the awkward years

I am smacking my lips. Raising an eyebrow. Squinting...trying to recall... that taste. Real Time wasn't great. It wasn't horrible either. The morale of the story, while poignant, beats you over the head like you are an ill-fated Dora the Explorer pinata. The gist (you'll get this from the back of the dvd case) is that Andy (Jay Baruchel, of Popular Mechanics for Kids) is up to his neck in gambling debt, Reuben (Randy Quaid with a phenomenal kiwi accent) is the hitman giving him one more hour to live. We watch, in real time (wink wink), their conversations as Andy laments his poor lot in life and as Reuben attempts to help Andy make peace before the hour is up. Carpe Diem! Considering the f-bomb was used more often than any vowel, I was surprised when Andy squeezed a couple of red eyes out of me. Who can help it with a bleak Hamilton Ontario backdrop, two broken -but likable- characters, and the tingling knock knock knocks of Death at the door. At one point in the movie, they end up in front of an elementary school. Each character tells a contrasting memory of their time in school. And in one case, he reveals that his experience had completely altered his life.
What kind of memories am I creating for my students? What seeds am I planting? I don't have much control over what they interpret and what choices they make, but I am part of the picture.

The Grade 7s still blow me away. They are so naive. So goofy. Buck teeth. Ungraceful swinging appendages. Squeaking excitement over the smallest things. Oh crap. I think I just described my old eHarmony profile. Their concern of all the 'swears' in Deadliest Catch is so cute. Man, they make me laugh. They are so innocent. So easy to awe.

It's interesting to see how the 7s also can be at completely different levels of development. One kid could be drawing a snake's maw with exquisite detail, the other is gripping their pencil with a fury only matched by a locked arm-wrestling bout between a man and a mother bear. Coordination is an afterthought as they stab, shake, wriggle their way across the page. The subsequent indentations of their drawings can be seen multiple pages into their Dollarama sketchpads. Like phantoms.

I love it.