Slice of Life: A Visit, A Storm, and Some Inspiration

I headed into the city just as the snow was starting to fall.  It was beautiful and the melting drops on the windshield made the world magical, a precursor of what was to come...

A Visit
I was visiting with my parents and after catching up on the events of the day, my mother turned on the television to find out the latest on the storm. To do this, she didn't get up and walk over to turn on the T.V. and change the channel, as we had done for almost 40 years in this kitchen. She picked up the remote and pointed it at the flat screen television.  Little things like this are still slightly unsettling, they remind me that although, I am sitting in this kitchen, in my chair, in the same place I have always sat, that although I could so easily be seventeen years old again, I am not. Time feels fluid and magical in this place.

A Storm
Something else has not changed much since my childhood, the storm reports on the local stations. The first "storm central" report comes in from Scituate, where my maternal grandfather's grandmother built a house in the early1800's. The house was sold in the mid-1970s, but we all still feel connected to place (not the place, but place).  I asked my parents what they thought it was like for those early ancestors who built their house on the beach. Erosion and shifting shore fronts have brought the water closer to the old front door of the house, but even then, a storm at high tide must have been terrifying. This conversation contributes to the fluid and magical nature of the visit. Scituate has always been "storm central" and today's nor'easter looks to be a good one.

Some Inspiration
After listening to the forecast, I shared with my parents that I wished I could travel back to the 1800's to see the lone house on the beach, take in it's surroundings, and understand what it was like to live in that place at that time.  I would also like to experience a winter storm, knowing of course that this very solid house survived all that mother nature wrought, including the Blizzard of '78.  This comment started us on a conversation about place and time travel. My parents began to name and talk about places they would like to see (or see again).  Those of you who read the blog regularly know that my father has a brain injury and that each visit with him is it's own gift.  My father liked this conversation and could contribute. We talked about Cap a l'Aigle, a place north of Quebec where my father's family visited. I wish I could see my father and his siblings running around as teens in the 1940's.   

We went on to talk about being able to travel back to events in family history or to specific places.  I'd like to do both.  My father and I recounted a story about his parents that would have been fun to witness. My father's mother dressed up like a man to play a prank on the new young seminarian studying with her father (an Anglican priest), apparently he appreciated the humor, since they later married! From the stories my father has told, she had a great sense of humor all through her life.

Here I am, almost midnight, reflecting on the events of the day. Here's my thought: I can't time travel, but I can travel back in time - I can talk with my family.

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The folks at Two Writing Teachers host a Slice of Life writing challenge. If you want to participate, you can link up at the Slice of Life Story Post or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, go here.

Slice of Life: Bringing a Bit of Fun to a Faculty Meeting

My principal is gracious enough to give me about 45 minutes of a faculty meeting at twice a year. I may be brought in on other occasions to roll out district-wide professional development, but these other times are mine to use the way I want and the way I think they will best benefit the faculty and build collaborative bridges. I am grateful for this time.

On occasion (more often than not), these 45 minutes finish up a faculty meeting.  There have even been the meetings where last minute items are included in the agenda and my time is shortened and delayed.  Here you must understand that the teachers have spent a good part of the day teaching and have now been in a meeting for an hour and a half (with a ten minute break). They are tired and full of information, whatever I bring has to be good and engaging.

Knowing all this, I am lying in bed last evening thinking of how I can bring a bit of fun to the faculty meeting. Aha! I have this brilliant idea! (Confidence is important when one flies in the face of convention.) 

I head off to school with a few extra things in my work bag.

Fast forward seven hours.

It's 2:45.

Time to present!

I have my media cart ready to go: 

projector is on, Web pages are opened, and the speakers are up.

I slip out into the hallway 

as the previous agenda item conversation wraps up.

The principal segues into my time and asks, "Is Jen here?"

My friend clicks play on the YouTube video.

The Golden Globes theme music fills the room.

I walk back into the room wearing a full-length, velvet gown along with long leather gloves (my grandmother's), clasping a manila envelop and waving to an imaginary crowd.

Yep. 

The audience, I mean the faculty was speechless, 

when they were not laughing hysterically.

The fancy gloves didn't let me control my track pad, so I couldn't turn down my music, which is something I stated that real award presenters didn't have to contend with...

I proceeded to feign nervousness, proclaim excitement, and, when I dropped the envelop while opening it, to compare myself to Jennifer Lawrence (explaining that I was thankful there were no stairs in this room). 

I opened the envelop, pulled out the sheet, and stated, "The winner of the best audience of the year is...you!"

