Coming Home

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers.

After being away for a week, it's good to be home. I moved to Virginia in the year 2000. I'd gone through some life changing events in Massachusetts and I needed a change...time away. I spent months deciding where I wanted to go and finally decided on Virginia. Honestly, I thought it would be for a year or two, so I could get some distance and perspective. It's been over fifteen years and I love it. When I moved here I knew TWO people, friends from graduate school. They helped me find a job and a place to live. When I think about those first months, it was hard. I didn't know anyone. I barely knew my way around. I didn't have any money. I was lonely and lost. That struggle helped shape the person I am today and I am grateful for those experiences.  Today I declare Virginia to be my home. I worked hard to find my spot, on my own, and I'm proud of that accomplishment. Blessed with many friends, some of whom are like family. I have a church family too. I've been thinking about the word home. What is home? What does that mean? Home is love Home is being seen Home is knowing that you matter Home is "I missed you" Home is Bella snuggles Home is my yellow bowl of cheerios for breakfast Home is a hot bath with peppermint bath salts Home is belonging I hope your time at home this week is all of these things and more!

The Best Part of My Day

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers.

I love getting inspired from other teachers. Recently, I read two blog posts that inspired me! 

The first is a post by Carrie Wisehart. I love her blog! There's so much there...I even love her About Me Page. Last week, she turned forty and blogged about a birthday gift that turned into a student challenge. The challenge is called #dollardifference. A friend gave her forty dollar bills and challenged her to do something creative. She passed the dollars onto her high school students and asked them to make a difference. WOW! I'm figuring out how to do that with my middle school students. Changing the world while teaching...what's better than that?!?!

This weekend, I came across this post by another Carrie...Carrie Baughcum. She blogs at Heck Awesome.  I love Carrie's positive attitude! She poses the question: How do I share when it's a tough year? When we, as teachers, spend time on social media we need to balance the honest with the positive. Carrie's solution is BRILLIANT! She calls it #TheBestPartOfMyDay. Each day she searches for the best part and then tweets it out with this hashtag. I joined in today!! I hope you'll join too. 

If you are looking for brilliant new blogs to add to your reading, I hope you stop by and read the life and times of Carrie Wisehart and Carrie Baughcum! When we tell our stories, we make each other better.

Mindfulness

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers.

Be. Present. Now. There's too much. Life is too fast. It's hard to catch my breath. I'm in the middle of two planning days between first and second quarter. I love the end and the beginning. It's time to reflect. Readjust. Renew...usually...but the words, "too much" keep floating around in my head as I worry about fitting it all in. My attention is distracted with new initiatives and techniques. I'm overwhelmed and failing at mindfulness. This thought shifted my thinking to mindfulness. Am I in the moment? No. I worry and plan and check emails...what can I do? The first thing I did was to stop checking emails multiple times a day. In the past, I would check my work email ten or more times a day!

My notebook helps me with my mindfulness. It's like my security blanket. When I feel like there's too much coming at me, the pages of my notebook save me from that. I dive in and remind myself what's important and the calm returns quickly.

As this school year started, I noticed that I only checked email once in the beginning of the day, during planning and as the day ended. A couple of weeks into the school year, I caught myself checking in between classes and found myself getting very distracted and frustrated. It was that lightbulb moment that told me, "Checking email takes you away from your students and instruction. STOP!" That's tip number one to move closer to mindfulness...Don't check email during the day. BE present with your students. They notice! Teachers, we need to practice mindfulness. We need to model it for our students. Life moves too quickly. Slowing down and savoring the moment is vital to enjoying life. How will our students know how to do that if we don't show them? Wanting to know about the practice of mindfulness, I have a couple of books...

The Little Book of Mindfulness by Dr. Patrizia Collard and The Zen Teacher by Dan Tricarico.

