Pamela Schloesser Canepa's Blog, page 58
August 11, 2018
Weekend Coffee Share, Back to School for Teachers
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Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at eclecticali.wordpress.com! Teachers are back at work, so that has been my life this week. I crashed early every night, sometimes on the couch. I even skipped yoga Weds. night, but at least I got in 20 minutes on the Gazelle last night.
In addition to teaching English Language Arts this school year, I will teach one elective class of 7th and 8th grade Journalism. It will be an introductory class. I have a few ideas, such as showing clips of newscasts and having students detect any bias in the reporter, as well as, overtime, having them produce a newsletter. Most students did not get this class by choice, so it will be my challenge to keep them interested, I suppose. I will be teaching more Gifted students in my Language Arts classes as well, and I think that will be interesting. In fact, I will likely take another course on teaching Gifted students this fall.
Along with what I am teaching, there are the extra things they want us to do. A blogger wrote about this phenomenon at jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com. He urges teachers to not work beyond contract time (4:25 each day). Others responded to him that our CAST (teacher performance rubric) actually consists of all the extra things that one has to work beyond contract time to fulfill. Being a member of a professional learning community, committees, etc. are some of the ways a teacher works beyond their “teaching” day. Staying within contract time for some means bringing more work home. It also means not participating in some of these committees or extracurricular activities. I have volunteered for one or two things so far and am being asked to do more. I’ve said “I don’t think I can,” or simply “No.” I have to really think before taking on anymore. Taking on nothing can mean a lower teacher eval score, which means, when that test score (VAM) number for the last 3 years comes from the state, it could even lower my teacher evaluation more. This VAM number consists of a mysterious high level formula that I don’t think many of our brightest Math teachers even understand.
I love inspiring young people, but I hate the politics of this job. This is why I stay in the Union. Case in point: this one week of teacher planning is sooooo overwhelming, I have not even written a thing this week. This is the first writing I have done. I imagine it will be like this for a few weeks, though I’ll try to participate in a flash fiction challenge. So, in some way, a teacher’s right to say no to taking on one more club, committee, or responsibility needs to be protected by SOMEONE! I constantly seek balance. I’ve already said yes to a few things, and I’m making it a point to reach out to new teachers and make their transition smoother.
I have received some devotions books from fellow blogger, Rick Christensen at https://discoveringandsharinggrace.com/, and they are delightful! They are all about Gentle Witnessing, which is something I am trying to do more. Not just keeping to myself, I want to share my strengths with those it may help. Right now, my strength is that I have taught for 18 years under 6 different principals with 5 different schedule cofigurations. I can be of help to a brand new teacher. Two years ago, an emotional storm in my life and family made me what I feel to be the weakest link in my school for a period of months. I still did my job, but I was a shell of what I actually could be. I plan to do much better this year, but again, I need to balance it and rest while at home, write when I am moved, give time to my family and faith community, and have fun with friends and the boyfriend. Sunday I plan to go to church and afterward, see a movie with my son, since he is off. Balance. I will try!
Please visit https://discoveringandsharinggrace.com/ and read a little of it. If the message resonates with you, follow his blog and/or check out his devotionals!
Bloggers, feel free to join and share in the Weekend Coffee Share conversation at Weekend Coffee Share 8/10/18
August 5, 2018
Side Character Sunday. The Brother.
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He’s young, innocent, and sensitive. Until he drowns that innocence and sensitivity. Tabitha’s brother becomes a plot point in the novel, Detours in Time and a good bit of the character development in Detours in Time and its sequel, Undercurrents in Time. Why does he keep running?
In Detours in Time, Tabitha finds out some truths about her brother during time travel to the future. After all, an internet search in 1997 was not so detailed and not even thought of by most people. If someone disappeared from your life, you called the cops. If they were over eighteen, you got the drill: There’s not much we can do if he doesn’t want to come home.
Would you let a discovery from the future change the way you deal with a family member? It’s probably an easy question. Read Detours in Time, a sci-fi novel packed with moral dilemmas, sticky situations, and decisions made in the future that affect our present.
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Read Undercurrents in Time to continue the story. Come for the curiosity, stay for the characters. Both books available in Kindle or paperback and also in Kindle Unlimited. You may find both books here: Detours in Time Series on Amazon
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August 2, 2018
The Scene. #FFfAW #flashfiction
Thank you, Yinglan for the photo prompt!
The Scene, (c) 2018 by Pamela Schloesser Canepa
“No, young lady, you must move to the right an inch. Like so.”
The woman kindly obeys.
“So, I’m just looking down admiringly, right?” The other man, Yung, inquires.
“Yes. At her shoes, or feet. Whichever.”
The young woman, Clara, looks around her, then shudders.
Yung looks at his watch. “Soon.”
“Nice work, stay still. Everything should be just as I saw. ”
Yung could not stop blinking, yet he didn’t want to miss a thing. Was this man, this stranger, the soothsayer he claimed to be? He showed up and claimed Yung’s wife was in danger.
“Now, Clara, on the count of three, kneel down.”
Quietly, she watched him mouth 3, 2, 1…then knelt as a shotgun blast from the street rang through the quiet store.
The bullet hit the glass case behind Clara. Papers told of an assassination attempt on the political actress and her husband. Samuel knew it was just a random drive-by. No one could question Samuel. He disappeared somewhere in Europe the next day.
~174 words
**The challenge is to take a photo prompt and respond with a flash fiction story of 100-150 words, +/- 25 words. Please visit and follow https://flashfictionforaspiringwriter... to receive the weekly photo prompt and/or view other flash fiction responses!
