Sunday, August 14, 2022

Sunday, August 14, 2022 

  

  I ran into Rosemary on my early morning walk. She told me I looked good. I thought she was referring to my stride since the operation, but no. She said my hair and my skin looked good. Okay. I’ll take it. I thought it might have something to do with the shock I got upon realizing how damaging my mother’s behavior is considered to be. While the information was shocking, it was also affirming. It’s amazing what shattering thoughts can do for your looks.

  I finally had a session at 8 a.m. with Mama K’s twin girls. She couldn’t find time for me to work with her kids over the summer. Drove me nuts. K was in fourth grade now. I wasn’t worried about him. His word recognition skills were on grade level. I did two sessions on comprehension using my questioning method on sentences. His response was good enough last spring. I believed he would continue to improve over the summer. Mama K confirmed it. He read a few books, and his ability to understand what others said and express his thoughts was better. That’s what I expected.

   However, the girls were a different matter. I teach metacognitive skills, skills that students use to teach themselves. K had already demonstrated his absorption rate. The girls had not. When I started with them last August, they didn’t know all the letters in the alphabet, no less read words.

In the spring, both of them were doing some basic reading. Twin A could read the first two Carpenter stories. Twin E struggled to read the first story. Mama K already told me they did no reading over the summer. Twin A said she did some reading online, probably when playing games. I asked her if she had thought about how to read words. She said yes to that. Wonderful. The school was thrilled with their progress from a low pre-school level to kindergarten. That’s a huge leap. I was nervous that they had lost everything over the summer. I was prepared to discover they couldn’t even remember the names of the letters in the alphabet. But that’s not what happened.

   I started with Twin A. She sailed through the first two stories we had worked on last spring. She read them faster than she had. Twin E was the real surprise. I hadn’t started her on the second story because she struggled with the first one. She sailed through that story at a fluid rate. Amazing! 

   Statistically, students lose ground over vacations if they don’t read independently. With my methods, this has happened only once. I expected it with the girls because they were so weak, but it didn’t. It breaks my heart that the method is not widely used in schools. It is easy to incorporate. 

    Damon sent me an article about schools reinstituting highly sequenced and structured phonics programs. Schools dropped this method because teachers hated it. It was reinstituted because there was a dramatic drop in reading performance with the decline of the method. I incorporate directed phonics instruction. There is no way we should expect students to reinvent the wheel. But we should expect students to have fun figuring out the words rather than do grueling worksheet exercises. Some students figure out how to apply what they learn from traditional phonics lessons to reading. But some have no idea how to do that. This is what my method teaches. 

   I made it to Mass. I usually sit outside for my sake. Today, I did it for everyone else’s sake as well. I was exposed to Covid by Scott. I didn’t know if I had it. I didn’t want to risk anyone else’s health. After Mass, I gave Carolyn, at the church gift shop, Mike’s remaining religion-related items. I gave her things right after he died. Then parishioners were eager to have items of his. I didn’t know if anyone cared anymore. That didn’t bother me. Mike’s impact is from what he did. That will last forever. 

  I stopped at the refreshment table, grabbed half a donut, and then at the table in front of the church to donate $75 in cash for Fr. Lio’s walk for Catholic Charities. I had forgotten my checkbook again. I paid in cash, handing Karen fives and tens. She asked, “Are these your dancing tips?” Got to love this woman. I told her yes. 

    Next, I stopped at Island Naturals to pick up more raw almonds to compensate for the reduced number in Hersey’s milk Chocolate nuggets. I was not too sleepy when I got home. I am usually exhausted after church.

  I missed the Wordle puzzle today. The word was Khaki. I thought of the kh combination but knew it was from the Indian language, not used in English. I forgot about the possibility of a borrowed word.

  I got a call from the gardener asking if they could come tomorrow. I got to work trimming to bougainvillea and pulling down the fallen palm fronds in the yard off my bedroom. I put them in a pile for the gardener to collect and take to the dump. 

   My sister sent a text saying that her son-in-law, his sister, and his father were at the Salmon Rushdie talk when he was attacked. OMG! Can you imagine seeing that happen? It must be hard to comprehend. 

   I got a nap in before Elsa and I did our before-dinner walk. I walked around the makai (toward the ocean) block. I hadn’t done that in at least a year. I was delightfully surprised by the improvement to one of the properties. I had been a mess with the previous occupants. They did not attempt to maintain it. Now, all the garbage was gone; they painted the outside of the house a rust orange. Two men were out front working on the yard. I thought they looked like an older man and a much younger one. I spoke to the older one, complimenting him on his work. He said the other man was also an owner. I assumed they were a couple. That was confirmed by Lutz later in the day. 

  I finished watching Finding Ola this afternoon. I would have loved to see more. Netflix offered me Indian Matching Making. I accepted. It’s a documentary and fascinating.