The rest of the presentation moved along normally, 

fancy gown and all.

The veteran teachers in the room took it in stride. As for the student teachers and new members to the staff, I think I made quite an impression.

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The folks at Two Writing Teachers host a Slice of Life writing challenge. If you want to participate, you can link up at the Slice of Life Story Post or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, go here.

Slice of Life: Feeling a bit bitter

This is not a nice thing to admit, I realize, but what is a Slice of Life post, if not honest?

I am feeling bitter because I came home from work today to be greeted by my college-age daughter thusly, "I re-read The Book Thief today. It was so good!  I can't wait to see the movie now. I know I will cry."

My daughter is home on break.  In fact, both my college-age children are home on break.  This means returning to a house that has been heavily lived in during my eight hour absence.  They generally do their dishes and are pretty good about cleaning up, but there are still signs: a squinched pillow where someone lay reading on the couch; unfolded blankets that warmed bodies in our cool house; pans, drying in the dish rack, that held freshly scrambled eggs; and, jackets, from outings, over every chair.

I was ready to return to work this week and have had a wonderful two days, but there is this little part of me that is a bit bitter that my two children are carrying on in the same vein of our vacation.  I would love to sit down and reread The Book Thief!

I'm really only a bit bitter though, because I have had two really fun days back at work and I missed that part of my life.  Besides, if every day was like vacation, would I still appreciate it?

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Every Tuesday, Stacey hosts Slice of Life at the blog, Two Writing Teachers. If you want to participate, you can link up at the Slice of Life Story Post or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, go here.

Slice of Life: The things I love about Christmas

There are obvious things that I love about Christmas, such as:

reading the family favorites;

finding a new wrapping paper;

baking and decorating cookies - 

especially gingerbread men;

(and eating them)

 finding the perfect tree as a family...

...and decorating it;

walking through the greenhouse to find a poinsettia;

 hanging lights, both inside and outside the house;

 spending time in Crate and Barrel;

 bringing special items down from the attic;

and, listening to favorite cds.

~BUT~

What I love most about Christmas is the thing I can't capture in a photograph.  I love the thankfulness that I feel.  I am thankful for being surrounded by family and friends. I am thankful for being able to buy gifts for people.  I am thankful for the good food I am eating. I am thankful for the gifts I receive. I am thankful for the traditions that make Christmas the gift that it is. 

Whatever your family tradition is on December 25th, I send best wishes for a wonder-filled, tradition-filled, food-filled, and family-filled day. 

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Every Tuesday, Stacey hosts Slice of Life at the blog, Two Writing Teachers. If you want to participate, you can link up at the Slice of Life Story Post or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, go here.

Slice of Life: On Perfecting a Craft

What I have appreciated most about participating in the Slice of Life Writing Challenge is the opportunity to play with and ponder themes, ideas and experiences each week.  I sometimes start thinking about my Tuesday slice as soon as I have posted the last one! Seriously, I do sometimes have an experience in my library on a Thursday or Friday, which experience sometimes gathers momentum and energy over the weekend, and then, it is suddenly Monday and I know what it is I want to write about.

Case in point:

Friday, December 13th.

I was working with my 5th and 2nd grade students.  They are in a wonderfully messy stage of the Mock Caldecott unit. I say, "wonderfully messy" because that's the way it feels and that's the reality.  It is this way, partly because I am trying new things and trying new things can be messy, but this kind of mess is always wonderful because it is about learning new things, for both the students and me. 

The 5th graders are creating book trailers for the Mock Caldecott books.  I tried to put too much into one lesson (per usual) and by the third 5th grade class on Friday morning, I had perfected my explanation of the activity (earlier lessons contained too many assumptions that lead to gaps in understanding) as well as slowed down the pace.  In this experience, the third time was the charm, but all three classes were still wonderfully messy.

During the afternoon, the second graders donned their Mock Caldecott Committee hats and got to work reading and evaluating books. After the first 2nd grade class,  I realized the language was too much of a reach and was not as clear as I hoped.  I quickly revised the lesson to provide more modeling. These students were incredibly patient and worked hard. Another wonderfully messy experience.

Fast forward to Sunday. 

I am out shoveling three inches of heavy, wet slush (this is redundant, but I will leave it in for emphasis to help you can understand my pain, back pain that is). I am shoveling slush - heavy and wet by definition -  while looking back at last week and forward to this week.

