Monthly Archives: March 2019

#sol19 March 21 A Slice of Shoes

Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfePart of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers March Slice a Day Challenge!
I’m slicing every day this month. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

 

A Tale of 2 Shoes 

Yesterday I wore my newish tan 
sneakers
"sneaks" my dad used to call them
"Do you have your sneaks?"

My new sneaks are comfortable
and soft
and quiet

"You are so quiet!" someone said
as I walked down the hall. 
This is not something I am usually told. 
Quiet is something I'm still working on. 

Today I wore my newish black 
boots
ankle boots, everyone has them now
Good for when I'm tired of regular boots, and winter

My new boots are comfortable
and rattly 
not quiet

I hear them click and bounce
as I walk in the hallway
This is not the pleasant sound my elementary teachers made
when they clicked down the hall with their pretty heels.

#sol19 March 20 #findtheNOPE

Slice of Life

Slice of LIfePart of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers March Slice a Day Challenge!
I’m slicing every day this month. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

 

Every school day this year, I’ve posted a video about the joy of the day. These #findthejoy videos have been such a blessing to me because, what you focus on grows and I’m focusing on joy. (You can see my videos on my twitter feed!)

On the other hand, I occasionally want a different video series, #findtheNOPE

Today’s installment of #findtheNOPE. . . 

I accidentally ate the rest of the Scandinavian Swimmers candy from Trader Joes, even though I’ve been trying to avoid sugar. #findtheNOPE 

I had to come to a screeching halt on the highway today to avoid hitting 3 deer today. #findtheNOPE

I bought a really fun Bob Ross pen to help me remember “No mistakes just happy accidents” but the pen is so heavy, I probably will never write with it. #findtheNOPE

I keep forgetting how I really need to go to the grocery store, and then when I remember, I’m too tired to go to the grocery store. #findtheNOPE

My house is a disaster, the laundry fills the upstairs hallway, there’s no way I’ll catch up in one weekend. #findtheNOPE

I have writing to do but the dog is barking at the window and I have to go pick up my son from his play practice.  #findtheNOPE

#findtheNOPE

 

#sol19 March 19 A Slice of a Right Now Lesson

poetry, Reflections on coaching, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfePart of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers March Slice a Day Challenge!
I’m slicing every day this month. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

 

I got to write with kids today. I love being invited in as a guest slicer. It’s become a little tradition for me to show kids a “Right now” slice. (Last year’s is here.)

We brainstormed “ing” words, filling the whiteboard.

“Don’t judge my spelling yet. This is a brainstorm,” I told them.

I showed them how you can complete any “ing” thought with something that makes sense for you. Sometimes you have to cheat the phrasing a little, but they are all possible.

They tried it, while I challenged myself to fill the brainstormed list with complete thoughts.

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We came back together to talk about revision. “You could go through your work and circle ones that seem to go together.”

We found a theme in . mine: I’m tired. This isn’t shocking to me. 

“Maybe you should add ‘wishing for coffee.’ one of the boys said.

I love writing with kids.

Below, my revised shorter “Right Now I Am” Slice.

Right Now I Am. . . 
falling asleep at my desk
starving for sleep
running out of energy
dying to go to bed early
living day by day
waiting for time to sleep
aging more rapidly than I want
wailing when I'm annoyed - have I mentioned that I'm tired?
talking too much
doing too much
sleeping too little
Right now I am tired

#sol19 March 18 A little slice of 27 years (Or, a love poem)

Family, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfePart of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers March Slice a Day Challenge!
I’m slicing every day this month. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

27 years

Hey! 
I watched my husband perform improv tonight
like the old days of 
drama class
where we met, did acting exercises
- and fell in love, you know
That was 27 years ago

27 years.

Hey!
One group bantered about sweaters tonight
like the sweater he wore
that first Thursday
we met, talked face to face,
did acting exercises
(It was before devices)

27 years. 

Hey! 
I watched my husband perform improv tonight
like 27 years ago,
he's still a good
actor - funny and cute
just with some grey hairs
lucky me, 27 years

27 years

#sol19 March 17 A slice of Jason Reynolds

Family, Reflections on coaching, Reflections on teaching

Slice of LIfePart of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers March Slice a Day Challenge!
I’m slicing every day this month. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

My 12 year old is so impressed that I got to hear Jason Reynolds speak at Teacher’s College.

“Ghost!” he proclaims

And I tell him how it was amazing to hear the author talk about where his books came from, his story, his family and friends. I mean, H isn’t a big fan of reading, but he did love Ghost.

