Celebrating Underestimation

This has been a good week.  I could write a long list of everything I celebrate. And that's the thing I found about celebrating--the more you do it, the easier it is to find things that bring you joy. There have also been a couple of "how can I give this up?" moments, but I believe those are for reminding me I am leaving while at my best, and that's exactly how I want to do it.

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As always when teaching Fahrenheit 451 in College Prep Lit, we discuss  education. Yesterday, I started with this quote as a thinking prompt.  The conversation was fast and furious. They started with standardized testing, moved on to upper level math, class rank, grade points, and teachers. My instructional coach and I have been working on deeper discussion in this class during both semesters and this class blew me away.  And the best part is--I underestimated them :)

This is a boy-heavy class. And most of them are reading haters. They put off the "too cool for school" vibe. The girls, in general, are more serious but quiet. And there are 19 of them. Last semester I had 10.  All but two have been with me before.

I thought I would get superficial answers. I thought I would get simple answers. I thought the discussion would last about five minutes.  

Boy, did I underestimate them.

We never did get to the book.

Several kids also have Creative Writing with me the next period. They were still talking. And writing about it.

I don't know how my coach kept up with tracking discussion. When I saw her later, she was still shaking her head. During the large group part of discussion, there were 51 contributions. 51! And I had kids telling me they had things to say, but couldn't get into the discussion!  We'll figure out how to make that work next week.

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This week's DISCOVER: Never underestimate the passion of people when given the opportunity to share their voice.

#sol17 It's Coming!

-------------WINTER STORM WARNING-------------

At some point today, the snow will start. The winds will blow. The roads will be slippery. And we will go home.

The thing is, it probably won't start until later this afternoon. The warning now starts at 3:00 pm instead of noon.  But that won't stop the inevitable question:

WHEN ARE WE GETTING OUT?

Phones will be held at their sides out of my sight, computers will be open to the weather page and to one of the TV stations that post school closings. The whining will start with the first early out, "Everyone's getting out but us!"

I will again post this on my board. It answers both their questions: Will we get out early today? Will we have school tomorrow? I prepare myself for the whining.

Oh! But wait!  I won't be in the classroom today!  I have a sub and a student teacher who will handle the whining and complaining!

I won't have to tell them to put their phones away and get back to work!

I won't constantly have to answer "the" question and listen to the whining!

I think I'll still post the note....

Celebrating the First of the Lasts

Bittersweet.

I unlocked the door at 7:00am, knowing some would arrive before they needed to. It's contest day and excitement will get them moving much earlier than teenagers like on a foggy Saturday morning. I think back to all the other Saturday mornings I have done this, other bus rides, other students. This is my 10th year coaching Speech.

And my last.

Bittersweet.

We're only riding twenty miles today, to a school who has hosted many of the contests we've been to. It's a familiar place and I like that. I check in for the last District Contest. The first contest of our season. When I have time, I remember other performances, other tears and cheers. But not too much remembering--we have new memories to make.

Bittersweet

My kids this year are awesome. They are silly, creative, weird and family.  One of my favorite moments happened with two of my senior boys at their acting event. Their judge is a Hall of Fame Coach (Literally. Iowa Speech Coaches have a Hall of Fame), now judging so he can stay involved. His center was running ahead, so when the boys came in, he talked to the first. Got the crowd laughing. Asked them if their families were here, because otherwise they could wait a few minutes. "We're good," one of them said, "Our speech family is here."  

Bittersweet

Another room. Another moment. 

Rooms fill up quickly at speech contest. Especially the Group Improvisation room. Improv is fast and funny and everyone likes to sit in that room to watch. Chairs are at a premium. I was sitting beside a couple of my freshman when the boy young man next to me stood up. I turned and saw him offering his chair to a very old woman with a walker, waiting to see a grandchild perform. The young woman next to him gave her chair to the other woman. I was so proud of them (and told them so). 

Bittersweet.

There were nerves to calm. Happy tears. Silly moments. Amazing performances and lots of growth. All the things I write about every year. I will miss this. 

Bittersweet.

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This week's DISCOVER: Remembering is fun, but staying in the moment is important and gives me more memories to look back on.

Celebrate and Discover

Sometimes as teachers, we really don't know if we have made a difference. Students leave us, and we may never hear from them again. But some we stay in touch with, and it is those students--my "forever kids", that gave me so much to celebrate this week.

As I wrote on Tuesday, I've decided to take the district's early retirement package this year. It's a bittersweet decision.  But it's what happened after I shared my news that I celebrate. The outpouring of love was amazing. Former students, parents, colleagues, all with words of love.  I'll admit to screenshotting my Facebook post, so I will have all that love to wrap myself in when I'm feeling blue.