I'm searching for interesting and informative videos too. I found this one from TED. He challenges us to do nothing for ten minutes a day. NOTHING. Does that cause you stress just thinking about it like it does for me? I think that means we need it! Take ten minutes and listen. Let his words sink in and do something to practice mindfulness today! 

Do you practice mindfulness? How? Some of my other mindfulness practices include... walking, coloring, yoga, writing. I'd love more ideas!

Drive

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers.

Traveling changes my perspective. 

I get a chance to slow down and look at things from another angle. My cousin got married this weekend and I drove up to Massachusetts to be there. 

I could have flown, but there's something about that long drive that brings me peace. I know the route like the back of my hand, so I can relax into the drive. 

It's been fifteen years that I've been taking this route home and I feel like I  notice different things each time. This trip brought brilliant autumn leaves. I love the freedom of leaving before the world wakes up and watching the sun rise. 

Rest stops provide a moment to stop and look around.

Flying might save time, but it doesn't bring me peace of mind. I figure things out on the road. Sometimes the music blares and a belt out a few tunes and other times I listen to audiobooks or podcasts. It's time when I must be mindful and pay attention to the road...time when I think about life. 

Arriving at my destination feels like an accomplishment. I left one place and I arrived in another. Seeing the happy faces of my family and getting the hugs...it's why I travel.

No one seems to understand why I drive. I get looks of confusion and furrowed brows. Questions like, "How long does it take you?" and "Wouldn't you rather fly?" greet me each and every trip. The answer is no. I wouldn't rather fly. I get to drive! Is there traffic? Yup. Construction? Sure. Bad drivers? Certainly. Driving is about the time and the quiet and stopping and looking around in a world that's so busy. 

What is Your Sentence?

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers.

Today we took our writing notebooks out to write a sentence. Just a sentence. 

What is your sentence? I stumbled upon this amazing video from Daniel Pink's book, Drive. 

I asked my sixth graders this question. We decided that we'd like to see some examples, so I shared a couple of other videos with mentors of this sentence. 

We analyzed their sentences. We noticed that the sentences were written in the third person. We noticed that the sentences were written as if these things had already happened. We got lost in their words. 

It's time to write our own. We spent five minutes writing and rewriting our sentence. We added details. We rearranged words. We tried out new ideas. We shared. After a few students shared out loud, we split up into groups and revised our sentences. We wrote our final sentence on an index card.  Once again, I'm impressed. My students wrote and revised and shared. They thought deeply about who they are and who they want to be. We talked about our process of writing. "How did it go? How did you write your sentence?" Those conversations make the act of writing less scary (I hope). We noticed that everyone has a different process. I shared my process with them as I worked on my sentences for three blocks today and I'm not done. Here's a peek into my process…

They took risks and shared their hopes, their dreams, they shared themselves in their sentences. Here are a few of the sentences from my brave and talented sixth graders. Enjoy!

What is your sentence?!?!

This is Bella

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers.

Good Morning! This is Bella. I am writing this blog post this morning because my mommy can't figure out what to write. She is struggling, so I decided to help her. I am going to write about our weekend. We had a wonderful weekend, but some weird things were happening!

Saturday was perfect. We took a long walk. I sniffed lots of good smells and enjoyed myself.

When we came home, Mommy and I played with my toys and then we cuddled together for a little while. I settled down to rest and all of the sudden there was all of this commotion. Mommy was taking things off of the shelves. All the things were coming off of the shelves. 

She was surrounded. I couldn't get to her. I paced back and forth while she moved things around. Some of the things on the shelves went into bags and into the garage and other things just went back onto the shelves. Finally, she was done!

Suddenly, it was happening again. This time, she was taking everything out of the closet. 

How big is that closet?!?! Things just kept coming out. 

Finally she moved things around, lots of it went into bags and into the garage and the rest returned to the closet. 

I didn't like this at all! There's too much craziness!!! Why is she doing this? When will it be over? Ahhhh, I thought, we are done.  We walked upstairs to my bedroom. It's my favorite room in the house! My crate is in there and Mommy's bed too! As I was deciding if I should go into my bed or rest on her's, once again clothes started flying around. 