I want to tell him about how Jason Reynold didn’t read either as a kid, and about how none of the books his teachers gave him were mirrors. “Why would I want to have a relationship with literature if these books don’t want to have a relationship with me?” he had asked a church full of teachers. And then he told us how he later had realized that he didn’t hate reading, he hated being bored.  I want to tell my son that doesn’t like reading that Jason Reynolds said that the greatest gift to give is yourself.

I think I’m going to need my notes for this sharing.

“But, did you see him?” My 9 year old asks for the second time.

“Well, I heard him present.” I explain. “I was in the back of the church.”

“So, you saw him,”  he says, “from the back of the church.”

“Well… ” I started. “Actually…We were on our way back from the bathroom, back to our seats when who should walk right by? Jason Reynolds.”

“Did you say hello?”

“I mean, Jason Reynolds, mom.”

I have some explaining to do. “I didn’t want to bother him as he was getting ready to start his presentation. He was walking and talking with someone, making sure things were ready to go. I wanted to respect that.”

The boys shake their heads, disappointed.

Mr. Thought says, “I get it.”

And then I admit, for the sake of authentic learning and full transparency, “It did take every ounce of my self control not to reach out and touch his shoulder though.”

“What?!” everyone asks.

“I mean,  Jason Reynolds.” I tell them.

Mr. Thought raises his eyebrows.

I just keep talking about how powerful it was to hear him speak. I start talking about Queen Latifah and rap in the eighties. “He told us this is a history lesson we need to teach our kids – and not in February.”

I explain how rap music saved Jason Reynolds, and how he talked about Hamilton and rap: “It hurts my feelings when I hear all these people when they say how brilliant Hamilton is. I mean, it is brilliant. But we’ve been saying that for 30 years.” 

My Hamilton loving kids look at me, and I think, “Yep. I’m going to need my notes.”

 

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#sol19 March 16 A Slice of #TCRWP

Reflections on coaching, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfePart of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers March Slice a Day Challenge!
I’m slicing every day this month. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

TCRWP Saturday Reunion 

You sip your seltzer water at the end of the day
wondering how you would ever pick just one slice

Your notebook is full and messy
your finger still hurts a little – why did you press that flair pen so hard?

Your brain is full
with Jason Reynolds, Eric Hand, Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth, Cornelius Minor, Marc A. Brackett

You flip through your notes
remember the day
and hope to blog about it later.

 

 

 

 

#sol19 March 15 A Slice of a Conversation

Family, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfePart of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers March Slice a Day Challenge!
I’m slicing every day this month. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

 

Last night I told H that I  needed to pack, and I wouldn’t be home when he was done with his day of school and drama today. I’m going to the TCRWP Saturday Reunion this weekend with a few of my friends.

“Wait. Who are you traveling with?” He asked.

“Kris and Krista and Mardi” I said, smiling. I love teasing him about how his teachers last year and this year are my good friends.

“That’s all?” he deadpanned. “You’re just going with all of my teachers? Well, I shouldn’t come up at ALL.”

I laughed and told him I’d need to slice about that.

He yelled, “No!” and then said, “Fine. You can.”

 

 

#sol19 March 14 Mini Slices of a Mega Day

Family, Reflections on coaching, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfePart of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers March Slice a Day Challenge!
I’m slicing every day this month. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

 

Mini Slices of a Mega Day

My alarm was set for 5:00. But I wake up with a start at 4:45.

My dreams were just as busy as my night had been, and my day is about to be. This week, I can’t even get a little rest time when I sleep, I guess.

I head downstairs, poor my coffee and I’m in front of the same google docs, notebooks, post it notes and books that I was working on before I went to bed 5 hours ago.

**

I’m in front of 4 kids and 25 interns, a few more teachers, and look, there’s the Media and Communications Manager with his camera too. Teaching always has an audience, but this is an audience.

I have the lesson plan, and I’ve already explained to everyone that learning is messy, that learning labs are vulnerable places. But now I have to actually be vulnerable and messy. 

I look up to welcome the kids and I zoom in on them.  They are nervous too, being in front of all these people.

“This is weird, right?” I say and then we begin and I forget (mostly) about all the other grown ups.

**

We are back from the classroom, the interns are reflecting on the lab they just participated in. I know that interns are good at reflecting, but I wonder what they will have to say.

As we write in our journals, I hear the kids in the hallway. I think the melody of kids moving around a hallway is comforting.

