All posts by onathought

A slice of scattered; A scattered slice

Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfe

Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers. Head over there for information and links to more Slicing! 

I’ve gone back to google 3 or 4 times in the past few minutes, always with a mission: find the lunch duty schedule so I can organize the team’s recess duties… And each time I go back to it, I open a different document. It’s not that I am wasting time on pinterest here, I am opening my reading plan notes,  my conference schedule (and okay, once I opened facebook instead – but that was worthwhile, as I found this all about using bubble gum, and my partner teacher is planning a bubble gum lesson, so I believe that’s what you call kismet…) (Oh – and okay, this last time, I opened the document but then came here to write my slice…) I just have so many things to do and my mind feels scattered.

At school I’m teaching, helping students with lockers, walking around getting people where they need to go, having meetings and occasionally stopping to pee (sidebar: It’s such a good day when there’s a stall with a clean floor, clean seat AND toilet paper, don’t you think?) My planning period is late in the day, and when my meetings are over, and I finally sit at my table, my mind is still going a mile a minute, trying to prioritize the one billion things that need to get done. I begin to work, and the students are back from Phys. Ed.

After school, I take a walk to try to clear my head (and get a wee bit of exercise… more than the constant circling of tables in my box — I mean classroom.) I change my schedule, have a conversation with my instructional coach, and pack up. Home by 5:20.

Washing lunch boxes, making dinner, eating dinner, cleaning up, making lunches, going outside to see the (amazing!) double rainbow and getting the kids showered, jammied, brushed, cuddled and read to (Harry Potter 5!) take me all the way until around 9:30… which is when I start… morning letters for tomorrow, finalizing plans, checking and responding to emails… and attempting to open that google doc, or the other one.

Then I realize it’s Tuesday, and this is my slice: My brain, the second week of school. I know this work is worth it – every extra thing I do to help my students build a strong community is worth it. Every email I write to parents, every well thought out plan for my reader’s notebooks — All worth it. But this exact moment, my eyes want to close, and my brain is too scattered. So I will take the advice I know you, dear reader, are thinking while you read this: Go to bed! Get some Sleep! Then, fully rested: make a list!

What other advice do you have? How do you keep your brain from getting scattered these first weeks of school?

 

A slice of the first day

Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfe

Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers. Head over there for information and links to more Slicing! 

First Day Eve

Bookshelves ready, plants watered
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Activities planned

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Objectives written on the board (!)
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Photo booth props gatheredImage 9

Name tags strung

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Plans reviewed, teacher tosses and turns, plans reviewed again

First Day of School

Ready or not!

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What a day! A Feet hurt, busy brain, decision making,  smile laughing, locker opening day! I am looking forward to creating this new learning community with my students! At the end of a busy day, I can’t help but feel that I have the luckiest job on earth.

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A slice of Almost

#bookaday, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfe Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers. Head over there for information and links to more Slicing! 

 

I love the ocean. I love all bodies of water, but to me the ocean is the absolute. I must admit that when I’m enjoying a lake or a dam or even a bay, I’m also thinking that it is beautiful and peaceful and calm because it is almost like an ocean. I look at the ripples as the water meets the sand or dirt, and I compare them to ocean waves. I strain my ears to hear the sounds of the water, hopeful to feel the same sense of peace that I get from the sounds of the sea crashing wave after wave.

On our beach vacation last week, I took a short bike ride (all by myself! amazing!) and came to  a trail head near the marsh. The marsh has always been a beautiful piece of scenery at the beach. But the main attraction is the ocean.  As I rode down the one lane gravel path, I watched the grasses sway and wave in the wind. I thought about how this place wasn’t beautiful because it was almost an ocean. It was an ocean.

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An ocean of bright green vegetation, and birds and soft wind. This idea of “almost an ocean” played over and over in my mind as I rode. I started to list in my mind all of the things that I am almost (almost a runner, almost reading a book a day, almost vegan, almost did enough school work this summer, almost finished cleaning the house before I left, almost relaxing on my vacation).  I guess I am a marsh – almost an ocean.  I saw that ahead of me was some water, and when I got to it, I laughed. Image 7

A beach. It was peaceful, quiet aside from bird calls and breeze. I didn’t  find myself thinking about how it was almost an ocean. I didn’t try to hear the waves, or put my feet in the sand. I just stood there and breathed in the beauty.

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I wondered about my almosts.  I turned them around in my mind like the marsh beach. Not almosts anymore, but things I know I am.  I know I run,  I’m reading a ton, I eat a plant based diet, I have worked on schoolwork this summer, my house is fine. I’m relaxing. Right now!