What is happening?!?! I started worrying. Is she leaving?!?! She moves clothes around like this before she leaves me. I couldn't stop pacing...I started panting. I wanted to yell, "MOMMY, STOP!" but I don't talk. I watched her carefully...every moment. It lasted all day. She even started again on Sunday.  Finally, Monday we are done. No bags. No stuff. No chaos. Just rest. Me and my mommy. Together. I guess overall it was a good weekend. 

Gratitude and Miracles

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers.

We are in the middle of teacher workdays. Monday I presented and facilitated for most of the day. This morning I am meeting my sixth graders for the first time at orientation. With a spinning head, I am here. Here is where I stop, breathe, think. Knowing you will forgive me for the simple post today, I showed up...and today I want to write a list...a gratitude list. In no particular order, I'm grateful for: my mom, my sister, Jack and Jillian, my whole wonderful family, Bella, my home, friends who love me, notebooks, a job I adore, writing, the look on a face when a student finally "gets it", Dairy Queen, good books, Netflix, quiet after a long day, my writing group, funky reading glasses, peppermint, a smile, thoughtful gifts, cards in the mail, hearing just the right song at just the right time, fancy pens, bookstores, long drives, hugs, meeting new students, pillows, Anne Shirley, warm blankets, kindness, pool time, sound and smell of the ocean, early mornings, afternoon of shopping, giggling, poetry, slam poetry, Youtube videos, DubSmash, the moment before you fall asleep, YOU MATTER, gerber daisies, noise-canceling headphones, The Princess Bride, retreats, beginnings, doodling, showing grace, deep breaths, creativity, the sky after a rainstorm, chocolate cake, the smell of dog's paws (like Fritos), surprises...

Wishing you days filled with people and things for which you are grateful. Please share what makes you grateful in the comments! I'd love to hear about it!

Since it's the beginning of the school year, here is one of my favorite poetry slammers, Taylor Mali, to inspire you...

Teacher as Student

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers. 

This week I get the opportunity to spend three days in training for PBL (project based learning). The trainer is excellent...she is knowledgeable and a good teacher. Learning about PBL is something I enjoy and I feel like fits easily into my teaching routine. I sat down ready to learn and to create an interesting and creative PBL unit, so why is it so hard? It wasn't long until I started thinking things like...

I don't know what to do. 

I am struggling with finding an idea. 

I can't decide. 

Nothing seems to fit. 

I am getting confused.

I can't find a clear answer to my problems.

I don't undestand. 

What do I do? 

These are some of my thoughts from today. It devolved into...

This is hard. 

I don't like this. 

This stinks.

I don't want to do this.

I'm done!

Suddenly, it dawned on me that THIS is what my students feel like sometimes...some of my students feel like this a lot of the time! I think about that while I struggle. What helps me? The trainer tells the group that it's ok to be confused right now. That helps me! She approaches me and offers support and some encouragement. I want more. I want her to tell me how to do it. I want the right answer, but I (as an adult) understand she wants me to learn. This helps me. I feel seen and heard. She leaves me alone to find a solution...for a long time. I want her to come back and check in again. She doesn't for a long time. I am getting annoyed and I feel like she's ignoring me. Later on, she comes over again to check in. I've made some decisions. I am feeling a little better about where I am. She says that she knew I'd find my way through. That helps me. She had faith in me. She believed in me. 

I want to remember the feelings of discomfort. When my students feel like this, how do they act? Sometimes they talk...I needed a lot of talking to figure out where I wanted to go. Sometimes they misbehave...I was tempted to get up and walk out, just for a break. It felt like I was never going to figure it out and that feeling of "FAILURE" was staring me right in the face. Sometimes they pass notes...I really wanted to talk to a friend, so during a break, I texted one who had been through this training for support. Remembering these feelings and this experience will help me understand my students and why they make the choices they make. 

