adventuring with our Skelton.  It's going to be a great fall season, with Skelly sightings starting so early!

Here's to adventures of any scope, with humans and non humans alike! And to figuring it all out together!

Today's Blooms

CSUF flowers from our field trip, checking out my rooms