No doubt, my deep thoughts on my bike ride were thanks to having just finished Absolutely Almost  by Lisa Graff.  Have you read this book? You should. You will fall in love with Albie, and maybe start thinking about your “almosts.”  You might find that you can use the life reminder from Lisa Graff’s Albie, “You couldn’t get where you were going without knowing where you’d been. And you couldn’t be anywhere at all without having been almost there for a while.”

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Mental pictures?

Family

My mom stopped by for coffee this morning, bringing a big bowl of freshly picked blueberries. Each of my kids had been up for awhile working on the legos they got with their allowance money last night, and the house was (mostly) quiet.

Confession: I’m not so great at legos. I love them, and I love that my kids love them, and I just haven’t gotten good at my spacial reasoning skills yet.

My mother, however, is awesome at stuff like this.  So it was Granny to the rescue when my youngest was trying to figure out what went wrong with his lego truck building. As they worked on the truck together, I sat and watched. My mom carefully put the stickers on the truck, and I was reminded of all the times she put the stickers on my toys when I was a kid, because she liked to do it and because I just couldn’t seem to get them on straight enough!

I didn’t have my phone near me, so I tried to take a mental picture of the two of them working together, my 4 year old and my mom.  Mental Pictures.  I try to stop and appreciate a lot of small moments in my life. There are so many tiny precious times with my kids and with my parents and with my friends. I’m so grateful for each moment. But my recall of these mental pictures is horrible.

People like to complain about all the picture taking parents these days do. We carry cameras or iPhones around and snap away. Sometimes I worry that I might be missing a moment because I am taking a picture. I make fun of myself because of how often I have to take my pictures off of my phone because there’s no space left. But maybe it’s nothing to complain about. I’m not escaping the moment by trying to snap a quick picture. I am trying to preserve the moment, because maybe if I have enough pictures I won’t forget all these times.

My kids are growing up, and there are no babies left in this house. Even though my youngest is only 4, I already have a hard time recalling that feeling of picking up and snuggling a baby. I know I took mental pictures and soaked up that feeling. So where did my mental pictures go? Did I forget to make a snapfish album of my mental pictures? (I guess I should hire a professional, like Jim & Pam…)

Until I figure it out, I’ll carry my phone around (or go grab it when I need it) and I will take pictures of those small moments that I want to remember.

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What about you? Do you stop and appreciate the small moments? Take mental pictures? Take so many real pictures your phone gets full too quickly?

A slice of the turning point

Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfe Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers. Head over there for information and links to more Slicing! 

Summer Turning Point

Summer starts with an exhale 
I hug my students and say goodbye
pack up my classroom
find space in and above cabinets for last minute papers, books, markers, games, dice... 
I throw files into the nearest box
I finish grades
finally
I shred papers and 
sigh as
the accumulated stress and worry knot rises 
almost ready to leave but 
staying still
waiting 
stagnant
I want the knot to
peter out
dwindle
go away
but I wonder
when will I stop feeling behind? 
(Spoiler Alert: Never) 

Summer continues with tired
and people asking me all the time
"Are you enjoying your summer? It must be so nice!" 
"All of that time!"
"I'm sure it's great to have so much time with your kids."
Time.
Yes.
It is nice.
I have time
to read 
and I relax, swim, read, and play more than I do during the school year
I write
in the middle of the day
and I parent all day long
which is (sometimes) lovely  
I feel grateful for all of this
time with my children

Summer
I wonder when the switch will happen 
Now I read curriculum books from my to-read stack
in between fiction and swimming and playmobil 
These teaching books are great
but it feels like work
I want 
to find myself planning 
joyfully for August

Around July 4 I have my first back to school nightmare
I realize how much of my to do list is still left waiting
I force myself to get things done
I plan, I print, I update and organize

Then I make myself chill out

It is a quiet surprise
when the turning point happens

I find myself creating a google doc to organize my thoughts on Reader's Workshop 
I pick up, and reread, leaf through, sticky note, and mark up my favorite teaching books 
I surround myself with inspiration: Donalyn Miller, Penny Kittle, Stephanie Harvey and Franki Sibberson 
I lie in bed and plan wonderopolis, current events, poetry responses and library book chats
I jot teaching notes on my iPhone, and email colleagues random questions and thoughts
I drive home and my mind rearranges classroom bookshelves

Summer will end with an inhale
a blank slate
there are weeks to go 
and I will not rush it
days with my kids are sweet
sometimes they all get along and play 
the weather is perfect for swimming 
there's still some summer left
It took a while for last year's exhale
but now 
I'm looking forward 

But really. 
No rush!

