"Oh, Crandall. We Heard You Were Going to the Store. Can You See If There Are 10 or 15 Rubber Balls for an Activity We Want to Do Tomorrow Afternoon?" Um...Got Them

It took me a little while, but I found those rubber balls they wanted and, in fact, the manager at Five & Below was so impressed by my story-telling of what we're doing at CWP-Fairfield in our Young Adult Literacy Labs, he threw in an extra bag. Swear to God. Now, let's see what they're going to do with these, because I already bought a sac of potatoes, which was the first request. I also got sodas and the good man at Paradise Pizza, Andy, cut me a tremendous deal if I ordered pies through him.

Just one more week to go after today - that is hard to believe.

And yesterday, I sat down with the college essay writers to see their soon-to-be-polished drafts. Dang. I was beyond impressed by the ones I read and two of them gave me goosebumps, and then made me cry. I was so proud at what the kids put to paper. This is also an applause to Dave Wooley and Tim Huminski for the great work they are doing with the lab this year. I told them with one, "I need to present this essay right here to all the funders in the universe as to why our programs matter. It's beyond data. It's almost miraculous what this young woman wrote."

Meanwhile, in Ubuntu Academy, my fingers can't keep up enough to document all the great thinking, speaking, writing, and literacy work that is going on. William, Jessica, Brenda, and Jalen are simply stupendous together. It might easily be the most incredible learning environment I've ever witnessed. You have to be there to see the ways they get language learners with 14 different national backgrounds to work together at seeing themselves as readers, writers, and agentive leaders. I am simply amazed.

Now, with that said, I'm also exhausted. I will slide into Friday afternoon with great need for feet going up and head hitting the pillow. It's beautiful work, but orchestrating it is a great act of holding one's breath for 6 straight weeks. 

I'm getting closer to exhaling with tremendous joy that we made it once again!