Story Challenge Day 9: Signs of Spring

As a teacher, I can pretty much count on there being a day in February or March when I look at a group of kids and realize, “Oh! They’re not third graders anymore. They’re fourth graders waiting to happen.” Or, “Yesterday I was looking at fifth graders. Now I’m looking at middle schoolers.” Really. It happens in a day. They just…turn, transform, evolve.

I haven’t had that experience this year. Maybe it’s the masks. Maybe it’s the lack of interaction. Maybe it’s the sum total of all the trauma that we’ve been through. But I’ve yet to look at any of my ten groups and say, “Wow. These kids look like they’re _____ graders.”

In the meantime, I’m catching signs of growth that make my heart smile, some proverbial crocuses poking their heads up from the earth.

This week, I’ve seen my kids…

talking about how word pairs might be cousins, twins, older brothers or sisters, parents, grandparents of one another

deliberately trying craft moves for their readers – and being happy when others notice

reading other comments on a blog post, then forming their own response and incorporating others’ ideas

highlighting one another’s work, showcasing and building upon it

engaging in conversations about how this world and the people in it need to be better

And these things I will gather in a bouquet, place in a makeshift vase, set on my counter, and admire each time I pass by.

Interested in learning more about the March Slice of Life Challenge, or wanting to read more great posts? Head over to the Two Writing Teachers site!

Story Challenge Day 8: Broken Brain Blues

My thoughts are jumbly,
Tumbled around. I can’t
Pin them down, and
My brain hurts…

My hair is pulled back,
To help me think better,
And it usually works, but
My brain hurts.

I’ve scheduled and rescheduled,
Checked and re-checked,
Emailed and emailed, and
My brain HURTS.

I’ve played whack-a-mole
With all my to-do lists,
Trying to get through but
My brain HURTS!

Story Challenge Day 7: Class Assignment

My fourth graders are experimenting around with poetry. We started out by journaling how we were feeling. I joined them in the writing (and no, I didn’t get distracted this time).

Here’s what I wrote:

The green lines are the line and stanza breaks I added when I demonstrated / modeled how to think about line breaks.

Then I demonstrated my thought process for how I might choose which words go on which line. (More on that during poetry month.)

Here’s what I came up with. I’m pretty proud of it, to be honest. Prouder still of my brave students, who joined me in this exercise without reservation or fear.

3-2-22
Today
I feel strong
(confident maybe)
though
Confidence
is Knowing,
Being Sure -  
A Leap.
It’s uncomfortable,
All that leap-taking.
What do I know?
Where do I step,
Sure of my feet?
                           Where do I leap, hoping 
                           Feet
                           Body
                           Heart
                           Land safely?
Confidence,
                           Faith
Confidence,
                           Faith
Confidence,
                           Faith.

Story Challenge Day 6: School Chores

I’ve been thinking about chores lately.

Maybe it’s because the dog hair dust bunnies have officially turned into tumbleweeds down the hallway. Maybe it’s because I could take time to clean under the couch, but let’s just not go there. Maybe it’s because I know (but would rather not tell you) what’s in my junk drawer.

All of these jobs I do around the house…they’ve got me thinking about all of the tasks I do as a teacher. Some I relish and look forward to, others I dread. So, just for fun, I present to you my very official SCAT: My School Chore Analogy Table. (Rolls up sleeves) Here goes!

House ChoreSchool EquivalentNotes
Tidying upClassroom organizationAhhh…my preferred form of procrastination. Nothing shouts productivity more loudly than a tidy space.
DishesCatching up on emailsThis. I have to do this every day. Every day I sift through my piles before they get too big. Every day. Several times a day. In, out. In, out. I think they multiply in there.
LaundryLesson planningBecause any time it isn’t done, any time it’s ignored for too long, things are just not going to end well. 
VacuumingResponding to student writingYet another chore that I sometimes procrastinate, but it’s actually quite meditative. Once I get in the swing of things, time goes away and I enjoy what I do.
Cleaning the bathroomGrading papersThere’s something to be said for the kind of chore you resist with all your might, that you put off just because you dread it, and then feel like it was never that big of a deal to begin with once you’ve done it.

How about you? What school chores or house chores are your most and least favorites? Let’s hear ’em!

Interested in learning more about the March Slice of Life Challenge, or wanting to read more great posts? Head over to the Two Writing Teachers site!

Story Challenge, Day 5: There Are Worse Things

Sometimes, words are great.

Sometimes, pictures do just as well.

Today, despite the uproar and chaos that still envelop our world, I was able to carve out some moments of joy.

So I’ll just share those.

My first bike ride of the new season:

This becomes my way of commuting to work when the weather warms, and I cannot WAIT.

Homemade ramen (hot soup on a warm day? why not!):

The trick is the soft-boiled egg. I kinda live for those.

The feeling, when you go to the store, that there are finally more masks out in circulation than we’re going to need and maybe there’s some hope in that:

And lookie! Hand sanitizer a-go-go!

A brief shining moment in which I’m caught up on feedback to my students on their writing:

Too much student writing to handle. It’s…a good problem to have.

A walk in the forest with an all-too-eager doggo:

Think this’ll wear her out? Think again, my friends!

