After watching an Ira Glass video for Slice with TWT

Tags

sewing, slice of life, teaching

I have not posted to the Slice of Life in almost a year and a half and for that I feel really bad. I want to try and get back into that. Originally, I started this blog because of that challenge combined with a strong urge to write again. Since then, my blog has become less about school (teaching reading and writing) and more about historical sewing and living history events that I participate in. I watched the Ira Glass video this morning before starting my day. It lead me to two interesting conclusions.

1. Practicing a skill that I love and am passionate about does indeed take a lot of time and quitting when I’m only just beginning is not something I do. (Ira’s skill was storytelling btw). That skill is sewing historical clothing.

2. I’m amazed at how my own journey of creating historical garments has taught me to be a better teacher.

 

1. I taught myself to sew because I needed clothing to wear to reenactments. I started with nothing. I bought a few things, but then couldn’t afford to continue to buy ready-made or custom made items, so I busted out the sewing machine. Each time I wear a new garment to an event, the people I hang out with know about each other’s sewing projects and always ooh and aaah over the new piece of clothing. It’s really nice to have someone notice your accomplishment and say, “wow this looks fantastic.”

Then that transitions into a conversation of, you know your inner seams can be hidden this way. Or let’s take a workshop class on gown construction (which I did and it totally got me hooked on hand sewing). Or have you ever thought about cutting your skirts in this shape? Reenacting / living history (some people argue it’s two different things, but whatever you want to call it is up to you) is a fabulous hobby where you are constantly learning to perfect your impression of a certain historical persona. The people I’ve met and now consider my very good friends are extremely willing to help me and anyone else to improve their sewing skills. I can call them on the phone or email or message them on fb and they respond within a few days time with an answer based on their own experience as well as the resources they consulted.

I love how Ira Glass says even when you’re a beginner, you have killer tastes. I agree. I’m awesome at choosing fabrics that look good on me (or other people) and I’m not too bad at fitting myself during the sewing process. He follows it up with instead of quitting because the product does not turn out exactly the way you want it to, to keep pushing through and increase the volume. (I would love to do that Ira Glass, however, sewing historical clothing by hand while attempting to keep track of 160 some students and grade their work while coaching an after school activity is a bit stressful; sewing can wait. My students can not). I had a good experience with this last summer when I made a new gown for an event. I got really helpful advice from two more experienced sewers and I fixed the problem areas of my garment. And I’m extremely proud of the fact that it is a historically accurate gown made completely by hand. I love wearing something that I made for myself that fits me and that brings history alive for myself and others.

2. Literally, everything I wrote above (and more that I most likely didn’t say) can be applied to my teaching. When I decide to sew a new piece of clothing, the first thing I do is look for examples (usually an original garment if I know it’s dated correctly or a fashion plate) to guide me on fabric type and color, the angle of side seams, trimmings, etc . This process reminds me that modeling the end product for students is so important. Most of us need to have a visual – to refer back to often – while working on a project.

Clear directions are crucial. A sewing pattern with directions that don’t make sense is useless. The sewing blogs I follow have quite detailed step by step tutorials with pictures. Soooo helpful. I bookmark them and reread them all the time.

Having an expert you can rely on in a time of need is the best. I know many of us are getting pulled in two directions: be connected 24/7 vs. turn off technology for several hours each day. Balance is key. I get that. I think kids get it too. I truly cannot answer their question at 2 a.m. when they are finishing their research paper. But I can put resources in place if they need a reminder about MLA format. When I see them in class, I also try to acknowledge that I read their email and I thank them for reaching out to me for help. The other thing I always keep in mind is, if I asked someone the same question (even if it’s a really stupid one that I should know the answer to because I just learned this a few months ago), how would I want them to answer me? All my living history friends are the best teachers – they lead by example and re-explain something when ever I have a question. They are never short with me and always smile. I really appreciate this quality and try to emulate it with my students.