As I left the first day, I felt like I had survived a tough day of learning! I have an idea...it's not complete yet, but it's there. The best part of this is being a student again and remembering what it feels like to work at something when you don't feel any success. As the teacher, I must remember to... 

1. Listen 

2. Offer encouragement

3. Ask questions

4. Walk away

5. Check in again

6. SEE my students

7. Think about the WHY

Back to day two and more lessons to learn!

What's Your Motto?

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers. 

I've been contemplating my motto. What is my motto? What words do I live by everyday? I discovered a new-to-me blogger, Carrie Wisehart. She writes the blog, Live Upside Down. On her about me page, she mentions mottos. On her about me page it says, "She loves to surprise attack her students with stamps that have her mottos written on them: Choose Joy & Best Day Ever!"

I stopped and thought about it. "Do I have a motto? What is my motto? What words guide my life and my choices?"

I reached out to friends on social media and asked others what their mottos were. Here are some mottos...

"A grateful heart is a happy heart."

"Live your life!"

"Tomorrow is a new day, and we start fresh!"

"Everything happens for a reason."

"No matter how slow you are going, you are faster than everyone sitting on the couch."

"Live each day as if it were your last."

"Just making memories!"

"Believe."

"Improvise, adapt, and overcome."

"Be intentional."

"Be kind."

"Be a warrior, not a worrier."

"Show. Up."

"Don't let life get in the way of living."

"Be authentic."

Some of my students even answered. These mottos are some of my favorites...

"Be kind. Some people in the world are jerks and that's why this world needs more people to be kind...to balance it out."

"Life is way too short not to be yourself and share your ideas."

"Never be afraid to have your own ideas and you don't always need to like what everyone else likes. Be original and special. Make people notice you in a good way."

"Be true to you."

"Sparkle."

I think about mottos for those I love. I think if my dad were around for me to ask, I think he would say, "Be positive." My grandmother's motto would be about family! "Family is everything." Also, "Laughter cures all, and if laughter doesn't epsom salts does." Grammy Haseltine's motto would be "Never give up."

What's my motto? After thinking about this and writing about it, I think mottos can change with your life circumstances and some stick with you. When I was in college, friends teased me about my positive attitude by saying, "If Michelle was kept captive in a prison, the first thing she'd say when she was released was, 'I had the BEST TIME!' " I like to think that I make the best out of life, so that's one I'm claiming...

I love quotes. I think my love of quotes may connect with this idea of a motto. I'm looking for words that will guide my life. Brainstorming helped me remember some oldies and think of some new ones. Here's my notebook page with mottos...

What's my motto? I can't live with just one. What's yours?  

Small Moments

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers. 

I woke up at 7:30 today. I slept through the night, didn't wake up at all until 7:30 this morning. That usually doesn't happen. I'm awake around five a.m. every morning and most nights I wake up a couple of times. Last night was filled with restful sleep. I find myself wanting a reason for this night of restful sleep, and then I can replicate it. Instead, I'll enjoy it.    Yesterday I met a friend for lunch. It was one of those lunches...we met at noon and we were still there talking after three o'clock. We used to work together and she left to open a new school and life got in the way for both of us. I missed our friendship so much. I missed our talks and laughing and how much we had in common...like our school supply addiction. That led us to stopping my Joanne's to look for washi tape to decorate our planners. We both have the Academic Passion Planners. 

A good night sleep. Yummy lunch with a good friend. Stickers & planners & washi tape...life is good. I'm reading a book, Simply Tuesday by Emily Freeman. It will be released on August 18th. It's about celebrating the ordinary as extraordinary in our lives...about being present for those "small" moments because our lives are a series of those small moments. 

I once asked Stacey why we write our slices on Tuesdays. She cited this clip from Seinfeld...

Writing slices and reading slices helps me focus on those small moments, helps me stay present and really witness my life. For me, "Tuesdays have a feel," Tuesdays are what life is all about...