Keeping the Beat

Die hard Believers latching onto Lucy Caulkins', ( she is at the pulpit in Riverside Church - really spectacular!), Monday morning sermon about embracing the Common Core Standands (educational standards that most of our country has, or is, in the process of adopting - the guidelines for what will be taught at each grade level.

Key "ideas":

1. Finding what gives you hope is a place to start.

2.Becoming personally involved in that mission, What is it that you are teaching?

To become personally involved, you need to participate.

Regarding the Common Core, meet with colleagues and talk about them.

Research shows that a supportive community is one of the only ways that

people will make a change. Join a supportive community.

That is part of why people come to TC, to feel a part of a something bigger,

a supportive group.

Back in the halls of TC, (Teachers College at Columbia University), amidst the buzz of eager academia. I love that scholarly stained glass in the background - it may be Horace Mann, or dedicated to him. It says 1886. (see a close up in one of last year's posts)

My morning section is "The Intersection of Text Difficulty and Reading Instruction: Understanding the Challenges Posed by Increasing Levels of Text Difficulty (H-Q) and Using This Knowledge to Plan Responsive Instruction", (quite a mouthful), with Jennifer Serravallo. I've read two of her reading instruction books and she is just as much a genius in person as on paper.

My afternoon section " The Common Core Calls for Sky-High Levels of Nonfiction Comprehension: Using Test Sets, Rereading, and Book Clubs to Deepen Comprehension", with Barb Golub. Also, time well spent.

This seaweed salad was a dark horse at our Japanese dinner. Four different kinds of seaweed! And some light miso dressing.

You'd think I would be able to call it a day by midnight at least once when I was here. Somehow, even with the best of intentions, it doesn't work that way.

We couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Charlie Watts, (drummer for the Rolling Stones), playing with his A B C and D of Boogie Woogie band. Even if we could only get tix to the 10:00 show.

Note the dark head of hair just below "WATT" on the marquee. When we went to get in line for the show there seemed to be a convergence of the line for the Iridium Theater and the adjacent restaurant. I walked up to this guy and asked him what he was in line for. He ignored me. He had his head bend down and appeared to be trying to bury his nose in a magazine. I politely asked again. He muttered, "The Iridium." I said thanks and got in line. ...While waiting for the line to slowly snake in the door I saw a couple of different people come up and shake this guy's hand and/or introduce themselves and/or thank him for something. After each interaction, he quickly reburied his nose in the magazine, (as a professional observer of readers, I don't think this guy was particularly "on-task", as we say in our business), though I wasn't paying close attention at first. But then I realized this guy must be "somebody." B was already on it, and has a much better memory and sight recognition for people in this business. He quickly pulled up a pic on his phone and showed it to me - David Fricke - an editor for Rolling Stone magazine. The funny thing was that as we got closer to the entrance, someone from inside the doorway started calling out loudly, "David Fricke, David Fricke, is there a David Fricke", repeatedly. David kept his nose down. It wasn't until the barker had said it several times that he finally released his laser lock on the mag, shrugged, and walked in the door. Cover blown.

Back to the main event. Thanks to my lil' bro's magical sales tactics and insider know-how, we got really good seats, even though we were in the last 20% of people in line. It was

a superb show - two piano players, one stand up bass, and Charlie Watts, smoothly sweeping away on the drums. He looked totally at ease, relaxed, and content.

Interesting observation: Charlie's right nostril consistently collapsed as he inhaled.

Just the right. Not the left.

Ear, Nose, Throat friends - ??