I was playing with the idea that teaching is a craft and not a profession.  I first heard this at a faculty meeting about eight years ago.  A young teacher was arguing his case for thinking about ourselves as craftsmen. As a new teacher, I don't think I could appreciate his passion. Today, in my tenth year of teaching, I lean more heavily in this direction when thinking about my experience. I often leave work thinking about how teaching is a life-long learning experience, about how each day I have learned something new, both with and from my students.

I will say that I have chosen the finest and best profession (teaching), but I also know that each day I am working at perfecting my craft as a teacher.  Each day is driven by questions, like: "How can my students learn "x?" "How can I best help my students learn "y?" New understandings bring about adjustments throughout the day, class to class, and from week to week we are growing and learning together.

Yesterday was such a day. 

With four classes back-to-back, I hit two more stumbling blocks in my Mock Caldecott rubric.  

Stumbling block one:
The first graders had never seen a rubric.  Not only did I need to help clarify the language, I also need to find language and strategies for explaining rubrics, demonstrating how each row should have a check mark in each column, drawing my finger across the page to demonstrate.  

Stumbling block two:
Even though we have spent a few weeks crafting and practicing using the Mock Caldecott Criteria, it was too big a leap to go to print.  This lesson ladder was missing a few too many rungs.  In this midst of the lesson breakdown, I drew faces to help clarify, somewhat, average, above average and extraordinary.  These seemed to help.  

I apologized for making it more confusing than I intended. Some students were fine, others needed help, but no students got frustrated, to their credit. Meanwhile, they'll be back after vacation and I'll have a new rubric. We'll start fresh-ish!

I am thankful that there is the space within this profession to perfect my craft, I hope I never stop learning how to be a better teacher and learner.
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Every Tuesday, Stacey hosts Slice of Life at the blog, Two Writing Teachers. If you want to participate, you can link up at the Slice of Life Story Post or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, go here.

Slice of Life 2013: Why I Write

write~write~write

Yesterday was the National Day on Writing.  People were Tweeting our why they write and using the hashtags #write2connect #dayonwriting.

I Tweeted this:

Writing seemed to be the theme this week.  On Saturday, Jarrett Krosoczka talked about writing during his presentation at the Rhode Island Book Festival.  When he talked about his need to write because it is something he enjoys, I could completely relate. I love writing. I enjoy the process - from being inspired with an idea to drafting - to countless edits.  I am happy every step of the way.

I didn't say that I was good at it or that it came easily   When Jarrett Krosoczka reminded his audience of young readers and writers that writing also takes work -- many adults in the audience, including myself, were nodding their heads in agreement. It was also a great reminder for this reader/writer! I want to become a better writer, so I will persevere!

Why do I write?

I really don't know.  I write because I must. I have always been a writer. (Haven't we all? Picture drawers of the universe unite!)

I have been journaling since I was ten.  The early entries were mainly a recounting of the events in my day, but even at the age of ten, I was starting to reflect on those events and identify my emotions as they related to those events.

I write because words and phrases banter about in my head as if asking for attention. I love playing with language.  A phrase or word or idea will persistently filter through my thoughts.   

I write because I need to reflect. Writing helps me process and understand events and experiences in my personal and professional life.  Writing about these things gives me a sense of completion.  I will put aside the myriad tasks awaiting me to write.  The reflection gives me peace.  The blog posts that were started and never finished because of time constraints make me feel forlorn, as if I have lost something.

I write to connect to others. Writing allows me to share these events and experiences with others. My blogs, letters, notes, emails, texts, etc. connect me with friends, family, colleagues and parents.

I write to leave a record. I am not sure anyone else needs to read this record though! Here's a diary entry from around age 12.

That's right, the field trip to Where's Boston cost eighty cents, 

 I was doing chores and Christmas could not come too soon.

Clearly I was prescient, I knew that being asked to turn the handle on the water faucet was a sign of things to come.

Why do I write?  I write to reflect.

Taking another cue from Jarrett Krosoczka, I will make the rest of this post a marriage of words and pictures, although my talent leans toward images captured with my camera as opposed to ones created with my pen.

I write to reflect on the learning happening in my library. 

I write to reflect on the books I read.

I write to reflect on the things I see.

I write to reflect on moments I witness.

I write to reflect on personal events and experiences.

Off to college!

Climbing Jefferson

Why do I write?  

I write because it makes me happy.  

I write because it makes me feel complete.  

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Every Tuesday, Ruth and Stacey, host Slice of Life at their blog, Two Writing Teachers. If you want to participate, you can link up at their Slice of Life Story Post on Tuesdays or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. 

For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, go here.