Smile number one: My freshmen English classes meet the last two hours of the day. On Fridays, it's almost impossible to get them to focus on much of anything. The last two weeks we have worked on "fun" writing assignments. The first was a version of a pass-back story. I gave them three totally unrelated words and they had to use them in a story. Each member in the group of four wrote for one minute. When the timer beeped, they passed the story on to the next person in the group. These turned out pretty silly, but the kids had fun and they were writing. Last week we wrote ABC stories. The stories were 26 lines long and each line started with a letter of the alphabet. I couldn't believe how hard they worked on these! They giggled. They wrote. They shared. I love it!
Smile number two: This smile started with a post Chloe and I wrote this summer. One of the elementary teachers in our district tweeted that she liked Chloe's writing and said she thought their dog could blog also. Well, over the weekend she let me know that her son and his dog had started a blog.
I just love that when this young man is bored he and his dog write a blog post. It's really cute. You should check it out.
Smile number three comes from my "Reading Machine". Josh is home from Afghanistan and in college. I keep track of him through Facebook. Yesterday, another former student posted on Facebook that she was struggling to get back into free reading and asked for book recommendations. My reading machine told her about John Green books and offered to let her borrow his copies. From non-reader to book recommender. How can I not smile about that?
Writing this post has made me smile all over again. What made you smile this week?
Love that you find the positives in the chaos!
ReplyDeleteAll of these smiles were delightful. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI'm smiling from your writing, Deb. All stories fun, but the one from the dogs, hilarious, so like Chloe. I do like hearing about the writing & reading too, of course. It can't get any better, can it? My smile today comes from a former student coming to visit from out of town. I haven't seen her in probably ten years. I am excited! Thanks, Deb, for the smile.
ReplyDeleteYour post made me smile, Deb! Your connection to your kids, and theirs to you (because they know a good thing when they've had the good fortune to experience it through your teaching) makes this teacher smile. And thanks for sharing the blog!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love your fun Friday writing ideas. Friday afternoons can be tough, but what creative ways you've used to keep the work going! Putting on my cat burglar outfit to steal these ideas.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your smiles.
Smile: Nonreader to book recommender.
ReplyDeleteSmile: Your writing.
Smile: My little guy bringing my tea out to the car this morning because he didn't want me to forget it!
Smiling... I love your list. Today it was hard to smile with this head cold but I was smiling a lot on Sunday and Monday. That's a post coming tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea, Deb.
What strikes me in your post is the way each of these reasons to smile is like a happiness boomerang. You sent goodness out into the world and in each case it bred more goodness and came back to you! I have a feeling this is just the beginning of a school year filled with happiness boomerangs.
ReplyDeleteYour post made me smile!
ReplyDeleteYour enthusiasm and writing make me smile. But the thing that made me smile most this week was our hummingbirds (which I sliced about). I love their antics and will miss them when they head south. Thanks for sharing your smiles.
ReplyDeleteYour entry had me smiling and thinking about what made me smile - 3 preschool boys running pell mell down the hallway. It will take a while for school rules to sink in but it did make a few staff smile to themselves.
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