Things That Made Me Smile

I read a blog post today that gave some great ideas for activities in writer's notebooks. Since we are really just getting a start on ours, I thought we would try some of these this week. I apologize I'm not linking to the post. I found it on Twitter at home this morning, but when I come to school and the link is blocked by our AEA's firewall.  Grrrrrrr.

But that's another blog post.

Here's what we added to our notebooks today:

THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE THIS SUMMER


1. Chloe swimming in the lake for the first time. Like a kid, she dipped her toes in the water, testing it out. Then a wave came at her and she decided it needed to be attacked. Chloe spent several minutes trying to catch the waves and eat them. Slowly she started walking out and then finally swam. When she got out of the water, she shook off and then ran around in circles like crazy.

2. The grandkids swimming on the 4th. Grandma's lake rule: You have to eat breakfast before you go outside. I think they broke the land speed record in downing those bowls of cereal. Clothes were never an issue. They just put the suits and life jackets on and down they went. Luckily, the beach is right across from the trailer so the adults could sit and have coffee and watch them. Every two hours or so we brought them up for a sunscreen and a snack. As the sunset, we made them come up and get ready for bed. There were no arguments!

3. The look on a friend's face when I showed up at the hospital before her surgery. She didn't know I was coming, but the look on her face when I walked up as she was standing in line to register was worth the early morning drive. Even better, the look on her face when she got to go home.

4. My new golf clubs and golfing with friends. Now, you need to know that I suck at golf. Really. But I look great on the course with my new clubs.  And I have fun. I enjoy being with my friends, so it's all OK.

5. Concerts at Arnold's Park. We have our favorite bands that are don't miss events and we've checked out some new ones. It's always a fun night dancing and singing along.  Good times.

6. The lake neighbor kids coming to pet Chloe in the mornings. They were all a little nervous at the beginning of the summer because she was sooo much bigger than last summer. But once I showed them how to approach her and convinced them that she just wanted to give them puppy kisses, they were hooked. Now they stop many times during the day when I am out just to see Chloe.  I love their giggles as she licks them all over.

Other things that made me smile:
The boat dying in the middle of the lake and being towed in by a smaller boat.
Swimming
Being home
Pajama days
Rainy days
Sunny days
Making sangria
The lake neighbors setting up a screen and projecting fights outside--just like a drive-in
School starting

Yep--lots to smile about. And lots to write about!  I hope my students find their lists as helpful as I find mine

Anatomy of an Author-to-Be

Hair in her eyes, glasses perched on the end of her nose, ill-fitting clothes and a perpetual smile,  appearance doesn't seem to matter to Allie, who long ago decided she was going to be an author--not a writer, an author. She walks down the street today with her nose in a book and I wonder how she walks and reads without running into a tree or falling over the cracks in the sidewalk.  When I tell her that later, she giggles and tells me it has happened before.

I see her sitting in class, alone, reading whatever book she is reading at the moment. She was on a steady diet of R. L. Stine when I first met her as a seventh grader. I was bound and determined to get her to read something else. Allie was just as bound and determined to read what she wanted, no matter what I, or anyone else, had to say about it. Today, she still loves her teenage horror novels or once in awhile a love story, but you still aren't going to get her to read anything but what she wants.

When I happen upon her at lunch, it is often with a notebook and pen in hand. Not a diary keeper, she is constantly scribbling in them, usually another chapter in another novel she is writing. I wish I was as prolific as she. Constantly on the lookout for new readers for her work, she needs fresh eyes to appreciate and marvel at what she has written.

One day, I imagine, she will finally publish her first novel.  She will still have her bangs hanging in her eyes. She'll still have to push her glasses up from the end of her nose. Clothes still won't mean a thing to her. She will tell the world that all she ever wanted in life was to be an author.  She will go on and on about all the writing and reading she did to prepare for the day her first book was published.

And I will be proud to say, I knew her along the way.

The Flying Book Kids

Last Friday I wrote about how the books flew(literally) into the hands of some of my students. As an English department we talked about making sure kids have independent books to read in class and how to make sure they get some reading time every week, so that was the reason for the flying books. The kids needed them for class. I often wondered over the weekend if any of them even looked at the book or if this was just crazy Mrs. Day trying to get kids to read again. Even though I knew I had found good books for them, I worried they wouldn't give the books a chance (Coincidently, I started reading The Book Whisperer by Donalyn MIller over the weekend. It's scary how alike she and I are.)

Fast forward to Monday.