Just because I’ve achieved my goal of finishing one project does not mean that I should never try it again. Upon completing a sewing project, I usually say, well that was fun, but now I want to try it again, only with these adjustments! Retakes, redos, rewrites – whatever you want to call them are tricky in the classroom setting at the high school level. Traditionally the same skills are taught to everyone, we practice, we test, we move on to the next skill. I am pretty good at getting kids to reflect on their work and set goals and work to achieve them. I know I can do better and I want to do better. I will do better. When I look back at the first completely hand sewn gown I made, it’s pretty impressive. I had a lot of help. I love wearing the gown still. But I notice the little things I want to fix. Like some of those stitches are a little wonky, that seam could be a little neater, this edge is a hair off from that edge. But taking note of these “not so great aspects” has forced me to pay attention to them when I start a new project. (My mother always said, “If you don’t do it right the first time, you’ll have to do it over). The instructors at the gown workshop told us not to be caught up in making every stitch perfect. We even looked at an original gown as proof that women of the past were not perfect in their teeny tiny stitches. I think in the classroom, whether focusing on reading or writing, you can’t be perfect 100% of the time. You can strive toward excellence, and that’s what I aim for with my sewing. I want students to step back from their writing or annotations and say to themselves, “Yep, these kick butt. But I’m ready to do it again and even better the second time around!”

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Back to school with a little rain

Tags

cat, rain, school

A summer of working results in not as much time to put the classroom back together. I was a tad worried, but nothing I could not accomplish. If push came to shove, my plan was to keep working until it got done no matter how late I had to stay at school. And then a small miracle occurred. Two former students asked if they could come back and help me. YES!!!! Of course you can! Within two days and with four students, everything was done. I couldn’t believe. Actually I could, because they are the fastest workers ever. Except when they talk…..and being on the forensics team results in a lot of talking. But I didn’t mind. I love just listening to them and watching them get excited about the same things I was excited about in high school. Living vicariously? Perhaps.

My start of class procedure is the best management tool I’ve ever implemented. Thank you Harry K. Wong!

New desk configuration. Seats face each other this year. We’ll see how this experiment unfolds!

Today we also got a very sudden-ish storm. We looked at the radar around 2 p.m. and there were just these tiny little splotchy clouds that seemed to fizzle out before even reaching the lower end of the state where we are located. Soon after I decide to go to Walmart to get some supplies for the weekend’s event. As I’m arriving in the parking lot, I can see the big clouds north of me. I was all “ooooooh a summer storm….too bad it won’t hit here.” I tried not to dally in the store because I hate loading/unloading the car in torrential rain/thunder. As I was starting the car, I hear the severe weather alert that it will be hitting the area in about 10 min. I almost made it made it home in time. There was definitely hail hitting the car as I turned on to our street. I couldn’t really see. I didn’t want to speed just to get to the garage faster because I was afraid of hitting someone/something or hydroplaning. Then I grabbed the bags with the ice cream and meat, ditched my sandals in the garage, and ran for it. I did not get as wet as anticipated. Bonus!

The intense rain drove away the heat nicely and gave us a froggy visitor on our grass!! This is the second SUPER humongous frog we’ve seen. The one I saw last year was a dark olive green with spots and this one is a bright spring green with a few brown specks in parallel rows. So weird. Naturally I had to take Twiggy out to see the froggy and she seemed intrigued!!! She kind of sniffed it and the frog bulged out its sides and lifted up its butt end. My husband shouts, “watch out! it will pee on her!!” I respond, “like shooting pee out of its butt?!!!” haha. So here is the pic of the froggy and the kitty saying hi!

Here, Twiggy gestures to indicate how big the frog is compared to her little kitty paw.

That time of year again

Currently, I sit on my back screened in porch. The past two days it was around 90 and very humid here in the Midwest. The heat has finally subsided; however, my classroom has no ac. It is near sweltering. For the past three days, people have come into my room, stayed five minutes and then asked me how I wasn’t sweating. I commented that, it must be because I spent the majority of my summer in knee socks, a corset, and three layers on top and five layers on the bottom while working over a wood stove in 90 degree heat, so no this isn’t really that hot. If my ancestors suffered, so can I. Therefore, a cool breeze – in fact the perfect end of summer cool breeze – drifts gently through the window on my right. I could not ask for a better evening on the porch.