Just a few of many (Teacher confession--it feels like bragging to share these. I'm not, really. I am actually so humbled by all the comments...)

But it was the comment by a former colleague that made this all OK and connects right with Ruth's post about giving love away. He said to me, "Could you think of it as giving another person a chance to have all the great experiences you had? It makes it easier, in a way."

And, you know what? It does.

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This week's DISCOVER

Love comes back to you if you put it out in the world 

#sol17 Last and Best

I'll admit to a few tears in my eyes as the school board voted 5-0 to approve an early retirement package for our district. Greg and I have talked about it for months. If it was offered, I would take it.

And now, it's real.

So why the tears? I really don't know. I told Greg when I got home that they were happy and sad tears.

Can you have both?

My wonderful husband told me I didn't have to take it if I didn't want to. If I wanted to stay a couple of more years, I could.

But I don't. I am ready to retire. I am ready to be done with lesson plans and grading papers. I am ready to be done with the politics and defending summer "vacation".

But I am not done with kids. And that's where the sad tears came from, I know.

This will be a semester of lasts. But it will also be a semester of BESTS. I am determined not to be a short timer and be my best as I count down the lasts.

Stay tuned as I DISCOVER how to do this and find the future.

Celebrate 1: The Start of a New Year

Tuesday was an ice day.  And while I now hate the ice and the teeny tiny shuffling steps across it to get from the parking lot to the school, I really needed Tuesday at home.

The boys and their families left from our family Christmas celebration about noon on Sunday. Greg and I did a quick sweep through the house and did a "five minute pick-up". But we were exhausted. Cleaning would wait. We watched basketball instead :) 

I though I would clean on Monday and take down the decorations. But, the football game was on and we started watching The Crown" on Netflix. Oh, is it a good one (the show, NOT the football game). So again, I procrastinated taking down decorations and cleaning. The weekend was coming. I would do it then.

Freezing rain overnight saved the day. Finally, Tuesday, with no school, no school work, I put everything away. And we are back to "normal".

Wednesday was the first day of classes and the start of new classes. It was short because we had a 2 hour late start, but that was OK. It was just good to get back into the routine of school. I missed my kids :)  I also have an education student with me during the month of January from a nearby college. It was a hectic week for him to start, but we'll get ourselves back on track Monday.

A couple of moments stand out for me this week. 

• Two of my girls from last semester's College Prep Lit class showed up the second day of this semester. They missed our discussions and books. I invited them back anytime they wanted to come and join in. 
• I teach Contemporary Lit also this semester. Current or fairly current YA Lit. We start with a class novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I love this book. We start with just flipping through the book. What do you notice? And then, I read the first chapter out loud and we talk about Junior. Kids got it right away. "He's so smart!" They were so excited, I read the second chapter out loud also. 
• The next day, a student came in saying, "I'm sorry Mrs. Day. I had to read ahead."  I laughed. She wasn't the only one. A "non-reader" boy was about half way through the book. Two other girls read the whole book! They all loved it.  I may have to adjust some plans, but I got what I wanted. Kids are reading.

There were more celebrations (I keep a post-it in my bullet journal for writing down celebrations), but these were my favorites. And I'm writing more...so there's that :)

#sol17 I Want to Remember...

Sunday, January 1

The silence is welcome, yet deafening.  Our boys and their families hit the road and should be home by now. And I am tired. a good tired. A cozy tired. A "PJ pants and new fuzzy slippers wrapped in a blanket in my favorite chair" kind of tired. But before I doze in my chair watching TV, there are some things I want to remember...

• the grandkids' excitement for one more Christmas
• Chloe's excitement and then despair once everyone arrived--including the new dog, Maverick.  She's not so fond of Maverick
• Hearing "When are we going to open presents" 1,000,000 times and laughing at all of them
• Mitch (our oldest son) checking out the presents to see what he had under the tree. Once a kid, always a kid
• Hayden's face when he opened his "Poop" emoji slippers (I hope his mom got a good picture of that)
• Kaylee and Angelina's excitement for their books (The Fault in Our Stars for Kaylee and Roller Girl for Angelina. I'm excited they are finally getting to the age where I know good books for them)
• Food. Way too much food.
• Playing Tripoly and the funny, crazy things that get said as we play. Let's just say we get a little competitive playing games :)
• Dog cuddles
• Boston putting together the little guys toys (Yea for grandkids who can put together toys!)
• How fast plates of Christmas cookies disappeared
• Laughter
• Love shared

And now it's Tuesday. Back to school. And I have memories to make me smile.