This slice is part of the Slice of Life on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24. I’m slicing on as many Tuesdays as I can. I hope you’ll join me.
I first tried this format here, originally from Ethical ELA: A True or False List Poem . . . There are some things that are true, there are some things that are false, and you’ll never really know!
Today I
accidentally cried a lot threw 92 starfish into the ocean one by one wore a t-shirt that said “When I’m not sad or mad, I’m ok.” wrote 3 slices of life laughed at two terrible pictures of myself flooded a classroom with sink water said the word butt to first and second graders at least 20 times got armloads of gifts drank 104 ounces of water walked 10,793 steps took a picture with one of my students from my first year teaching found out my high school social studies teacher died this week watched 3 episodes of ER with my daughter taught second-grade
This slice is part of the Slice of Life on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24. I’m slicing on Tuesdays. I hope you’ll join me
I want to tell you about this little boy today.
He was trying to explain why he was going to throw away his art project, how his picture had gotten ruined. As he explained it to his teacher, his face got shakier, his eyes filled with tears. He had accidentally pushed someone, the crumpling of his paper was the retaliation. He was convinced that there was nothing left to do but throw the paper away.
I tried to see what was wrong with his picture, but his face was more crumpled than the page.
His teacher listened intently and then said,
“It sounds like this is really upsetting for you. I can help you figure this out. Why don’t you go put your stuff on your desk and then –
I can help you with this. It will be okay.”
He gave his picture to his teacher turned to walk back into his classroom, nodding and sniffing, tried to pull himself together.
His teacher and I spun so kids couldn’t see our faces Both pointing to our own eyes, filled with tears now tried to pull ourselves together too.
“I don’t know if I can do this teaching thing afterall,” I said.
I mean, how will my heart take it?
She nodded her head and we looked at the barely crumpled picture for a moment.
“The picture is fine though, right?” I asked
She gave it a once over, nodded, flattened the page a little extra, took a deep breath and walked into her classroom where I know she helped one crumpled boy
This slice is part of the Slice of Life on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24. I’m slicing on Tuesdays. I hope you’ll join me
I want to make a point, or at least an analogy so I close my eyes what story could I tell from today from 10 years ago from second grade?
Or rather what story could I share because I have plenty to tell that email that conversation that canceled meeting
Today we cried about a drink carrier it was the one from our first coffees in our first home
Endings are beginnings and all that jazz so why do I hear The Doors This is the end Beautiful Friend The end?
In other news, I watched a Kindergarten class cheer for a friend after he read good Job! they said we love you! and I thought to myself wow kids really get how to take care of each other
This slice is part of the Slice of Life on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24. I’m slicing on Tuesdays. I hope you’ll join me!
Are You Supposed to Like, Write?
wait are you supposed to write when you’re like angry? I forget sometimes weird, since it’s been so many times, asking for you to read between the lines
should I speak frankly? or wait until I’m less cranky? like if I feel I don’t know like betrayed (not the affair charade) being played while others watch the masquerade there’s disquiet should I be quiet?
should I button my lips wait for the bag of tricks to pass? what if like the person who wronged me reads what I write about them? then they’d know what they like did what I condemn what then?
This slice is part of the Slice of Life on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24. I’m slicing on Tuesdays. I hope you’ll join me!
This morning my son went to get us Starbucks’s. I mean, he drove. I paid. That’s how things work around here. “Should I order on my phone or yours?” He said, like some sort of master negotiator
When he got back he was sorry to be late he had seen a bear cross the street, tried to follow it a bit, lost sight as it sauntered into the trees by the bus stop.
“I guess. . . Make a lot of noise when you go to the bus,” I said because we are not afraid of bears here I mean, it’s not like a man was running towards the bus stop
I left my Starbucks refresher for later carried my dry laundry upstairs thought about how I should have taken the dog’s barks more seriously last night instead of telling him okay, yelling at him to chill out about the neighbor’s cat oops
After my shower I proudly started to put my clothes away in the closet like I imagine real grown-ups do in the morning before school before school! I imagine those real grown-ups might not scream for their 17 year old when a creepy crawly bazillion leg bug crawls out of the pants they are about to fold But I did I screamed then told myself I can do this I can do this I can do this I don’t need a husband Who probably wouldn’t have helped anyway I can catch this thing in something something something I need something I turned to find that something something something there must be something on my dresser
I’m not a bug squasher, not a bug killer I’m more catch and release less murder
But when I turned back around the bug was gone – he will never know how nice I was going to be but now, I thought… I’ll write it, even though I don’t want to That bug had to be somewhere in my bed I yelled for my son to come help me again “Bring a vacuum or we have to sell our house!”
I tried to carefully shake the blankets my dog looked at me confused my cat ran under the bed my son warned me to be careful! you might touch it! it’s going to jump out of there! I didn’t get far in my quest it was time to go to school
So later I will decide Strip the bed, vacuum, look in every cranny or sleep on the couch?
Lucky for me help must be on the way because after school I found not the bug but the boys’ wanted poster they must have made before catching the bus HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BUG? LAST SEEN: MOM’S PANTS So although it may be true that apparently we are more scared of bugs than bears here we also know how to laugh in the face of fear and make clever wanted posters
It’s April, and I’ve been writing poetry …all month! Thanks to Ethical ELA for all the great prompts and inspirations!
This slice is part of the Slice of Life on Two Writing Teachers! #sol24. I’m slicing on Tuesdays. I hope you’ll join me!
Today, I’m using the inspiration from EthicalELA: A True or False List Poem . . . There are some things that are true, there are some things that are false, and you’ll never really know!
My Day: True or False?
Today I
laughed with kindergarteners when they called me Grandma ate my veggies and mac and cheese lunch at 2:00 fell off a chair and didn’t report it walked my dog twice in the sunshine was betrayed by someone who knows who they are cried with teachers about things that don’t make sense made big decisions I’ll soon regret spoke my truth but too softly for anyone to hear drank 3 cups of coffee before noon planned arguments and poetry back to back wrote a diamante about service leadership told someone off who will never forget or forgive took a nap on the couch, my book dropped to the floor baked brownies for tomorrow, a day off of school
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. 🙂
When I’d wake up on Easter morning, I’d search for jellybeans around the house black jelly beans on the black piano keys, that sort of thing we weren’t church people not that there’s anything wrong with that some of my favorite people go to church
I loved the mini Cadbury eggs with the crunchy candy shell best and the little carton of egg-shaped gum we must have had Easter dinners somewhere I have vague vegetarian memories of watching people eating ham we weren’t ham people
I will never understand eating ham or lamb especially on Easter here, let’s celebrate life, joy, hope, the spring by killing this baby animal it just doesn’t make sense even though some of my favorite people eat baby animals
One year my daughter lost her tooth the night before Easter The Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny had to come the same night They left a note together and I was left wondering what other magical visitors could come together I guess the Tooth Fairy could meet anyone else since teeth can fall out any day
Some people use Easter as a time to practice forgiveness but I have learned that not everything needs to be forgiven so I will focus on rebirth and hope and just a little bit of vegan chocolate
On a Thought 