I’ve hardly written at all this summer and I thought I would write a lot more, but I guess when it came down to it, I felt I didn’t have all that much to say. Oh well. School is starting again and that always brings up lots of new and interesting topics.

I did not complete any of my sewing projects. That’s not very exciting. I’m close to finishing one. I want to wear it this weekend too, but I’m not sure how I will finish it besides taking it with me to the event and finishing it there, which isn’t a bad idea. I made a bedgown. I’m fairly happy with it. Though, when I showed my mom my progress, she thought I had sewn the fabric inside out. But it’s woven cotton. Is there a right side? Not sure. But if I line most of the inside, and no one ever sees it, I’m not sure it matters all that much. So ha!

I also did not paint the upstairs “man’s” bathroom. My husband specifically went out of town for four days so I would have the house free to myself to paint merrily away without distractions. At the time, I totally forgot that had been our plan at the start of the summer!!!!!!! hahaha again. He was only mildly amused about my forgetfulness. Heh. So now my excuse is that I’m waiting for a cooler autumn day! It’s a tiny bathroom and I’d rather not paint upstairs with poor ventilation.

Since reading Better Homes and Gardens (which began when I was probably in middle school or some other young-ish age), I’ve always been on the look out for “my” bedroom. I see various color combos and types of furniture. But this one has neutral walls which I didn’t really think I liked all that much (though I would be open to changing them, and it was the perfect color of purple pillows – literally the shade of purple I have been searching for my entire life! I couldn’t believe it. My husband and I have been talking about the possibilities of moving vs. adding on to our current house. I told him either way, this was what I wanted our room to look like. I even interrupted his video game (which is un-pausible) to show him the picture. (I don’t think he really “got” it though. Heh).

In other decorating news, I’m the type of person who every so many months would rearrange my dorm room for no apparent reason. I like the little changes in life. Currently, I don’t have the time to rearrange entire rooms in my house (though I did rearrange the screened porch this spring) mainly because grading and coaching controls 9 months of my life.  In my previous school district, even though my room was not that much bigger than my current one, the furniture was much more flexible. I changed the layout each quarter. It was always refreshing for my students and me. It was never that time consuming or cumbersome either because I just told myself, today is the day I change it, no matter what! And that was that. Well after being in the same classroom for 3 years at the new district, I have had the same configuration. I really like my students to chat with partners a lot or to work in small groups. So my desk layout/seating arrangement accounted for this. In the back of my mind, I kept wondering, would it work if I moved the desks this way? I never had the time to change it during the year last year because, well, paperwork kind of explodes around my room to put it nicely. Well, this Monday, I had help and I said, we are moving the room to this new layout. And it TOTALLY works!!!!! I’m soooooo excited. I think it will be a wee bit different for students and first, but I will at least enjoy the change.

Lastly, Aug 24 was my last day at Old World Wisconsin. I truly enjoyed my time there and met the most wonderful people. I wish I could work with them forever. Honestly. Everyone is that amazing. When I got home on my second to last day, I forced my husband to take photos of me while I still had my hat on. So here are a few to share………

The bustle era is now my new favorite era. I desperately want to make a million bustle dresses!!! Why? To wear them. For fun. Because I can. 🙂

Summer finally arrived

Tags

historic clothing, summer, summer jobs

I survived my 7th yr of teaching. Somehow, I can’t believe it’s been that long. Just today while out in my studio, I found the letter that the staff at my first summer job out of college wrote to me as part of my farewell gift. They really were the best women to work for. I worked three days a week that summer: Mon, Tues, Wed. I think. I don’t know how I lucked out with that part time gig!

I thought the school year would never end especially once I found out that my husband was done teaching June 7, and I went until the 13th! Oh the agony!!!!! The last week went especially fast and I’m so impressed at how quickly I had everything graded. It was a small miracle. My room also got tidied up quickly because I had several kids take down posters and organize some other stuff for me. For some reason, I always left taking down posters to the very last minute and I hated it. No idea why. New way to overcome that hate: get other people to help. Also, I think I’m on an every other year for organizing my files. I was soooo on top of filing last year at the end when I just went on a filing mad-woman spree and somehow got all the extras and originals back into the manila folders in the cabinet — yep I’m really old school. But this year I made it through about half the stack and decided it wasn’t worth it. I chucked it all in a box and I know that if I need anything next year, it’s in that box. So it goes. (Oh Vonnegut).

