School

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

I  defend my dissertation on July 12th.  The culmination of nearly 8 years of work (some of that time was spend processing how research will do what it wants).  Eight years of thinking about my work.  Eight years of writing.  Eight years of missing time with my kids and family.  Eight years of wishing I had more time to focus on my academic work.  Eight  years of wishing I could do it all, so much more quickly.  Eight years.

But now it comes to an end.  As I work my way through some final revisions, I can see the light at the end.

I know the time was worth every moment of guilt, frustration, and discovery.  I have changed and I look forward to what this next phase brings.  But Dawn Finley, Ph.D.  sounds pretty good right now.

This I Need To Remember

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Yesterday was the day Noah has been waiting for since school started in August.

Drum roll please…..HOMEWORK!!!  Yep.  He and the rest of his first grade class were all equally excited yesterday to get their first homework.

I know, cute isn’t it?

I watched him walk to the car, homework folder in hand with a huge smile on his face.  A smile that said “I have made it.  I am a big kid now.”  Homework serves as his first right of passage, as it should be.  Homework should be special and should focus on building the skills that are taught at school.  It should be relevant.

I want to give a big shout out to the kids school for giving homework that is relevant and makes them think.

As soon as he got into the car, he started talking about his homework and questioning where he was going to do it.

I suggested the dining room table.  You would have thought I suggested doing it on the roof of a moving car.

“NO. Mom it has to be somewhere quiet and it should be my own desk.”

Well, we have been dragging our feet on getting a new desk for our den where the kids can do homework.  So, Noah convinced us to bring up his desk from the basement.

So, we moved it upstairs and cleaned it off and he was so excited.  We got “real” pencils out–“yellow ones like I have at school.”

He did two word problems: Draw a picture or write a number equation to solve each problem.  1) An avocado has 1 seed.  I used 4 avocados to make guacamole.  How many seeds do I have?   2) This week I ate 2 plums and 3 peaches.  How many seeds did I end up with this week?

What is great about those two problems is that they have spent the last 5 weeks exploring seeds and learning about fruits and vegetables.

He worked on his homework for about 20 minutes and completed most of it–they get it on Monday and it is due on Friday.  I can already tell that science and math will be what he enjoys more than writing.  One of his homework pages is brainstorm a list of “15 things I can write about”–for writers workshop.  He struggled a bit with grasping the idea of topics for writing as opposed to specific events–but the writing teacher in me was in HEAVEN.  He has one page left–a sheet with pictures of fruit–cut so that you can see the insides and he is suppose to write what he notices.

I know that this LOVE of homework will be short lived and so I want to document this moment, so when he’s in 2nd or 3rd grade, I can remind him how excited he was to have homework.

The Earth Flower: A Story

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

The following story was created by 3 4-year olds.  At my children’s school, the early  childhood curriculum/theme is dictated by the children and their interests.  Zoë’s class was fascinated with natural materials–sticks, leaves, stones, and making books.  So, natural materials, the natural world and books became the year’s focus and all areas of the curriculum were taught through the exploration of the natural world.  It’s great because the culminating project in their classes are never the exact same.

The final project in Zoë’s class was a collection of stories written by the students.  Below you will read the story written by Zoë and two of her classmates.

This is the Earth Flower.  It’s a flower that everybody lives in.  There’s an earth inside of the flower.  Bees come to take the earth out because there’s pollen inside this flower.  The bees actually come and take all the earth’s pollen, but when it’s nighttime, the earth takes all the pollen back.  

The bees live in the earth, and they make honey for the earth.  The bees give it to the earth, and then the earth gives it back.  Then somebody takes the Earth Flower and makes it into more flowers. 

The Earth Flowers die at some point.  They turn littler and littler until they die, except for the big one.  It stays alive.  People live in the Earth Flower; they just walk around and they have houses.  The bees are nice and they don’t sting anyone at all.  Because the Earth Flower somehow died, it doesn’t stay how it looks forever.  It changes.  the stem somehow pops off, and it turns into the regular earth.  The people didn’t know what to do, but they had an idea. They put some tape in a big line and what they did was they turned it back into the Earth Flower. 

I read this story and I see so many of the things that Zoë (and her classmates) learned at school.  They spend one to two mornings a weeks in the greenhouse or on and “adventure” with the sustainability teacher.  This story showcases the emerging understanding of pollination and it is beautiful.

It is moments like these that remind me of what our children are capable of doing and understanding. If only we stopped seeing their limitations and only saw their potential–what a beautiful world we would live in.

Thanksgiving College School Style

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

My kids school is deep with tradition.  There are songs they sing, days they walk to school, ways the donate to those in need, etc.  Today was one of the best traditions that the school has–The Thanksgiving Feast.  I love the Feast and the community it fosters.  The entire school comes together.  The students (each and everyone) enter the gym in a linked line–all studets, teachers and administrators holding hands.  It is beautiful.  This was  Zoë’s first and Noah’s third.

As a parent, this never gets old.  Noah and his class sit with the 5th graders who are their buddies (the buddies loop–so Noah’s class got their buddies 2 years ago in pre-school) and Zoë and her class sat with their 3rd grade buddies–who will remain her classes buddies until Zoë’s class is in 3rd grade.  It’s a beautiful way to build relationships and foster a sense of family into the school.

Each class prepares several kinds of soup and everyone shares.  They sit in mixed aged groups and it is awesome to watch.  I’m so glad we are part of this amazing school community.

Screw It, I Am Saying Never

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Something fabulous has happened.  I. Have. Free. Time.  I know–it is completely insane.  But not having homework any more–AWESOME.  I know I have this whole dissertation thing hanging over my head, but that is a long-term project.  I also have some other writing projects I need to work on, but I don’t have weekly homework–other than the homework for the class that I am teaching.  But, no weekly papers to write.  No, heavy and highly over-written article to read.  No, classes held every week in the evening.  It is awesome.  So awesome, that I don’t have a bunch of shows backlogged on my dvr to watch.

Because I have free-time.  I actually was able to watch Project Runway and didn’t have to avoid all mention of the show, because I only have time to watch TV one day a week–like in previous years.  This is the first time since the Fall of 2004 that I have not taken two classes (at least–sometimes 3) classes a semester.  This is the first time since the Fall of 2004, that I am not a student.  I am done being a student. DONE.

And it feels frickin’ incredible.  I am still busy.  Yesterday I left my house at before 8am and didn’t get home until nearly 10pm.  I had research, dissertation group meeting and board meetings to attend.  But, I didn’t have class and that rocks.

It really just hit me yesterday that I am not taking classes and I am really enjoying being able to go home and not even look at my computer if I don’t want to.  If I want to read–I can pick what I want to read.  I’ve been reading Lisa Gardner’s books for some enjoyable mysteries.  I can sit on my couch at night after the littles are in bed and just relax without deadlines looming, without contrived assignments mocking me that are only for class and isn’t something that I’ll use later on.

I am done with school.  I am done dong the homework.  I don’t mind assigning the homework.

Yippee.  I have forgotten what this feels like.  I am never going back.  NEVER.