Friday Favorites

Ahhh. Friday. I can feel the weekend, it's lurking somewhere in the shadows....
In the meantime, here are my favorites from the week.

1. My seniors. (Yep. They're mine and no one else's.)
Wednesday was the last day for seniors in our district. They will graduate on Sunday and some I will probably never see again. But others will remain as one of "my kids". They'll stop to visit and fill me in on their college lives. They'll friend me on Facebook and keep in touch that way. For them, there will always be a bond.

2. Former students. I've had several visits from students in the last couple of weeks. Home from college, they stop in to visit and realize that they don't really fit in high school anymore. They come home to look for friends and some of those don't fit either. They're growing up and don't even realize it.

I've also heard from a couple of former students who graduated from college this year. It doesn't seem possible that they are now "grown-ups" with real lives. They'll be starting "real" jobs. To me, many of them are still those little seventh graders I tried to reach, or those stupid sophomore boys I love so much.

Wow. Just. Wow.

3. Great ideas at 3:00am (not the time so much, but love the idea)
My eyes popped open. The clock said 3:00. And the idea for how I want Creative Writing digital portfolios to be next year just popped into my head. It made so much sense to me. Why was this such a struggle to come up with during the day?  My genius time project today will be to sketch out what I came up with so I don't forget it all before August!

4. Yoplait Light Blackberry Yogurt. 
It's become my favorite after supper snack--or with a breakfast bar in the morning--or just because I want one.  The raspberry one is pretty awesome too!

That's all for this week. Tell me about your favorites!

Friday Favorites

This week's Friday Favorites:

1) Books in a series:  Right now I am reading UnWholly by Neal Shusterman and it reminds be how much I love a good book series. It's like coming home to family. There isn't that awkward "getting to know you phase". You can just dive right in because you know the characters and the plot.

Learning a lyric dance

2) Making students think: My freshmen are beginning to put together their genius time projects. Some want to stick with the tried and true PowerPoints or some other tried and true method to show their learning. I'm trying to get them to think outside the box. It's hard. And they would much rather have me tell them what to do. But, slowly, they will think...




3) My school "children". We are a little family in my high school. But it started with Roomie. She's called me Mom for years. But then last year, a "rumor" started that Bossman was my son...and therefore, Roomie's brother. And this year, through Twitter exchanges, I gained two more children, ArtTeach and Annoying Lil Bro.  It's silly, but it makes me laugh and helps make some long days move a little faster. Today they brought me my Mother's Day gift--a "family" photo.

It sits proudly on my desk.

Well, that's it for this week. What were your favorite things this week?

The Sounds of Silence

Join me slicing at Two Writing Teachers

Quiet conversations:

"Did you hear about those women who were rescued? I can't believe someone would do that. Keep them prisoner for so long."

"Hey, Mark, my battery lasted six years longer than it was supposed to.

"When we jumped it, we had to leave it on a long time."

"Mrs. Day, what about the mini-assignments? We never did those, and they are on our portfolio sheet."

"Now that, that took a long time."

Kids typing, birds chirping, noses sniffling.

These are the quiet sounds I am listening to this morning. So unusual for this class, which is normally loud and crazy and a great way to start the day.

I miss the energy they exude....

But they are being "productive."

Friday Favorites

I am flat out stealing this idea from Ruth. On Monday she wrote a post called "Pretend It's Friday" and she wrote about four favorite things. I love that idea. For one thing, Friday is my favorite school day and maybe my second favorite day. And so, Friday Favorites is born...

My Favorites:

1. Friday. I love Fridays. Always have. The end of week, the beginning of the weekend. Fridays in my classroom are always a little freer than, say, a Monday.  Most people are in a good mood. Really. What's not to like about a Friday?

2. Genius Time:  This semester I have been giving my freshmen genius time on Friday. They are able to read and learn about anything they want. Some of them have stayed with the same topic the whole time. Others have changed their minds and began learning about something else. Now they are starting to think about how they will show their learning to the rest of the class. I have a few sticking with the tried and true powerpoint. Quite a few want to make a movie. I don't care this first time how they share with us. I'm just glad they are excited about something!

3. The Big Bang Theory: Every Thursday night will find my husband and I in front of the TV watching The Big Bang Theory. It makes me laugh out loud every time. It also reminds me of several groups of students who are their own BBT. I often ask these kids which character they are. They always know who they are and which of their group is the Sheldon.

Little Bits of JOY

Last week was a tough one in our community. So it's been important for me to find my JOY in the last few days. I need the reminder that life is good.