I also landed my dream job this summer: costumed interpreter at Old World Wisconsin. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always ALWAYS wanted to dress up in “oldy time” clothes (as most call them) and work in historic buildings. So I figured, hey, I’m 30, have summers free and don’t have any kids; why not? Obviously my first choice for summer life is to be at WFP, but costumed interp is right up there. I interviewed back in April, was offered the position in May, and started June 18. Everyone is super friendly and I thoroughly enjoy being out in the open under the blue sky. After 9 months in a windowless, white box, I’ll take the glaring sun and feisty thunderstorms. I watch the turkeys roam about and nudge their chicks across the dirt path; I hear the lamb bleating to her mom; I’m meeting tons of people who love history and historic clothing as much as I do — it can’t get much better.

This week, we celebrate Independence Day. There is a flag raising ceremony, a parade, sing-a-longs, and other festivities. I can’t wait! It should be a swell time. Then, July is Laura Ingalls Wilder month. I volunteered to help monitor a dress up box in one of the buildings! Ha. I love that stuff.

Here is a pic of me in my clothing for my job. I work in the village which represents the 1870’s in Wisconsin. Underneath all that I wear (in this order) a chemise, corset (from Period Corsets), a petticoat,  a lobster tail bustle (my life is one more step nearer completion), another petticoat with lots of frills on the bottom, then my skirt, (and in this pic) the “apron,” and then the bodice/blouse.

Whenever I wear any historic clothing – 18th century, Regency, 1870’s – it makes me feel really feminine. I love getting dressed up and looking “put together.” The other day, I was walking back to my building (and wearing the dress from the pic) and I waved to some people and didn’t think anything of it. Then, a while later, the same people came into my building and the woman just walked right up to me, and said, “We saw you walking down the road, and I love your dress. You carry it so well. It’s very becoming.” 😀 Instant GEEK OUT! Yay thank you so much!!! It’s always wonderful when other people recognize a historic outfit. It’s turning out to be a great summer thus far!

School is almost over and I just can’t wait

Tags

home made crafts, quilted jumps, reading, school

Around the beginning of May, I begin to read books for fun again – voraciously read; devouring everything. I can read about 250 – 300 pages in five days. I love it. The problem – I still have essays to grade. Yet, I sit on the back porch in the sun content to finish my book and accomplish nothing else. This is how I functioned in the summer since I could read chapter books.

Summers were spent at the family built cottage in the Eastern end of the UP. My sister and I did not care that it was remote. We stockpiled our reading books for the summer, made frequent trips to the little library in town when we finished our own books, and then when we were old enough, started reading more adult books that belonged to my mom. Now all this reading was in between running through the woods, swimming/playing endless games on the beach, playing card/board games, putting puzzles together and playing paper dolls. The cottage was the best because it felt like a house that was actually “lived in,” unlike our city house in the Detroit area at the time which had sparse decoration and had an “everything in its place mentality.” The only time we were required to clean the cottage was before company arrived and the entire family happily pitched in to achieve a tidy house. But oh to sit around and read books.

My sister and I would have races to see who could finish books first. I remember staying up until 2 or 3 a.m. (with our door closed so the light would not bother anyone) just to finish. Whoever fell asleep first undoubtedly lost the contest because the the person usually finished the book that night.

Now when I read, that’s how I feel. I sit in my own little nest of blankets on the porch couch or if it’s warm enough, lay outside on a blanket and just plow through books. I want to hurry up and finish one book so I can immerse myself in the next. I’m usually pretty disciplined about forcing myself to get school work done first before I do anything else. But this time of year, I’m like the kids; nothing else matters but the summer.

And the worst part is my husband’s school is done THIS WEEK (June 7) and I have another two weeks!!!! I’m not done until June 12! Are you kidding me?!!!