One came in carrying Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper.  "20 pages, Mrs. Day. Good Book."

The wrestler came in carrying Four Days to Glory by Mark Kreidler, a book about the state wrestling tournament here in Iowa.   He didn't comment. HE SAT DOWN AND READ!!!!! And he read every time there was a break in the action!  I didn't have the heart to tell him to put his book away (He did tell me after class that I was right, the book was really good).

In every class, students came in carrying books.  Only one came up to me and asked if she had to finish the book she picked out or if she could get a different one.  "Life's too short to read bad books," I told her. And then I asked if she needed help finding a new one.

"Nope," she replied. "I know the one I want."

So, I feel the flying books were a success. Books are in the hands of students and they are being read because the students made the choice.


I feel validated.

Enthusiasm

Last week I read a blog post by Angela Maiers that made me sad (and her too!). She described a conversation with her children after their first day of school.  What did her kids tell her about their first day?

Boring.

Now I know that many kids say school is boring and that many teachers say they aren't there to entertain kids.

However

It was the fact that none of her children's teachers expressed any excitement, enthusiasm or passion for the coming year that bothered Angela--and me!

And then, before school this morning, I took Chloe out in the yard for a few minutes before I left for school. She played fetch with me a few minutes, but then she took matters into her own paws.  She picked up her leash in her mouth and began to run.

Chloe loves to run and I love to watch her run. She does it with such enthusiasm and joy. She runs for the love of running. And this got me thinking too.

I teach for the love of teaching. Really. I could and have taught many subjects (including 8th grade math, but that's a story for another day), but do I teach with enthusiasm and joy?

I try, but I don't know that I always succeed.

And so that is why my word for the week is ENTHUSIASM.

Let me share my enthusiasm for the spoken and written word with my students and those around me.

Starting now!

The Outlaws

Last night I went to a free concert in Arnold's Park with my husband and a friend.  They are both music lover's (not that I don't like music, but not like these guys!) and my husband, especially, had been looking forward to hearing the opening band, The Outlaws.  I had never heard of them. Evidently they were around back in the 70's.  It also happened to be the Polaris Victory Rally.

 A motorcycle rally.
Motorcycles--something I will never understand.

But it was a great night for people watching. I didn't take my writer's notebook with me, but I sure filled it in with details when I got home!

Anyway, this poem comes from that experience.

The Outlaws

Graying,
Long-Haired hippies.
Faces lined with the
Evidence of hard living.
Trying to recapture
What it was like to be
Seventeen again.
Or twenty-one.
Or young.
Dancing in place
To music that resonates with them.
They feel it
Loud and pounding,
Vibrating the ground,
Crashing right to their soul.

And for an hour they are
Young again
With plans to take on the world.

Like all of us.

Do they still have those dreams?
Do they still have those ideals?
Do they still have the reckless abandon
That stereotyped them?

Or
Are they part of the mainstream
In their everyday life?
Regretting choices not made.

Graying,
Long-Haired hippies
Trying to recapture
Their Youth.

Weekend Morning

It's been a week of
     alarms going off
     being on time
     get to the next meeting
     finding packed away items
     teacher chatter
 Then
     bells
     schedules
     teenage laughter and
     high fives
Always moving on to
     the next thing
Always noise.
Always in a hurry.

But then comes
     Saturday.
Puppy kisses and
Bird songs
Wake me slowly to the day.
The coffee perks and
I know
There is plenty of time for a leisurely cup
With a piece of fresh peach pie.

Neighbors wave as they head to their boats.  

And the only noises I hear are
The sound of
The waves
Gently lapping at the sand
And the call of a solitary gull.
Only the swallows don't  understand
The need for
Peaceful weekend mornings.

Flying Books

High school kids always say they hate to read--especially the boys. They proudly proclaim that they never read. Haven't read a book since 6th grade. They just watch the movie and fake it.  Lots and lots of excuses. I, of course, find it amazing that they have never read a book that they liked. Too many teacher choices, I guess.

My second hour speech class is filled with those kids. I told them they had never read a book they liked because I was never their reading teacher. I said if they would be honest about it, I could find them books that would interest them.

The challenge was on.

"Find me one, Mrs. Day!"

"Me next!"

Me, Me, Me....

I started pulling down boxes and throwing out books.  Literally. (It's kind of fun to amaze them when the book actually lands on their desk.).

Five boys and a girl took books with them as they left today.  Alliterate, nonreaders. Kids who may actually try to read a book because I found books that interested them.

I'll have to check back in with them next week.

Hope it works!