Be the nice teacher!

How wonderful if every parent had this discussion with students heading back to school. Probably, most do. And, let's face it, we as adults need to repeat this mantra as well.  In fact it could be re-written to fit us as adults:

Some teachers are smarter than you.
Some teachers have nicer purses than you.
Some teachers are better dancers than you at school assemblies.
It doesn't matter! 
You have your thing too.
Be the teacher who welcomes the new teachers into the group.
Be the teacher who shares posters.
Be the teacher who listens to all the great vacation stories everyone has.
Be the teacher who doesn't chime in on the latest gossip.
Be the nice teacher.

It's the beginning of school again.  Today is August 1st.  For me, once it's August 1st, summer is over.  I'm in school mode.   I think I'm the nice teacher.  All I know is  I CAN'T DANCE.  But, I do like to share posters!  

2018 begins my 25th year as a teacher!  2018, here I come! 



(Picture found on Facebook from a post by Myra Trimble Barnes. Thanks Myra for sharing.) 

Less than a month left...

I haven't done a great job with that #bookaday commitment that I made at the beginning of the summer. There are several YA books and new chapter books that I had thought I would get completed, but it hasn't happened.  I still hold out hope that some will get read.  There is still a month, or so, left on summer vacation.  It could happen...

However, my reading life this summer has included reading things to enhance my role as a librarian and as one who loves to sneak in a writing lesson quite frequently with the fifth and sixth grade students that I see everyday 1st and 2nd hours. So far, I'm re-reading Pernille Ripp's Passionate Readers.   

I was fortunate to hear her speak at nErDcampMI last summer and I loved the things she had to say about reading in the classroom.  Her ideas are realistic and speak truth to the fact that things aren't always perfect or the way we intend, but the battle is waged daily and the war is not lost if there is not success on one or even two or three days.  My hope is to model a love of reading  that I hope transfers so that they think about reading a lot and not just between the hours of 8 and 3. 

Goals can be re-evaluated and revised.  That's where I am.  What can I do to make the rest of my summer productive?  I'll keep working on that.  

It's the end of the school year, so why can't I take a break?

It's the end of the school year!  Yay!  What's the first thing I did when I got home today, you ask?  Did I go to the pool?  Did I finish binding a quilt I had begun?  Did I take a nap?  The answer is NO to all those things. I began making lists for things to do, or do better, next year. 

I already have a list.  I have already sent myself  three emails.  I'm already planning on going back to school tomorrow.  The one thing I am going to do tonight is begin my journey on the #bookaday challenge.   

Here's my list of things, so far:

• Read a #bookaday
• Piece more quilt tops with the stash I have
• Clean up, clean out
• Write more

I think that list seems well-rounded.  Happy Summer! 

What's in a number? Details!

Today was the last day of the first hour, fifth grade, journal writing goal attempt.   At the beginning of the second quarter we set a goal to write 25,000 words in eight weeks.  That's 25,000 words for 12 students for eight weeks.  The numbers worked out to around 300 words per student, per week.  I don't know if that is a high word count, or not, but it's what I came up with.  Always before I had approached student journal writing by saying just write about the topic.  I have never put a number qualifier on writing.  This was something new to me.   But, I decided to try it. By knowing that they had a number goal to meet, they spent more time trying to add details to add more words.  More details are a good thing. 

My ideas with this goal was to get students to write.  I haven't ever assigned a grade based on a word count.  I do look for quality over quantity.  I know what the research says about requiring a word amount.  However,  I just wanted them to write and maybe get lost in the details, literally.  I wanted them to have some incentive to write more.  I have learned that students do use excuses to not write, sometimes.  

I'm very proud to announce that they met and surpassed their goal.  They wrote almost 27,000 words!  We are celebrating next week!  

Reading Lives

A few days ago my 6th grade library class talked about reading lives.  What does that look like?  Obviously, it's different for everyone.  Sometimes, we measure reading lives with how many books  read.  Sometimes,  we measure reading life by how consistently we read:  every day, once a week during silent reading time during library class or sporadically without anyone reminding us.

