Naturally, today of all days I needed to be at work a bit early – the day after the time change, the day that the temperature dipped significantly, the day that *should* have been the beginning of March Break but isn’t. And a Monday to boot. No wonder I ran out of the house with books spilling out of my bags, a half-steeped cup of tea & my jacket only partly zipped. I managed to get my fingertips around the door handle to open the car and, mercifully, got everything into the car without dropping anything. I’ll take any Monday miracles I can get, I thought as I slid into the driver’s seat – so cold! – and turned on the car. Please warm up fast, please warm up fast.
My husband drove last, so I started punching buttons to get things back to my settings: heat on, rear defrost on, radio… Whoa! Just as I was about to choose aux instead of fm – because I’m a podcast person in the mornings and Andre’s a radio person almost all the time – a voice came through the speakers.
What was this? A deep voice, quick, confident… what station were we on? It didn’t quite sound like CBC, but it didn’t not sound like CBC. I shook my head, glanced again at the console, and realized I was streaming a podcast from my phone. But what podcast? I didn’t quite recognize the voice. When I realized that somehow my phone had decided to play one of my student’s podcasts, I actually laughed out loud. He sounded so good! Here he was talking about Zen Buddhism and Japanese society and Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being – and he sounded for all the world like the real deal.
What a delight, to realize just how good the podcast was – so good, in fact, that I listened to student podcasts almost all the way to work. I’ve even downloaded a few to listen to on the way home. These kids… even in the middle of a pandemic, even when I ask them to go out of their comfort zone and try new forms, think in new ways… even then, they amaze me.
A student podcast – who would have thought? There’s a morning miracle that I can’t wait to repeat.
https://twowritingteachers.org – it’s the place to be!
Persistence and Pedagogy 
I love the pacing of this slice — the go-go-go craziness of a morning spiraling out of control, then the abrupt stop when that student’s voice catches your attention, transforming the moment entirely.
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Oh, those Mondays! I love how you placed us right there with you. I felt cold, even though it’s 80 degrees here. I’m curious about how you recorded student podcasts so that they could be played on a phone. I have ventured into this realm yet.
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Oh, the magic of Mondays and morning miracles. It sounds like you have raised the bar and they have responded. I hope your drive home was just as wonderful!
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Unexpected joy… and the moment you realized the podcast was good! I hope you shared this story with your students.
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MONDAY! Such a wild day. I love that your students are creating such good podcasts. Are they going to be made public anywhere?
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This is such a great slice, with your description of settling into the car without spilling anything and then to find you have brilliant students who do podcasts…amazing! No wonder you were thrilled!
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For the record, every day of mine starts like this! Half-zipped, half-steeped. I love these descriptions, and I understand them well. I love how you slowly tell this slice, and I have no idea where it’s going. I love how much it says to describe you as a “podcast person” and Andre as a “radio person” and how confused you were by what was going on…and then the delight! I really loved finding out that this was one of your students! How cool is that?
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