When I’m tired of reading, I’ve been starting multiple sewing projects.

One – I turned an old t-shirt of my sister’s into a pillow. I cut across the top shoulder part of the shirt and sewed the top and arm openings closed. Then I stuffed in the pillow and top stitched along the bottom in a bright yellow embroidery thread that matched part of the design on the shirt. My sister loved it. I will make more of these!

Two – A little bit ago, I posted how I had started making my first 18th cent jacket that I wanted to hand sew. For whatever reason, I was really nervous to put the muslin mock up pattern pieces on the actual fabric I wanted so I thought, why not use some other fabric I had leftover from a petticoat. Okay great. I had about a yard and a quarter (maybe) and I laid it out on the floor. It took me a minute to lay out the pattern pieces so they all fit, but I got it!!! I was super proud of myself. So I go along dum de dum de dum and cut cut cut. And then……..I realized I never cut out the sleeve pieces!!!!!!!!!!! AH!!! Who does that?!! Seriously. I was really hoping to actually do a good job on this first jacket so it was wearable  and now I didn’t have any sleeves! Seriously. I was soooo mad at myself. But then, being the creative person that I am, I remembered seeing a picture of quilted bodices or ‘jumps’ in the Kyoto Fashion Institute book. There is a lot of speculation among groups/people as to whether or  not these are historically accurate. I honestly can’t say for sure. But can I trust this book and that there are actual garments in a well-known museum? I’d like to think so. Either way, jumps are basically a sleeveless jacket…..like a vest. According to my book, they are worn by women either under or over the stays, for warmth and/or comfort when women want to be lazy around their own house and not get entirely dressed for the day. I would like to think that a regular every day working class person would not have the time to just “lay around their house because they don’t feel like getting dressed” therefore, this garment would have been worn for warmth for them. As a result, I, too, will wear mine for warmth. Although I have not been to a ton of events (not where there is snow/cold rain), when the sun goes down at night, I get chilled. While my heavy woolen cloak is warm, my core feels drafty and I want something that is the equivalent of throwing on a comfy warm sweatshirt.

Luckily, I had some natural batting lying around and my mom got me these old muslin bed sheets that are of a pretty sturdy quality. I’m still using my brown striped fabric on the outside, adding one layer of batting, and then lining with white muslin. Here’s the other fun part of this: I’ve never really quilted before. It’s one of those things where I understand the concept, but I’ve never made a quilt (except one teeny quilt square for a colonial days project in 7th grade) so this should be fun!!! As of now, I have the batting attached to the outer fabric and the two back pieces sewn together and I have to cut out the pieces of the lining and attach them to the three sections. then I will quilt the side pieces each and the back piece, then attach the two side pieces to the one giant back piece. I think that will work. The last thing I have to figure out is how to measure the spacing to make eyelets for spiral lacing.

Striped fabric leftover from petticoat

Jacket bodice pieces minus the sleeves

Memorial Day

Tags

cat, rain, yard

We were going to go to Chocolate Fest in Burlington, WI because it’s just down the road. I love chocolate and really wanted to ride the ferris wheel. However, it is raining. And it looks like it is going to rain all day today. The cat is hunkered down in the kitchen and she almost went out onto the porch until she heard the rain again. On top of that, yesterday she experienced her 4 worst sounds: tin foil, trash bags being opened, rain, and fireworks. So yeah. Today is not much better. Poor kitty.

I purchased new flowers to replace the asters that died. It makes me soooo mad that the cheap Walmart flowers died. Maybe it was too cold; maybe the dirt in the boxes was too moist – who knows. Menard’s was having a good sale so I got 4 osteospermum – two in the darker purple/magenta shown in the photo and two in a lighter white-ish purple. I got two impatiens – I think mine are the “celebration bright salmon” variety. The pansies have gotten really big and the catnip is also taking over. I was going to get koleus because that did well in the heat last year, but they only had king sized ones and that would look weird with my other shorter plants and there wasn’t really room for something that big.

