It's Not All Flowers and Sausages: Let's Pause for Positivity, Shall We?

It's Not All Flowers and Sausages: Let's Pause for Positivity, Shall We?

Read the blog above and I dare you not to cry. As teachers we all have days, weeks, months that we wish that we were doing something else. Then, just when we feel there is no hope. BLAM! A student steps up and shows that he is learning; he does pay attention; and he does care about other people. Today as Ms. K read me D's bell work, I knew that this was one of those moments. His use of personification was fantastic. It was just a small thing, but wonderful nonetheless.

Slice of Life Challenge - Day 4

The alarm goes off and I struggle to find the snooze button.  It is still going off because I am too blurry-eyed to shut it off.  Finally, silence and I drift back to sleep.  I awake again to the horrendous noise of the alarm.  This time my cat is curled up next to me purring away.  I smile and find the snooze button.  I pet the cat as I contemplate crawling out from under the heating blanket (a wonderful invention).  "It will be cold," my brain is telling me, but I know that I must get up.  I pet the cat and think ahead to my day.  I turn off the alarm and brave the cold, long enough to turn the heat up.  My cat follows me around in hopes of being feed before I take a shower.  No luck!  I have a routine and must stick to it.  The morning is a calm time before the busyness of the school day proceeds.  Besides the getting up at the crack of dawn, it is one of my favorite times of day.

Slice of Life Challenge - Day 3

I just got the phone with a wonderful friend (and teacher) who lives in Tennessee near Nashville.  She teaches seventh grade reading.  She has the best stories about her students.  Today she told me about M.  He came up to her desk today and asked her if she had a lint brush.  She said yes.  M replied that she had alot of hairs on her arms and shirt.  She told him that she has a dog which launched him into a story about his dog.  He had a lint brush at one time too.  Then he was grounded from his dog and the use of the lint brush because he "made the dog naked" (his words).  My question was:  How do you use a lint brush to completely take the hair off of a dog?  She told me that she didn't want to ask.  The story made me think.  I don't have any stories about my students as of late.  I have been so worried about getting them reading for the state writing test that we have stopped taking the the time to tell stories to each other before we write.  We just focus on the prompt, not the stories of their lives.  That is something that I really need to think about.

Slice of Life Challenge - Day 2: I Can Do This!

Writing everyday is going to be a big challenge.  My students tell me all the time that they don't have anything to write about, and I now I feel like them.  What to write about?  Disney World!!! How could I have not of thought that sooner.  I am in the process of planning my second trip to Disney ever.  I took the first a few years ago and it was the best vacation ever.  No, I don't have children, yet.  I always wanted to go to Disney World, but I grew up very poor and food on the table was more important than summer vacations.  Because of the encouragement of my parents and their sacrifices, I graduated high school and then later college. Eight years later, I have a wonderful job as a middle school literacy coach and am able to afford my own vacations.  So here I am again planning an all-out trip to Disney.  If I am going to go, I am not going to nickel and dime it.  I don't know when I will get to go back.  It has taken three years to get my husband to agree to go back.  He is not a fan of crowds.  Today I began looking at places to stay.  I want to stay on property for the extra Magic Hours.  Last time, we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and it was AMAZING!  This time I am looking at the Wilderness Lodge or the Polynesian.  Difficult choices!

 (Slice of Life Challenge sponsered by Two Writing Teachers http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com)

Slice of Life - Day 1

Begin and end in laughter....
I have a really long drive to work every morning - an hour and a half.  Sometimes that is good a thing because I am able to plan my day and organize in my head what needs to be completed first.  On other days, it is a real pain because I am tired by the time I get to work.  Today was a pain.  I was tired and ready to go home halfway to work.  I wasn't excited to see the teachers I work with or my students.  Five minutes before I pull into the parking lot at school, I hear a story on the radio that makes me laugh out loud.  Suddenly I am ready for the day.  Just like that.  I feel rejuvenated and ready to teach my students and work with my teachers.  The day was pretty typical with just a few downturns.  However, at the end, all the sixth and seventh grade teachers were standing in the hall talking and laughing.  I feel that we have really bonded as a team this year, which makes us all stronger teachers because we have multiple people we can rely on in the tough times and laugh with in the good times.  I want to start and end every day with laughter.  It does a body good.