One Little Word

I wasn't really thinking of my One Little Word, but I knew one day it would find me. It always does.

This week, I was on Twitter and someone posted something about OLW. I thought back through my past words (Connect, JOY, Aloha, Balance and Moments) and how they move through my life, even now.

But that's not when it showed up. Not really.

My OLW has been following me around for awhile, always present, just waiting for me to notice it, embrace it. My OLW wanted me to think it I chose it instead of it choosing me.

And, one day, in my wanderings and musings, it screamed at me....

DISCOVER

I will turn 60 in March and like it or not, I am at the end of my teaching career. This year, my school district is considering offering an early retirement plan, and if they do, I'll take it. And while at first I was excited, I'm also wondering what this new part of my life will bring. Who am I, if not Mrs. Day?  

Really.

Who am I?

So, whether I retire or not, this will be a year to DISCOVER who I am and what I love. 

Join me.

It's going to be an adventure.

Revisiting MOMENTS

2016 has been bittersweet.
Staying in the MOMENT has been difficult.
But I tried.

I wasn't sure I could write this post, that there were any joyful moments to share. I seemed to have blocked many out. So I took some time and scrolled through my Facebook page. Do you know what I found there????

Lots of joyful moments. Moments important enough that I shared them with friends and family.





My students created many of these moments. Speech kids always give me laughs and reasons to be proud. While last year wasn't our best, it definitely had fun moments for us all.  Throughout the year there were unexpected meetings with former students--JOYful meet ups that reminded me I have made a difference in at least a few lives.

I also worked with an amazing student teacher last year, who gave me back my enthusiasm for teaching. I credited her with my JOY in teaching this year.

There were moments with friends and family. My husband and I love spending as much time as we can with those important in our lives and 2016 made that more important.  In September, we lost our dear friend, Tom, to cancer. Tom wanted one more summer at the lake. He got that, passing away on the first day of fall.

But before he passed, we shared many cherished moments with Tom and his family and our friends. Each concert, each meal, each day spent sharing memories became more precious. And while we are sad he is gone, the summer reminded us why it's important to stay in the moment.

So good-bye 2016. You are leaving, but the moments will remain as precious memories.

CPLit: The Introduction

I teach a one semester College Prep Literature class each year.

One semester.

That's it.

One semester to cram in every text they should have read before they go to college.

But I know that's impossible.

So, I started with the end in mind. What is it that I wanted them to know and be able to do when they left my class.

These are my notes from my summer of reading and planning---notice my "ultimate goal".  "To get students to think for themselves."

That was, and continues to be, what I want from my students. This semester, I have a small class of ten students. Eight girls and two boys. All good students. All students I've had before in various other classes and activities.

We begin our semester with the essential question, "Why do we need things in books?"  This question actually comes from Neil Gaimon's introduction to the sixtieth anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451, and, not so coincidently, the first book we read.  We talk about that question and I get stock answers--to learn things, because we have to,  for enjoyment, etc. Not the answers I am looking for, but it's a start.

We start the year with Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and I want them to think as we read--

• think about a world without books
• think about their education
• think about the technology in their lives

But these are high school kids used to vocabulary sheets and comprehension questions (and I am as guilty as anyone), so I have to move slow.

I assign the book in three sections. After each section, we discuss. The first discussions in this class are not what this literature loving teacher wants, but I know it takes baby steps. We begin, usually with comprehension questions--the I don't understand this part kind of questions. 

It's OK. I know they are reading.  

Fahrenheit 451  is the only book that I hand out questions for. Some are comprehension, but others require them to think about what they've read and they lead us into some pretty good discussions.  What do you think about school in the book?  How is it like ours--or not like ours? What do you want from your teachers and your education? What book would you try to memorize?  

Most of the time, the answers were a little shallow, but they did show that kids were thinking about what we were reading and that's what I really wanted at the beginning of the year. They did a wonderful job discussing characters and the motivations of those characters.

But it wasn't enough and I needed to push them further.

This happened when we began reading Night by Elie Wiesel.

Celebrating When You'd Rather Scream and Cry....

It's been a week, hasn't it? And sometimes, during times like this, it's really hard to find things to celebrate. I had to be very intentional to find things that brought be JOY this week. But, because I paid attention, I found celebration all around me.

Little things--

• Double chocolate donuts brought as birthday treats
• Great conversations with kids after the election
• My College Prep Lit kids who discuss books better every day
• Starting a new speech season
• New improv team members who are rockin' it!

Big things--

Our district became part of the Iowa Teacher Leadership grant this year, and as a result, we have three instructional coaches. While all of them came from the elementary building, they are great educators and have spent a great deal of time learning the ways of secondary ed.  