Fortunately, Unfortunately

Family, Pets, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfe Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers. Head over there for information and links to more Slicing! 

I am upstairs, which is new for me – sitting at my husband’s computer. I have a beautiful mountain view. It’s sunny and rainy, and I’m going to take that as a metaphor for this summer, with its ups and downs.  Most recently, just in the few days, we have had “sun” and “rain.” I have had time with my best friend who lives far away, and then had to say goodbye. My children have spent time loving it up with a litter of orphan kittens that my parents are fostering, and then yesterday they were there to watch one kitten suddenly and horribly die. I’m having a hard time today seeing the rainbow after yesterday’s rain – and trying to work through this post trauma time with my children.

Yesterday reminded me of the “Fortunately/Unfortunately” summarizing poetry we do at school – learned from Sara Holbrook (@saraholbrook) at a wonderful inservice years ago. I’m going to try my hand at this for my slice today. . . With many apologies to Sara Holbrook! I believe you first write using the words Fortunately and Unfortunately… Then you revise taking out extra words. I don’t usually do a writing exercise as a Slice of Life… but it’s an experiment! Here we go! 

A slice of Fortunately, Unfortunately. 

Monday, I wake up with plans to spend time with my old friend, running around after kids at the local park
Fortunately, everybody's bikes are all loaded up in the van
Unfortunately, my friend has to cancel 
Fortunately,  now I don't need to vacuum
Unfortunately, my house is a disaster 

Fortunately, I go work out with my friend at school
Unfortunately, one elliptical workout doesn't cure her cancer
Fortunately, it does give us time to chat, while our heart rates climb
Unfortunately, we haven't been to the weight room for months

Fortunately, we remember how to use the machines
Unfortunately, the phone rings and my husband tells me that the orphan kitten Polly died
Fortunately, I wasn't there to see the horrible death
Unfortunately, my 3 children were, and I'm not home to help them process

Fortunately, my husband is home
Unfortunately, my children are in shock mode 
Fortunately, my friend remembers that Mr. Rogers has a book on this
Unfortunately, I think it's going to take more than a book

Fortunately, there are distractions and cuddles
Unfortunately, I have a busy day away from home
Fortunately, I get time with my amazing-but-far-away best friend
Unfortunately, it will be months until I get to see her again
Fortunately, I eventually get home to calm, cozy children
Unfortunately, the morning starts with more traumatic crying
Fortunately, there are more distractions

Finally, we will start to heal, paying more attention to the sunshine, and less attention to the rain



REVISED --taking out all but the most important words. . . 

Monday 
wake up 
bikes loaded up in van
 friend cancels
no need to vacuum
 my house is a disaster 

I go work out 
with my friend 
 one elliptical doesn't cure her cancer
it does give us time
while our heart rates climb
 haven't been to the weight room for months
we remember how 
 the phone rings 
 the orphan kitten
 Polly died
I wasn't there to see
the horrible death
 my 3 children were
 I'm not home 
my husband is
 my children are in shock 
remember Mr. Rogers' book on this
 I think it's going to take more 
 than a book

There are distractions and cuddles
 I have a busy day away from home
time with amazing far away friend
 it will be months until I see her again
I get home to calm, cozy
 the morning starts with more trauma
 crying
there are more distractions

We will start to heal,
pay more attention to the sunshine
less attention to the rain

We miss you, Polly photo

A Slice of Encouragement

#nerdlution, Family, Slice of Life

Slice of LIfe Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers. Head over there for information and links to more Slicing! 

run, stop, turn around
off the path
backwards
forwards
s l o w 
    d o w n

stop.

I’m running. I’m stopping and turning and watching for my kids, who are in various places, getting behind or ahead. My youngest keeps veering off the path, or getting tired on his plasma car. This isn’t what you would call my best run ever. It’s better when my husband comes and helps to watch the kids, and walks with them when they want to go off the track and into the park. I have tried this without him before, and it was a disaster. But, it’s exercise, and I’m grateful for the beautiful (hot) morning, and the kids who agreed to come with me, to our beautiful park.

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I see a woman park her jeep, and get herself ready to run. She puts her headphones on, and does that little head tilt of readiness. I’m jealous. She’s alone! Her run will just be about her run. We cross paths often, as she runs and I stop with E, my 4 year old. Occasionally we pass when I’m actually running too. We smile at each other each time. Her smile is kind, while mine most likely looks a little like a “I-can’t-believe-I’m-trying-to-exercise-still-with-these-kids-becoming-less-and-less-cooperative” smile.