1. Amidst the tears, there was laughter. Nothing made me feel better than hearing a group of students laughing and crying while sharing memories of friend. I know they were devastated, but it was good to hear them laugh. There was also laughter after school with the little giggles of a colleagues young sons, untouched by the tragedy in the high school. Happy giggles rang out from her room one afternoon after school and it just made me smile.

2. I love my husband for many reasons, but last week it was for his understanding and compassion. From the time the phone call came on Sunday afternoon, he made sure I was OK, whether it was a hug, a shared tear or taking me out to dinner one night, he made sure I was handling the situation.

3. Personal Day. I had requested the day off a couple of weeks ago so that we could open the cabin. I was beginning to wonder if it was worth taking it off. Our cabin is three hours away in they have had A LOT of snow in APRIL. Including last Monday. But the week warmed up and off we went. It was a gorgeous weekend. That itself was worthy of JOY.

4. Once we unloaded the car, I actually took off and went to the local high school. My school and the one in the town where our cabin is at are working on some collaborative projects (and believe it or not, I didn't have anything to do with it). I emailed the teacher I am working with and asked if I could visit her classroom for the afternoon (thanks again Christy for getting me thinking about this.) It was a great afternoon observing someone else and we've made some plans for next school year.

5. Grandkids came to stay Friday night. I received lots of love and hugs from them all weekend. Plus giggles were all around me.

The oldest two decided it must be time to swim, so they of course had to try it. Yes, it was cold, but they are kids after my heart. I did the same thing when I was little. How else do you learn when the lake is too cold?




We did a little golfing, threw a whole lot of rocks in the lake, cuddled, told stories, read books, sang silly songs, visited with friends, played with Chloe and Bella, grilled hot dogs, and fell asleep exhausted each night.

It was a wonderful weekend.

Successes

I've done three things a bit differently this semester. In January, I began giving my freshmen 10 minutes

every day

to read the book of their choice.  I wasn't sure how it would go. 

They hate to read.

And then, at the beginning of fourth quarter, I added a blogging challenge. I post on Sunday. Their post is due the next Sunday.

                                                                 They hate to write.

And then, I began instituting Genius Time every Friday (except for this Friday. I have to be gone. We've had a week. I was gone two days last week. We just needed to do the mainstream on Friday).

They hate to think.

You want to know something? 

I was wrong. 

They proved me wrong.

They read every day.

and they don't hate it.

(Well, not most of them)

In fact, they have read more than I thought possible. Someone asks me every day for a new book recommendation. I'm running out of ideas for some of them. And I once thought they'd never find books on their own. But you know what?  Not only are some finding them on their own, but they recommend to others. And although they don't like every book I recommend or they pick out, they give them a fair chance and have a good reason to abandon the book. I'm OK with this. Life's too short to read bad books. My students are becoming discriminating. I count this as a success.

They write every week (most of them)

and they are getting pretty good.

When we first started blogging, the posts weren't all that good. They did the minimum and that was about it. Their thinking was shallow. I thought about quitting. But I didn't. And I'm glad. I've had some say, "This post was pretty fun." There are posts that are so thoughtful I have to read them again. Some are writing twice as much as they did when I started.  I count this as a success. 

They have passions.

They are figuring out how to make movies, learning about what a grandfather endured during WWII and  concentration camps and POW's, figuring out how to write songs and what their dreams mean. Today when I told them I would be gone tomorrow and gave them the itinerary for the day, I heard this, "It's Friday. Why aren't we doing Genius Time?" I explained. They understood. But I better not take it away next week. I count this as a success.

But here's the thing. 

Would the state, would the testing count these as successes? I don't know. I have't seen test scores for my students yet. I'm not sure I want to see them. But maybe I do. An email from our principal said, "Preliminary analysis of the results are favorable for the high school. Some of the data is shockingly positive." I don't know if that means my kids, but I know the results in my classroom are positive. 

And I count that as a success.

They Never Prepare You

They never prepare you for this~
the death of a student~especially a suicide.

They never prepare you
for the silence
for the echo in the hallways
even though students walk through them

They never prepare you
for the sound of laughter being intrusive
even when it's the sound you crave the most.

They never prepare you
for the revolving door
of students
coming in just for a hug.

They never prepare you
for the rumors
and the anger
for the way teenagers grieve and
the things they expect

Thank heavens
for the boy who says
"Can I be that guy that plays happy songs?"
for the tweet
"We love you, Mrs. Day"

Because they never prepare you