July 31, 2018
Exclusive Interview on Tabitha from the Detours in Time Series
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I have a guest post today on the RLF blog! I’ll be giving some background on Tabitha, a main character in the Detours in Time books. It’s a little different, actually. I’ll answer questions about her, and she’ll answer questions about me. (Why does she think I created her? Just one example). It was a lot of fun to do! Please visit the link below, like it, share it, etc.
Tabitha’s Character Background
The website rlfblog.com stands for Romance Lives Forever blog. While I don’t classify Detours in Time as romance, there is a sweet romance involved when two friends learn things about each other during time travel, a unique bonding experience. Detours in Time is classified as Sci-fi, time travel that comments on where society may be headed, but in the process, comments on love and the importance of family. Detours in Time and its sequel, Undercurrents in Time are both available at Amazon.com.
Thank you for visiting my blog and the rlfblog. I think you’ll enjoy what you see.
July 28, 2018
#WeekendCoffeeShare, Recouping from Vacation
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Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclectic Alli
Coffee is a must today! I’ve been quite sluggish for the last week. You see, my son and I traveled to Rhode Island for five days in mid-July to see my dad. It was beautiful there! I’ll be honest, my dad is no dottering old man. He works full-time at age 74, attends many community functions, and holds a position of leadership in his church. He also lives a very healthy, active lifestyle despite having had three heart attacks.
Dad’s active lifestyle was witnessed firsthand by my son and me. I mean, Dad had things planned for almost every day we were there. He rents an apartment very near the beach in R.I. We walked from there to the beach many times. The weather was heavenly. Even on days he called humid, I was pretty comfortable, as it always seemed to be at least 10 degrees lower than it would be in Florida. Our activities ranged from walking to the “Clam Shack” for clam chowder, to the beach, walking on the famous and gorgeous “Cliff Walk” that was about 4 miles one afternoon, and walking to the town of Newport the next day. He took us on a ferry to tour lighthouses on the bay and took us sailing with his friend who owns a sailboat.
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This is where I got to see his stubborn spirit that has likely been around since youth. He has had to be self-reliant all his life, as his family grew up poor. Having many siblings meant his parents had to send him to a farm to work in the summers. He entered the Navy in his twenties, and I guess his love for the sea never left him. His friend also sails several times a week, and they are quite the pair, fearless old men with sea legs. 
July 24, 2018
Escape Hatch. #FridayFictioneers
PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson
Have you ever wanted to get away? Your stepdad is too bullish, your mom never comes home, your family just hates you…
Our neighbor, Mr. Stevenson was in our house cleaning the carpet. He told me to look out at his roof. “When you see a bluebird on the windowsill, jump to that roof and slide down. There will be a truck below, no, wait…you will slide into a magical jungle underneath.”
“You’re full of it,” I said, heading out of the room to play video games in the basement.
He shrugged. “How do you think I keep on smiling?”
~100 words
Find the weekly prompt, instructions, and other prompt entries at: Friday Fictioneers, 7/20/18
July 19, 2018
Vacation Wind-down. #poetry
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Sunset at Middletown, Easton Beach, R.I.
A haiku
A sunset completes the circle,
Dusk til dawn, beginning to end.
All so the journey can start again.
(c) Pamela Schloesser Canepa, 2018
July 14, 2018
No Two are the Same.
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Middletown, Rhode Island sunrise.
The air is cool and the birds are waking up, singing their happiest tune. They flitter from rooftop to rooftop.
Slowly, the tip of the bright, round orb appears. A fully dressed, perfect twenty-something couple walks, then stops in front of the hotel next to my Dad’s apartment. They probably had just gone out for coffee and are staying somewhere along this tourist strip. Luckily, they got quiet.
My son and I are here for four days, staying with my dad in his small, minimalist apartment in a tourist area that is just a walk from the beach. He took us on a sailboat yesterday. Minus 20 minutes of queasiness , it was beautiful and awesome. Add to that the fact that I met today’s goal: waking up to see a strange sunrise. It is not just new, for every sunrise is new. It is strange, as it is occurring in a place I’ve never been and a spot where I’ve never sat before. Sure, I’ve been to RI, but I missed the sunrise, and I certainly never sat on this stoop before!
I can’t tell you this sunrise is better than those back home, since I usually drive to the beach for sunrise. It adds an element of color and vastness you just don’t see surrounded by buildings. However, in this island/inlet area, the beach near us is in the direction of the South. So what do you get? A totally different sunrise experience, and that is just what I wanted.
Every sunrise is unique to its area, like its own fingerprint, in a sense. This leads in to one of my bucket list goals: to observe the sunrise in 50 different cities. Before today, I had achieved maybe 4 cities. (Yeah, I came about this goal in the last two years). I’m happy to say I achieved this leg of the goal, and I can’t wait to see what’s next!
July 11, 2018
In and Out of Sync. #FFfAW #FlashFiction
Photo credit @wildverbs
Jody would not take his young eyes off of the sky. Birds were flying in perfect sync.
“Birds are very intelligent,” Jody said, squinting. He was quite a prodigy himself. “I don’t know how they learn to fly so perfectly in sync with each other.”
“Amazing, huh?” I chuckled.
Just then, one of them squawked. Severals others called back. “They’re talking to each other,” Jody cried excitedly.
Speechless, I stared at the sky.
“He said there’s a fire. The leader, he said….”
From the east there appeared a dark column of smoke. Did Jody actually see that before me, or was he right about these darn birds?
“We have to go back, Jody. The birds will be alright.”
“I know,” he replied with his head down, turning with me to head home.
~131 words
Visit Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers for more responses and to view the rules for the weekly writing challenge!
July 9, 2018
The Detours in Time Sequel is here!
Undercurrents in Time
You can read Undercurrents in Time in Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, or paperback.
So far there are three reviews on Goodreads, averaging 4.6. Your reviews are greatly appreciated!
-Pamela