E is done. He stops his plasma car, takes off his helmet and shrugs his shoulders. “I’m hot.”  So I do some lunges while he does some 4-year old jumping jacks, and we go under a tree to do crunches (E does the cutest crunches you ever saw, with his legs down, basically a nap with some slight head movements.)

The runner approaches me, with her same kind smile. “Keep it up! You’re doing a great job.” She hands me a bottle of water, I thank her and she walks away.

My eyes are about to tear from this kindness and morale boost, but luckily I’m with my three children. E and H jump on top of me as I try to do heel touches. I stop for a drink of my gifted water, and H says, “I hope she didn’t poison the water.” I pretend to be poisoned, we all laugh and we are ready to go home.

Thank you, stranger, for the water and the encouragement. In my inconsistent and slow running life, I’ve so far been impressed by the kindness of other runners. Everyone cheers other runners on, nobody seems to care that I don’t look like a runner. Best of all, none of the encouragement I’ve gotten seems condescending to me, even though I should wear this shirt for all my runs:

8e403f615a07210ffb2b9f8c206808b3

 

 

Hot, Popcorn

Family

Slice of LIfe Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers. Head over there for information and links to more Slicing! 

It’s hot

“No, Humid.”  Mr. Thought tells me.

And late. The kids are finally in bed (how do people do summer bedtime?) in the least amount of pajamas possible. I taught them my trick for humid nights from when I was a kid: a cold wet washcloth on your face. Well, that was a mistake. I forgot about washcloth refills when they aren’t cold anymore and 4 year olds who make toys out of everything. I fall asleep as the kids fall asleep, listening to Mr. Thought read Harry Potter.

But then I wake up, and go downstairs and Mr. Thought and I make popcorn. Because what hot humid summer night is complete without some popcorn, and Netflix? It’s good popcorn too – air popped with the perfect amount of flavor. Procrastinating my own bedtime may have something to do with the air conditioning that is downstairs but not upstairs where, you know… it’s hot.

“No, Humid.”  Mr. Thought tells me.

It’s Monday! What are You Reading?

#bookaday

IMWAYR

 Visit Teach Mentor Text and Unleashing Readers to learn more about It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Nerdy Book Club for information about the Book A Day challenge.

Oh #BookADay… I’ve been rereading a lot of books on my bookshelf to my kids this past week… some are old favorites, and some are just books my 4 year old chooses.

photo 2I’m also still plugging away at The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain, which is a reread. It’s fascinating though – given to me by a friend who couldn’t say enough good things about it. I have always felt that our minds and bodies are so connected, and it is nice to read some scientific evidence by a doctor about just that. My back is still bothering me though – and I think I may need to focus just a bit more on the book.  I know that a great deal of my back pain has to do with stress.

I have Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead started too.. and I love it. I keep not reading it though- trying to save it as a little reward for after The Mindbody Prescription.

At some point this week I realized that I wasn’t being as successful at my #bookaday goal as I wanted to be. But, I also realized that I am reading every day, that the goal is to average a book a day, and that picture books count! So, that made me feel better.

I have been reading so many things that aren’t books. Not just twitter, mind you. I’ve been close reading many things. There were directions for this bag my daughter and her friends made at her birthday party:

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And this bill, for my sweet cat, Susie:

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Yikes. I know. At midnight during my daughter’s sleepover party, Susie jumped on the table and chewed on the lilies that I had put there. (Yes, I knew they were toxic, but my cats haven’t cared about the lily garden in my backyard for the past 12 years, so I distractedly thought the table would be fine for a vase of lilies that a friend brought over…) So, I had to rush Susie over to the emergency vet. She’s still there, getting IV fluids, and we are still praying that they can flush the poison out. I love this cat so much, and feel so terribly guilty.Image 1

PSA time! Don’t bring lilies into your house if you have cats! I have found out that cats who ignore lilies outside will often try to eat them inside. This has been a scary time around here – so please be careful! This poster was in the exam room at the emergency vet, and I wish I had been more vigilant!

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Today, after visiting my sweet Susie (or Suserelly as we often call her) and doing about a million other family errands, I arrived home to a wonderful package that I had forgotten was coming! So, now I am adding another book to my TBR pile!

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This was a wonderful gift from winning one of the many prizes given out during the March Slice of Life Challenge! That challenge gave me so much, and winning this book was just the icing on the cake. I’m looking forward to reading Still Writing, and paying more attention to my “Creative Life.”

Happy Reading!