This slice is part of the 17th annual Slice of Life Story Challenge on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24 I’m slicing every day this month, for the 11th year! Wahoo!!! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
I was so inspired by Fran’s Relax slice, and I’ve been trying different versions on my own. But, it’s hard! Today I read a lot of people’s March Slice of Life wrap up slices, and I thought … what if I did a wrap up Relax slice? It might seem depressing … but the cool thing is that I’m still standing! Here’s my try, from my month of slices: Relax. It’s March (Soon Enough, It Will Be April)
Relax. It’s March. Things are going to be bad. You will realize you have been wearing the tag on your shoe in public. It will make you laugh, and write. You will be angry about things you can’t quite publish. You will know you will never be as unf***withable as your friend was. Noticing things all month will become an issue. There won’t be any paper towels or plastic garbage bags at your airbnb and you will sob saying goodbye to your daughter. You will continue to parent teenagers. An honor, for sure, but also so tiring being a punching bag. You will go to Home Goods and realize that death is just around the corner, and you will not practice your therapist’s advice in order to pause that catastrophic anxiety. The SATs will come and go. Your son will curse at his computer screen while practicing. This will make you feel, once again, like a bad mom. Your kids will roll their eyes at you. A lot. Spring break will end, and all the poetry you write will not stop school from coming in like a lion. Even your dog will be embarrassed by you, although he is an old man, not a teenager. The world of education will continue to go mad, citing research that the powerful cherry pick. Meanwhile, you will go in and out of classrooms finding joy but not realizing you should have been paying attention to how the teachers took lunch count. It will warm your heart to hear your cat play, but she will be alone without her cat brothers which will break your heart. People will be scared to voice their opinions, and you will feel like a storm is coming. You will worry that more things will be thrown out with the bath water. Your dog will get sick which you won’t write about, because ew, gross. You will try to remember that it won’t be winter forever but anxiety will take hold as you wait for a meeting. You will try to spend your energy thinking about little joyful things. You will realize almost nobody can be trusted, and that fumbling through new things is in your future. A glass will get stuck in your garbage disposal. You will lose faith, but you will always have poetry, which will help you march on. Undappled won’t be the word you want it to be. There will be too many questions in your head, and you will search for answers. You will be reminded of betrayal, as if you need to be reminded. Your filter will disintegrate, and you will stop watching your face, but your connections will just keep growing. You will be proud of your kids, even when you have to use google translate. The Easter Bunny won’t leave jelly beans on the piano, but there will be a scavenger hunt for the teenagers, and then there will be a quiet Sunday afternoon. Soon enough, it will be April.
This slice is part of the 17th annual Slice of Life Story Challenge on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24 I’m slicing every day this month, for the 11th year! Wahoo!!! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Connecting laptops zoom, zoom, zoom breathing in and out in and out in and out in and out taking notes with colored marker writing presentation notes and quotes that really make you think, like when the presenter answered,
The rubric is very Specific How do I explain this? It’s generalized. You can look at the other ones if you want to — But it’s generic So if you need to, you can just explain it to the students
Wait, what?
There’s so much to laugh about good thing you can round it out with some crying
No worries though there are colored markers! and also friends books knitting and a baby visit!
So I guess, all-in-all, even though I may roll my eyes at a rubric that is very specifically generic I get to roll my eyes in good company and at the end of the day, it is mostly about Connecting
This slice is part of the 17th annual Slice of Life Story Challenge on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24 I’m slicing every day this month, for the 11th year! Wahoo!!! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Calm Down
the months I knew for sure my friend was going to die but didn’t know my husband was screwing my kids’ teacher a song kept coming on my shuffle, trying to get me to pay attention to my instincts
I would sob on the way home from visiting my dying friend
Breathe It’ll be okay
later I found out how true the song actually was
so it seems pretty dramatic that work is making me sing that same song I’m rolling my eyes at myself here
nobody’s dying (besides all of us at some point) I’m not even married anymore
just put on, put on, put on your best shoes… and do it with a smile so that no one knows it’s put on, put on, put on
so I should just be able to
breathe it’ll be okay
I already know the sting of betrayal so maybe that is why dignity matters to me truth is important to me and I find it hard to back down from my instincts since I said I’d never doubt them again
hold on to everything you know to be true don’t let the wolves get the best of you breathe
This slice is part of the 17th annual Slice of Life Story Challenge on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24 I’m slicing every day this month, for the 11th year! Wahoo!!! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
I’m trying to be Still. But, my teacher brain got turned to max and I can’t really dial it down.
I don’t mean to be dramatic, but I’ve got to get organized I tell myself this every few minutes before remembering that I have no idea what I’m organizing for
Who knows where I’ll be who I’ll be what I’ll be how I’ll be but, still. I look at everything with my teacher eyes. I took a mini plastic magnifying glass off of a soap dispenser and kept it. Just in case I need a mini plastic magnifying glass in my classroom.
Still. I need to be still. I don’t know who I’m collecting things for. Speaking of things I don’t know – I should probably reread every teaching book I’ve read over the last 7 years with a new lens. I’m calling this lens, helping myself.
Can I be my own coach? To try, I will need to listen to myself stand by myself question myself advocate for myself stretch myself grow myself give myself grace
(And if you see me talking to myself, you’ll know why…)
I still have time Months actually 4 full months Still – Once the teacher dial has been dialed up, it’s really quite hard to dial it down and be still.
