Quest for the Perfect Pencil

Few things torment me more than a stubborn wooden pencil. 

I'm serious. I consider the standard #2 wooden pencil to be my adversary, my arch nemesis, the villain in my superhero teaching story. It interrupts my class, assaults our ears with the help of its trusty sidekick, the electric sharpener. It taunts me with promises of unbounded lead, only to break said promise at the slightest pressure. 

But I've not yet given up on the noble quest for the perfect pencil. I've met many worthy opponents over the years. Let's take a look at some of them, shall we? 

The Scratcher

This specimen starts out as a regular pencil. Perhaps you didn't select it on your own but it looks just fine at first glance. You touch lead to paper and start to write. You think Wow, things are really looking up for me today. But after a few short minutes, you hear the wretched sound of wood on paper and you know that the jig is up. You've been duped by "The Scratcher." The point is half-lead and half-wood, genetically engineered to ruin your day. 

The Underachiever

There was never a hope with this particular breed of pencil. You knew from the start that it's never going to work, so there's no real let-down. Sure, with the right amount of guidance, this pencil could have turned out okay. But let's face it, you were in a hurry. You wanted the sharpener to do the work and so you didn't apply the right amount of pressure, you didn't feed it into the sharpener the way the instruction manual suggests. Deep down, you know it's your fault. That's why you--like me--tear the wooden part off and use it anyway. 

The Heartbreaker

I find this to be the most offensive pencil of all. Fresh out of the sharpener, The Heartbreaker appears to be the whole package. Walking back to your seat, you daydream about the wonderful things it will create. (Your handwriting will be neater, your ideas will sparkle, your paper will become the answer key, etc.) You decide that this is your favorite pencil. This pencil has promised you the world. You take a deep breath and--SNAP--the lead breaks out and onto your desk before the fairy tale can even begin. No happily ever after for you!

The Lovely Bones

The pencil bucket in my room is a graveyard of sorts. There resides all the "pencil bones" from fruitless attempts to create the perfect pencil. I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't throw them away. I share a special camaraderie with these little guys. One of my former first graders used to hoard "pencil bones." She'd wrap them up in a tissue and call them her babies. Pretty imaginative, if you ask me. 

So, what's the perfect pencil look like?

My quest for the perfect pencil today took somewhere between 24-30 attempts with three different sharpeners. Sharp, works under pressure, wasn't reduced to a stub during the sharpening process--this one's the winner. I'm not ashamed to admit that a pencil like this can change my world. 

Is this seriously what you do with your day, Miss Boyd? 

Yes. This is what I do with my day.

I can't begin to explain to you just how important one perfect pencil is, let alone twelve. The perfect pencil reduces interruptions, prevents students from becoming distracted or sidetracked, and--just like in my case--creates a sense of magic about the writing process. 

One more thing...

In my obsession to find the perfect pencil today, I've been confronted with the argument that my beef is really with the sharpener, not the pencil. Maybe so. I'll save that for another day. 

**Thank you Coach Speer, for taking AMAZING pencil pictures for me today!**

Ron Clark Revelations

This time of the year always gets me thinking about my most memorable teacher experience outside of the the classroom. Two Octobers ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta, Georgia for the Ron Clark Academy Conference. 

Talk about memorable. 

That conference rocked my socks off. I was completely amazed at the things that this small, independent school was doing! 

I was able to observe numerous teachers instruct their classrooms during the conference. They were dancing on their desks, singing at the top of their lungs, and most importantly, sharing their love for learning with the students every day. Now, I'm a fairly energetic teacher, but Ron Clark and his staff put me to shame. They were "on" the entire duration of the conference...they wore me out just watching them! 

But you know what? It totally made me step my game up as a teacher. After watching the RCA staff at the conference, I knew that this was the kind of teacher I wanted to be--Every. Single. Day. 

So every October, I revisit either my notes, a video, or books I received from the RCA conference to reflect on the commitment of excellence (and energy) I made to my students and to myself...here's my pick for this October--RCA staff puts on a "Step Show" for their students on the first day of school. Enjoy! 

Just Jazzed

We visit the American Jazz and Negro Baseball League Museums tomorrow.

I have NEVER been so excited for a field trip! 

First of all, this trip ties in so well with our social studies curriculum! We've been studying influential figures in Kansas City's history. This is the first year we've focused on a specific time period (1920-1950) and group of people (Jazz musicians and Negro League Baseball players).

I'll be honest, I didn't know much about this part of Kansas City's history before we started this unit. Sure, I've been to 18th and Vine to listen to a friend play at the Blue Room. I've attended performances at the Gem Theater and even danced at the Rhythm & Ribs Festival behind the two museums. But I'd never spent a Saturday afternoon at either museum.

Well, that's just what I decided to do. 

I spent two hours on a Saturday morning at the American Jazz and Negro Baseball League Museums with my teaching partner. We decided to preview the museums to prepare ourselves--and in turn, our students--for the upcoming field trip.

We armed ourselves with notebooks and pens, ready to record all of the information we'd learn along the way. There was so much to see, I couldn't write fast enough. There were so many objects, facts, pictures, and displays to connect to the information we've learned in social studies class. We were practically pressing our noses against the display cases, hoping to absorb as much jazz and baseball as possible. We wore headphones, pressed buttons, and whispered, "Hey, over here! Wouldn't they like this?!" to one another. Partially through our self-guided tour, we wandered into the Blue Room, a traditional-style jazz club that is part of the museum exhibit. We ran into a maintenance staffer--Elliot, I believe, was his name--and he imparted so much knowledge about the Historic 18th and Vine District, I thought I was going to run out of pages in my notebook. I mean, the man lived this history--he was there, he saw it, he knew the very people we'd been studying in class. For goodness' sake, his own sister married the son of one of the baseball players we're studying! Needless to say, this preview trip fired me up about bringing my students to the museums.

As if I needed more of a reason to be excited, my very own mother, a talented artist and poet, will be part of  American Jazz Museum's "Beyond Words: A Fusion of Poetry, Visual Art, and Jazz" exhibit. My students will actually get to see my mom's work at the museum--how's that for a tie-in, eh?

During lunch, we'll walk stop by the Mutual Musicians' Foundation, a spot that I just recently discovered over the summer with some of my musician friends. Talk about history, this place has been around forever and has housed some of the world's most famous musicians. Now, this is still a working establishment, so there's no way I'd bring my kiddos inside, but we'll stand on the steps and just imagine the jazz goin' on in that place.

I swear, just thinking about tomorrow's field trip gives me teacher goosebumps. But you know what, that's because we planned this field trip the right way. We taught the information before the field trip--that way our students will engage in the material on a much deeper level. Because they've heard the stories and studied the facts, they'll have answers--not guesses--to the guide's questions. Their eyes will light up when they see Charlie Parker's plastic saxophone because they know what it's made of and what it's worth. They know to look for the neon signs hung in the museum; they know these signs belonged to just a few of the 50+ jazz clubs that covered a four-block area of the jazz district.

Oh, did I mention that in addition to all that, my students will get to participate in a Jazz Storytelling session before their tour? Just go ahead and add it to the list of amazing things we're doing tomorrow.