They've all been in my room, but one in particular has become a regular in my College Prep Lit class. She loves sitting and discussing books, so whatever we read, she reads. And then, about once a week she comes in and joins us for discussion. She's helped me with finding a way to grade discussion rather than worksheets. We're working on ways to connect students and discussion when they all read different books in the next unit. 

I love having someone to bounce ideas off of. Someone who finds resources and shares them with me. Someone who has been in my room multiple times, watched growth in my students and continually says, "I love what you are doing."

Last, I want to celebrate the passion of a student involved in the election. Last year, as a junior, he was an ardent Bernie supporter. He caucused. He was elected as a representative for our county and went to the state meeting to cast votes for Bernie. But when Secretary Clinton was selected as the Democratic nominee, he was all in. He went door to door. He made phone calls. Again, he threw himself into the campaign. 

When he wasn't in school on Wednesday, some in my classes assumed he was home, too upset about Clinton losing to come to school.  The actual story? He had to drive to the state capitol to return his party laptop.  I wrote him a note this week and told him in a note how proud I was of his commitment and enthusiasm. 

Trust me. 

The future is in good hands.

#CelebrateMonday and All the Rest of the Week

Monday.

I stood in the hallway, watching students racing off to their first hour class, wishing I had stopped at the local convenience store and bought myself a cappuccino to sip during my prep. I was going to head up to the lounge to grab a cup of coffee, but it wasn't the same thing. And then, from around the corner, came a wonderful sight.

Mitchell, one of my senior speech kids, had two cups in his hand and handed one to me.

"White Chocolate Caramel cappuccino. Your favorite."

Monday saved.

Tuesday was our first day of conferences. I woke up that morning preparing myself for a long day. After my shower, I sat down with a cup of coffee and to check Facebook and Twitter.

Tuesday saved.

Wednesday. Well, Wednesday was the Cubs. Enough said. Wednesday saved!

But Thursday. Oh, my. It's the second day of conferences and I was up much past my bedtime on a school night watching those Cubs. Yikes.

But it was OK. I certainly wasn't the only tired one. It seemed everyone watched that game much past their bedtime and we all commiserated on how tired we were, but how great the game was. Even if we weren't a Cubs fan, we knew someone who was and knew how important it was to them that the Cubs won the series. 

After a second great night of conferences, I could go home and snuggle on the couch. Sleeping in on Friday was a given. And we headed off to Wisconsin to spend time with family. 

Today we will head off to craft shows and repurposing shops, and maybe a brewery and just enjoy being together.  

Saturday saved.

Celebrate: Silly Kids

My favorite part of teaching comes from interactions with kids. I love their enthusiasm, creativity and downright craziness (although, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have written those words at 3:30 Friday afternoon). This week's celebrations come from those little moments.

For years I posted silly student quotes on a wall in my room. You know the ones. Kids say and do things in class all the time that just make you laugh. For some reason, I haven't written them down in awhile, but several students think I should start again. And I may. But this little snippet would be too long for the quote wall. It deserves to be shared.

My College Prep Lit class is a small (10) group of great kids. Three gifted and talented sophomores, the rest juniors and seniors. I've had them all in class before and they get along fabulously. They are not afraid to admit when they don't know or don't understand something. And they are not afraid to fact check me.

We started our reading of Elie Wiesel's Night this week. After some background discussion, I assigned the Preface and the Forward for the night's reading. There was some whispering, some giggling, coming from the sophomore girls. 

"I thought it was pronounced pree-face."

I laughed. 

From the rest of the room, came the giggles of agreement. 

The next day a senior girl told me it was her word of the day. She told everyone she knew how to pronounce the word. 

But, a couple of them did admit to fact checking. Thank Heavens Google agreed with me!

And then there's these guys....

Leftover props from a Drama assignment. "They mysteriously" move about my room throughout the day.  It took some time for most students to notice them and longer to notice that they move.

But now. 

It's a new game. Every day I have a few students who come in the room and see how fast they can spot them. The corn is getting better at hiding, so sometimes it takes a bit. I guess it really is the little things that keep us entertained.


My last celebration is me. I'm writing more again and that's a good thing. My  notebook sits beside me so I can jot down little pieces that maybe will become bigger pieces. And maybe not. But at least I'm writing!

I Write

I write

The words flow out my fingers
at times when it seems
NO ONE
will understand them.
I keep them private
Just for me.

I write

The words flow out my fingers
to celebrate the moments of my life
That I never want to forget and I
SHARE
them with the world
Or at least my blog readers

I write

The words flow out my fingers
to convince a student their
STORY MATTERS
their life matters
and they need to share it
With someone.

I write

At times it has felt that the words left me
No longer wanted to be shared
They are in my head
But they won't flow from my fingers

I let them go for awhile

But now
I force it
Because my head isn't going
to tell
My fingers what to do

I write