This slice is part of the 17th annual Slice of Life Story Challenge on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24 I’m slicing every day this month, for the 11th year! Wahoo!!! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
March is going out like a lion this year and I’m not talking about the weather
Two weeks ago someone asked me What’s your weather? and I said, it feels like a storm is brewing.
So maybe my new job should be fortune teller My crystal ball tells you whether your life will be this or that
Today at TJ Maxx we saw a card you are the teacher the world needs it said and we had to decide whether to laugh or cry
Whether your weather is outside or in lamb or lion we can only choose to March on
This slice is part of the 17th annual Slice of Life Story Challenge on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24 I’m slicing every day this month, for the 11th year! Wahoo!!! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
6-word Saturday goes quickly, thankful for Sunday
Haiku Chore filled Saturday Clean house, cold dog walk, Target Mind full of unknowns
Limerick There once was a mid career teacher Who wondered what decisions would reach her So much had been discussed She didn’t know what to trust Since trust was no longer her best feature
Rispetto Friday night, Saturday on the horizon Expectations for accomplishments, no less! Then Saturday dawns, reality flies in Do only priorities – no extra stress! It’s the weekend, you know you deserve to chill If you don’t take time to rest, you’ll soon get ill Vacuum, laundry? Sure. But, big projects can wait You need to rest, and wonder about your fate
Naani I wander the book aisle Stare at the titles Wonder Which books will I read to my class next year?
This slice is part of the 17th annual Slice of Life Story Challenge on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24 I’m slicing every day this month, for the 11th year! Wahoo!!! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
I am thinking about my first year I taught second-grade in an old school building that looked like it was from a picture book
On the morning of the first day, I straightened pencil boxes one more time on the desks I had placed precisely I took a picture of the busses lined up outside, right before the kids got off I knew so little about second-grade Didn’t know what I didn’t know about teaching, kids, instructional strategies. . . the paper cutter (That year, I would go on to cut my own shirt more than one time on the paper cutter)
I wish I remembered how I learned their names What books we read The moment I realized they were mine.
Maybe it was when I typed their names on my first class list when the last student filed in and we had our first morning meeting the first time I said “my class,” to explain “I didn’t do that with my class yet.” “My class had extra recess.” “Oh, you know my class!” But sometime after I got the call that I had a job and months before I sobbed on the last day of school, those were my second-graders
I know, I know in a school – they are all Our kids I know this – I have hundreds of kids in my schools that are Ours and I love them
And, when you share a classroom with kids every day, know what math they are ready for next, which kids to put in which small group, who needs extra reminders or reassurances, or a special whiteboard marker what book to hand them from your library what they did over the weekend, their hopes and dreams and trials it’s okay if you think my kids
My first year my kids were chatty, sure – (I’d soon find out that most of my classes were chatty – the one constant being me. . . ) my kids were funny sweet hard-working good sports — watching me fumble through my first year
This slice is part of the 17th annual Slice of Life Story Challenge on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24 I’m slicing every day this month, for the 11th year! Wahoo!!! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
I was in fifth-grade the year I got headaches every day couldn’t get my homework done still couldn’t spell or do my math facts quickly but, I could read! I read Stephen King for my book report my teacher didn’t believe me Called me to his desk, covered the title on my project and raised his eyebrows, saying “What was your book called again?” “The Eyes of the Dragon” I said He looked skeptical
I think that’s the year I learned that trust and respect are two-way streets or should be Oh, and that some people are jerks
I remember his name – That teacher who didn’t Know me Didn’t believe I had headaches Didn’t believe I couldn’t concentrate on my test with his radio on (Can you imagine?) Didn’t believe I could read that book I remember his name, but I won’t name him
I will give him the benefit of the doubt and of time
Maybe he was trying his best Maybe he was having a hard year Maybe he was someone’s favorite teacher
He certainly taught me a lot about teaching – the what not to do
Plus, it’s easy to give grace to a jerk if they are probably already gone from this world… Fifth-grade was a long, long time ago.
This slice is part of the 17th annual Slice of Life Story Challenge on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24 I’m slicing every day this month, for the 11th year! Wahoo!!! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
My friend gave me one of those mini printers and this weekend I played with it, trying the roll of sticker paper it has.
Did you hear me? I can make stickers! Of anything!
Here’s one I made of my dog:
Right away I started thinking about ways I could use it at school. I am sure there are ways I could use it as a coach, but I keep thinking about ways I’d use it back in the classroom. Imagine making conferring artifacts – quick pictures of anchor charts, notes we took together, or even a graphic organizer template. Maybe I could print pictures of student work to add to a small display. Have you seen those mini art galleries? I could use it to label things, of course. I could even make a quick positive note home and stick it to a student’s backpack! I feel like the possibilities are endless.
In my personal life, I am using it to print out funny memes and quotes and add them to a notebook. What is it that makes making a sticker, even with torn edges so special and fun?
I could start to print out funny things and stick them on my kids’ snacks. Or funny reminders stuck to random places.
There’s something very important that you need to know if you are on the fence about getting yourself a mini printer with sticker paper. Listen carefully. You might not realize this, but, if you get a text or email that makes you angry, it actually becomes kind of cute printed out all tiny.
On a Thought 