When the Student is Ready

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” 

The quote has been attributed to Tao Te Ching, to Buddha, and probably Abraham Lincoln—because that’s how the internet works.

I’ve been thinking about teachers a lot lately. I have been blessed by a lifetime full of great teachers—my first and best teacher—my mother-- who, in addition to all the teaching that mothers do, was also in turn my kindergarten teacher, and my fifth-grade teacher. And yes, I called her Mrs. Mullins in class. She used to tell the story that one day in Kindergarten, when she had apparently failed to respond to several of my calls for attention: “Mrs. Mullins. Oh, Mrs. Mullins!” I apparently decided to use the one name guaranteed to get her attention and called her “Mommy.” “She called you Mommy!” my classmates laughed; certain I had just made a Freudian slip. I was so good at referring to her as Mrs. Mullins some of my little classmates didn’t realize she was my mom! To them, I was just one of four Mullins kids in the class.

In addition to my mom, I was fortunate enough to have had both the legendary June Rowland and Kenton Smith as teachers. Both were wise and loving teachers who fed my love of words. Science teachers Randy Sharp and John Mullenix shared their love of the natural world with their students and I still remember taxonomy hierarchy: “Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species” to this day. Good teachers shape our lives and our futures.

 

Nova Mullins & Cameron Sume

Teaching runs in my family’s blood. In addition to my mom, my son Cameron is also a teacher. He teaches math--secondary math education, to be precise--at Graham Kapowsin High School in Puyallup. He loves teaching, and the challenges of Covid have him working long hours. Most of his teaching is done “on-line” but he does meet with students who need extra help in-person.

When I asked him the specifics about the differences in lesson planning for on-line vs. in-person education, he said “I have yet to plan a lesson to be given in person and online, but I imagine the two would be very different. The timing of online teaching is a lot slower and transitions take longer.” He also noted that it’s a lot harder to build and maintain relationships with students over distance learning. He shared that he knows of other teachers and classes that are very successful with on-line learning, but that students who struggle academically—specifically in math (and boy, do I relate to that)—are having a hard time.

When I texted him some follow up questions, he begged off, citing the lateness of the hour and asked if we could talk tomorrow instead. 

“Deadline IS tomorrow” I texted back.

He answered another question and then sent “Also you should try to write before the deadline.”

He sent a smiley face emoji and “Sorry, that’s the teacher in me.”

When the student is ready...

Please remember to support our local students by voting YES on our levy. And don’t procrastinate—even I am sending my ballot in early.

 

Secrets and Such

 Once upon a time ago—I was excellent at keeping secrets. Tell me a secret and ZIP! Into the vault it went, never to be disclosed.

Oh, sure—there are always those Doubting Thomas’ out there, who might suggest that the reason I was so stellar at secret keeping was that the moment you told me a secret or two I promptly forgot them. This is not at all true, and I could cite many such examples of my secret keeping prowess but—hello! Secrets! Gotta keep ‘em.

As time marches on, I have found that my ability to keep a secret seems to be inversely proportional to how fantastic the secret is.

For example, the day I was told my first grandson was on the way and was sworn to secrecy—I told my son how excited I was to tell Person A---and Person B—and also Persons C and D—and of course I’d HAVE to tell Person E, because come on, I’m only HUMAN. By the time the conversation was over I had also made the case for telling Person F and G—all while still being able to claim I was keeping a “secret.” A secret with exemptions. Because in addition to being an excellent secret keeper—I’m an even better negotiator.

When my second grandson was on the way, my negotiation tactics were seen coming and I was sworn to strict secrecy. I kept the secret so securely that even *I* forgot I’d made it—told Person D—of course I swore HER to secrecy—and then kept my secret sharing a secret from myself to the point that when Person D was officially told I congratulated myself for NOT telling this time---only to have Person D give me some serious side eye...

I have done a much better job of secret keeping this time around, for Grandson Number Three. Of course, it was TOTALLY NOT MY FAULT that when his parents called to tell me the happy secret and was out relaxing in the back yard with Person E and so of course I had my phone on speaker phone...

My Big Secret Number Three is due by the end of February and to prove how good I am at keeping secrets, I’m not going to spoil the surprise and tell you Lane’s name---HOORAY ME!

New Year’s Resolutions 2020

 

To resolve or not to resolve, that is the question. One of many questions, anyway. Can you even make new year’s resolutions after a year like 2020? Is there in wisdom in that? Is that just wishful thinking?

Resolution Number One: Go to the gym more. 

SNORT

Resolution Number Two: Travel more. 

SNORT

Resolution Number Three: Go back to not making New Year’s Resolutions. 

DING! DING! DING!

My “normal” M.O. is to not rush in to making any rash resolutions and wait until about February before actually committing to any plan of action. I like to have time to consider all the draw backs, downsides, and unintended consequences. Before I leap into the abyss I like to give it a long, hard, look.

I should probably treat my Amazon shopping cart more like a resolution. Maybe if I spent more time considering the ins and outs of buying a cat water fountain, or 36 rolls of washi tape-- based on the complete works of Vincent van Gogh and available with FREE SHIPPING—FREE! SHIPPING!--  before I tossed it into my shopping cart...

Not my cat. My cat HATES the fountain. 
But the shipping was free...

But no—Amazon shopping is amazing. I’m always so surprised to see what I bought. Every day is like my birthday—Look! Tempera paints for the grandkids! With matching brushes! Kraft Lime Cilantro salad dressing by the gallon—what? I really LIKE it! I’m already on my third gallon.

So delicious! So low calorie!
And free shipping!

 And some of the stuff I buy I really NEED—like printer ink, and a white noise machine that mimics all the sounds of the rainforest—because being fully rested is IMPORTANT. 

Then there are the books... “Where the Wild Things Are,” and “Harold and the Purple Crayon” share space in my cart with” Harriet Wolf’s Seventh Book of Wonders,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” I highly recommend ALL of them. Five out of five stars.

Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to go google “101 things to do with washi tape” and see if I can live up to my resolution to “Use the Stuff I Buy on Amazon.”

Look how pretty!