Two more weeks of school (official classes) and then exams. It should be a blast. My kids have to write one more essay which we will somehow crank out in two weeks. We’re writing informative news articles and if they don’t get their interviews done, they won’t be able to write. *sigh* Let’s hope they actual take my warnings to heart and accomplish their work.

Easter Break

Tags

flowers

It’s almost over. That’s okay I suppose. The best part about being home for a week is that I can go outside any time I want and check on the “flower growing progress.” Yep, because I have nothing better to do with my time, I walk to each spot where the flowers are planted and look for how much they’ve grown in 24 hours. So far, these are the flowers that have just poked through: daffodils, irises, crocuses, narcissus, tulips, poppies. The only ones with blooms are the bright yellow crocuses. I really want to see my tulips the most because they are bright red. A giant rock separates the tulips from the crocuses so on either side will be a fun contrast!

Midwinter blahs

It’s halfway through everything. This post is not very thoughtful because it’s a Sunday, and while I got 12 hours of sleep last night, I’m still mentally out of it. The week takes everything out of me. I’m at school until 6:30 or 7 most nights coaching. Then I come home dog-tired (kitty-tired?), and attempt to throw dinner together. Luckily, the husband has been in charge of Saturday night dinners lately because my forensic tournaments last longer than his………even on the days when we went to the same tournament, he was still home almost an hour before I was. What gives?

Anyway, only three more tournaments left (two weekends plus state) and then spring will be here. Now that I’ve written as much as I have, I am not really sure what I intended to say in the first place. Well, here is a boring update: it was sunny today. I saw some birds. I think something large-ish is living under our porch because there are tracks and a little muddy spot where something (cat-sized-ish) seems to be sliding on its belly to go under the porch. Awesome. Can’t wait for those babies to be born. We have a decent amount of snow, but not as much as my parents up north. The front yard piles are at least five feet tall. We still eat oatmeal every Sunday. Grading gets done. I’m reading five nonfiction books; more on those later. I love juice. My plants are all growing and green. I wish it were summer. The end.

Question for English teachers

Two things.

First, I’m officially moved in to my art studio. Can I just say that having a “room of my own” is the best thing ever? I love living with my husband; I really do. It’s everything I ever wanted in a relationship, but the ability to step outside, walk a few yards to my studio, and sit down and create whatever inspires me at that moment is a beautiful thing! It took several weekends to move all the “crafty items” over, but even the hubby loves the new, less cluttered corners/closets of our house. 🙂 Never cleaning up a craft in progress is wonderful.

Secondly, this is more of a question for middle/high school English teachers out there. How much do you emphasize annotations? Do you force your kids to annotate everything they read? If so, why? If so, do you assess their annotations and constantly show them good models so they improve? If so, is this your personal philosophy or one pushed by your department, school, or district? If you don’t have your kids annotate, why is that? Currently, my philosophy is a little in flux. I believe one thing. My husband, also a high school English teacher, believes something different. I guess I’m just trying to survey people from outside the Midwest to see what others use in their classroom. I really want to serve my students the best I can and prepare them for the real world. Thanks for providing input!

“Beast” Grading

Sometimes, I tend to pick up my kids lingo/slang. A few years “beast” was one of them. I’m a fan of words and how definitions change and I’m intrigued each year when new words become slang. So one day a few years ago, one of my students commented, “Wow Mrs. H – You are beast at grading!!” meaning I was really fast and super duper awesome at it. Why, thank you for your compliment dear student.

This weekend, I kept thinking about my student’s compliment. I made it my goal to grade 76 essays. Most of these essays were 3 – 6 pages in length. I almost made it. For as goal oriented as I am, I’m also good at prioritizing and assessing my work load when I realize my goal is a bit lofty. After the cat caught a bird (her first one ever (she’s an indoor cat too)) and after a lengthy phone conversation with my mother, obviously making it through all 76 papers was not a realistic goal. Yet, I really enjoy reading my students writing and giving them feedback to help them improve their writing. While I did not make any progress on any of my own personal household tasks (cleaning/organizing), I reveled in completing an entire section’s essays in time for class at 9:30 this morning. And I was happy to hear again, “Wow you are beast at grading!! I can’t believe you read all these this weekend!”