Making some new friends on said walk with doggo:

There were actually a half-dozen of these deer. I always find it interesting that both they and I freeze upon seeing one another.

And a random find that says it all (I love me a heart-shaped rock!):

I have a good friend who collects these. Can’t wait to pass it on.

Interested in learning more about the March Slice of Life Challenge, or wanting to read more great posts? Head over to the Two Writing Teachers site!

Story Challenge Day 4: More Dispatches from the Classroom

It was another good day.
Yes, I had a lesson plan.
Yes, I had objectives for the day.
Yes, we pretty much did them.
And my students, as always, brought so very much more to the table.

We discovered that when ideas stretch across multiple texts, we call those universal themes:
-Greed stinks, gives you tunnel vision
-Adults are sightless, kids can change the world (but kids BECOME grown-ups)
-People fear change

Students revealed found other moments of truth:
-if kids disagree with what their parents say, do, or believe, that can be scary
-but it’s necessary, if we want change in the world
-kids don’t really get enough credit for what they know
-orphan stories let us see kids without grown-up interference
-my “signature smiley” is actually made up of my initials

And? My very favorite moment of wisdom and cleverness from the day?
When one banana eats another, it’s called bananabalism.
If that doesn’t deserve a mic drop, I don’t know what would.

Story Challenge Day 3: Teaching Detour, Told in Real Time

From time to time, folks ask what it’s like teaching a classroom full of gifted-talented children. What does a day in your room look like? This post, I think, says it all. Where it starts, what my intentions are, and where it goes – all of it – puts what I do in a nutshell.

Right now, I sit in my classroom surrounded by a group of fifth graders who are in the midst of their own blogging adventures. It’s a happy space, this.

Here I am…here we are…

Each week, I offer a writing challenge. Kids don’t have to accept; they can continue their own projects. But most of them give it a try, because they like stretching their writing in different directions.

This week’s challenge? To write a poem or journal entry using these sentence prompts:
I know…
I don’t know…
I don’t want to know…

I figure I may as well join in on the fun. It’s important for my students to see me crafting alongside them sometimes.

Except.
My post – and my teaching – took a detour. The rest of my writing had to be put on hold until after class. Why?

Because

Kids started talking about semicolons and what they do.
So how could I resist a teaching point?
Point is,
I couldn’t.
And then I wound up demonstrating
punctuation party tricks
to a kid that asked.
Which worked pretty well
because she’s a kid who…
how can I put this?…
LOVES a comma, even
when it doesn’t belong,
so we talked about the beauty of her writing:
stark,
crisp,
clean.
We jumped in, replacing commas with periods,
cutting words like crazy,
marveling at the difference.

So back to my writing it was,
but it was time for read-aloud with The Little Prince.
The flower was pretty and vain –
just like, one student remarked,
Estella from Great Expectations,
so how could we NOT take the time to talk about
archetypes:
the witches,
the stepmothers,
the Prince Charmings,
the comic reliefs,
the stock characters of the world?

But really, back to my writing.
Right after a check-in with a student
whose vocabulary is encyclopedic
whose writing is florid and elaborate
to translate her work to simple language
just like we did this week for the
Pledge of Allegiance
or
the prologue for Canterbury Tales,
because vast and elusive language
is wonderful sometimes,
but being
clear
plain
simple
allows for depth, connection:
shows us the heart of things.

Slice of Life Challenge Day 2: Once a Lovey, Always a Lovey

I’ve been teaching a while. Twenty-seven years, in fact. And when you’ve been teaching twenty-seven years, and you keep up with some of your former students, there’s something amazing that happens.

You get to see them grow up.

You get to see them step into their lives, into the world as adults and selves in their own right.

I’ve long said that kids are presents we get to keep opening. And I think I’m right.

I think about the idea from time to time, but it really hit home for me when one of my former students, who just got her doctorate, posted the scientific article she just got published – as first author.

There’s a doctor. A teacher. An event planner. A member of a band. A painter. An interviewer of celebrities. An actor. An aspiring diplomat. A corporate officer. A photographer. A mechanical engineer. A stuntwoman.

And parents. So many of them are parents, and I get to watch, and smile, and listen to my heart crackle as I see how they are working to raise beautiful, wondrous and wonder-filled humans.

I’m good with words, but I can’t express how grateful I am that I knew all of these people when they were still little, and they were just learning about who they were and what they had to contribute to this big wide world.

And my current loveys? Where will they be in five years? In ten? In twenty?

I guess I’ll just have to keep unwrapping.

See this baby blanket? My kiddos made it for my younger son, who’s now 18. Some of them are parents now…

Slice of Life March Writing Challenge, Day 1

Here I am for year three of the March Slice of Life writing challenge.

Here I am, ready to write whatever comes my way each day. Every day.

Here I am, ready to bring myself the discipline I need to write each day. Every day.

The way I see it is this: I ask my kids to write all the time. Sometimes they feel like it, sometimes, they don’t. But they show up for me, for themselves, for the classmates – every time.

So this March, my daily writing practice is dedicated to my students, who are some of the best sports I know.

I might write some things I absolutely love.

I might write some things I’m not a great fan of.

But I’ll write, and I’ll put my work out there into the world each day.

Every day.

Here goes!