We open up the discussion.
“The kids were sharing and talking…they were so thankful to have us there…” 
“You don’t know what you can do until you do it…” 
“Refreshing to do a mini lesson with different kids…” 
” I was being vulnerable with the students…” 
“I had the lesson plan, but it’s not a script. I don’t have to say everything from the plan…” 
“This was a confidence booster…” 
“We learn so much from our peers…” 

By the time the interns are talking about the power of co-teaching and how wonderful it was to share the teaching point with kids, my paper is full of their comments, and I am feeling emotional about these new educators about to graduate and impact the lives of children in their own classrooms.

***

I’m in front of another 4 kids, this time I’m teaching 2 and then turning the lesson over to an intern who will mirror my lesson for her 2 kids.  These kids are fourth graders, and they had to walk into a room full of about 35 adults, take a seat and get a strategy lesson on vocabulary. I mean, could I have done that when I was 10? I don’t know.

They give each other high fives when I ask them to read their books, and one looks at me slyly and says, “Are we teaching teachers?”

“You are teaching teachers!” I say. “We are all learning something today!”

I look up and notice my friend is videotaping me with her phone.

I guess I forgot to tell her I didn’t want to be filmed. Oh well!

“You are in the last part of 4th grade, can you believe it?” I say.

Before I can go on to tell them that this means they are reading so many books, and the more books your read, the more times you might come to a word you don’t know, one boy interrupts.

“No we aren’t!” he says. “We have 60 days left.”

***

I’m exhausted. But I have to run to the grocery store (before I go home, and do my laundry and pack for Teacher’s College, and make dinner, and record my #findthejoy video and slice.)

I pull into a parking spot, and get out of the car. I’m so excited that it’s sunny and warm! I don’t even need my jacket! I grab my keys and my phone and head in to the store. I walk in to the store, happy to not be loaded down by winter accouterments.

I’m almost done when I realize that my purse is still in the van.

***

I’m home, about to start dinner. We are trying to eat really healthy this week. After all, it’s almost spring and we just had spring break full of car snacks and too much sitting. Even my 12 year old is packing salads and tofu for lunch.

The girls from next door are on my porch,  with the girl scout cookies we ordered last month.

“Thank you!” I say, and I joke. “Maybe this can be my dinner!”

I take the cookies inside and the family goes wild.

“Why did you buy 2 boxes of thin mints?”

“How are we not going to eat these?”

“Can I just have one?”

“This is going to be really hard.”

We put the cookies in the chest freezer, and I think we’ve already forgotten about them.

***

#sol19 March 13 A Slice of Hope

Reflections on coaching, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfePart of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers March Slice a Day Challenge!
I’m slicing every day this month. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

I really hope that a cluttered desk just means I’m creative and smart. 

IMG_1001

books
folders
cut up progressions
sticky note drafts
sticky note trash
piles and piles of sticky notes, don’t ask
flair pens
pens without flair

highlighter pencils
highlighter sharpies
and some regular highlighters too

scissors, tape
pieces of text
teaching points
books
water
and for some reason, a kid’s slipper

gum
a crumb
two mice
a lamp

and that’s just the part you can see.

I really hope this just means I’m creative and smart.

#sol19 March 12 A Slice of Before That

Family, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfePart of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers March Slice a Day Challenge!
I’m slicing every day this month. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

 

I’m writing now.
Before that, I was getting children to sleep, finally.
Before that, I was trying to keep my eyes open as the boys read and solved “one more” riddle.
Before that, I was trying to keep my eyes open as the boys read and solved “one more” riddle.
Before that, I was trying to keep my eyes open as the boys read and solved “one more” riddle.
Before that, I was trying to keep my eyes open as the boys read and solved “one more” riddle.
Before that, I agreed that we could solve one more riddle.
Before that, I agreed to solve some riddles.
Before that, I agreed to buy a riddle book for the kindle.
Before that, I said, “It’s really bed time.”
Before that, I said, “It’s bed time.”
Before that, we looked at their baby albums to cheer us up.
Before that, the game we tried didn’t really work out.
Before that, we were going to play a card game, but only had 50 cards.
Before that, I was disappointing the boys, “No, we aren’t watching TV.”
Before that, we drove my daughter to play practice.
Before that, we finished dinner and said goodbye to Mr. Thought.
Before that, I made dinner and finally called the kids away from their screens.
Before that, I let the boys get away with watching random you-tubes, just so I could get a little work done.
Before that, I came home and said, “Everyone has been going to bed too late. I have a lot of work to do! Tonight it’s early to bed!”