My reading life ebbs and flows with ups and downs.  I'm kind of in a standstill right now.  I'm hoping that it picks up over Christmas break.  It seems as though everything is crazy at this time of year.  I'm taking time to write this because I just can't not write.  My goal last year was to read more.  My goal this year is to blog more. I write every day.  I don't have many blog posts, but I write every day.  I journal with my students.  I follow the writing prompt just like they do.  I have to write something everyday.

A random fun thing happened yesterday.  A popular children's writer liked my Instagram post.  Yay! I like that we can connect with those who we respect and want to be like (a writer...)

A random fun thing happened today too.  A group of students came to the lab to write a three page paper assigned by their music teacher about the three songs that have influenced them the most.  They were struggling.  The writing teacher in me came out.  I couldn't help myself.  I guided them through finding ways to add information to their essays.  I felt so needed.  It was a good feeling!

Kindness with a side of Donuts

Earlier I tweeted a video from CBS Sunday morning about a person who decided to spend the last two years of his life empowering children to do good.  As I understand it, it all began with his desire to take a Krispy Kreme donut truck and go to a school and just give away donuts.  It grew into grants that children could apply for to fund projects and ideas they could come up with to help others. Wow!

What a great story.  I decided to share it because I think we need more good news.  I think that we are better than what the news tells us we are.  I know that we need to be informed about things that are going on.  I realize that the news can't be all about good.  There are horrible, awful things going on in the world that we need to be aware of.  But, do we really need to go on and on about bad behavior.   It's like that old adage that as a teacher I have heard time and time again:  Children will get your attention.  And, if you don't give them regular attention and encourage them to be good, they will get your attention with bad behavior so that you have no choice but to pay attention to them.  I'm beginning to think there is not a age limit for this.

Our children will look at us when they are overwhelmed by a situation.  We have choices to make when this happens.  We can calmly assess the situation and figure out if their need for our attention is because they truly need us to help or they just need acknowledgment from us.  Or, we can overreact and feed into a common condition with today's youth, the need to be rescued.  Problem solving is an important skill.

I just finished the book Wonder by RJ Palacio with my 5th grade class.  Auggie shows a lot of tenacity.  Sometimes he struggles with problem solving, but luckily he has a lot of help from friends and family.  As the theme of the book goes, I encouraged my students to show kindness to each other.  My goal is to show kindness this week and always.  I hope I get it right.

Sunday School Conversations and Rick Bragg

This has been a great weekend.  Several things happened to make that so.    First of all my youngest son took about a minute, 15 seconds, off his personal best in the high school cross country meet he ran in.  And, in that same day, my other son came home for a visit.  He’s busy in college and it’s a rarity that he just drives home for an afternoon.  I’m so glad he did!

Second,  my youngest  was the only one in Sunday School class this weekend.  Normally, I wouldn’t say this is a good thing because of course we all want all of our young ones to be in Sunday school class, especially once they become teenagers.  However, it was just he and I (the teacher… don’t you wish your mom was your Sunday school teacher… nope!)  Anyway, the lesson was about Satan’s influence on our lives.  The lesson began by telling how that Satan was one of God’s leading angels and then he decided to take on God and, of course, he lost the battle and was cast out of Heaven, and so on.   We talked about his and the Garden of Eden and Eve’s choice  and how the apple was not the problem, disobedience was the problem.  I took a moment to say to him that even though he is not perfect and does sometimes makes mistakes, he take the advice his father and I give and does better.  

He’s getting ready to go to college and that’s a scary thing for me.  I know that just like the other two, he is so wanting to make the world a fair and better place that I worry he will not always see the danger that lies just ahead.  I hope that over the next two years,  I can have time to instill in him things to look for and be wary of.  I keep telling myself, my other two children have navigated moving away from my watchful eye successfully, I have no need to worry about him.

Finally, the third thing … I introduced him to Rick Bragg’s essays on the last page of Southern Living magazine.    We had a conversation about how my fantasy of the South is usually about plantation homes and football tailgates with lots of friends and lazy Sunday drives with the top down.  I explained to him that I know that is not the true version of the South.  It’s quite a bit more complicated than that.  But, I like my fantasy.  Living in Southern Missouri I realize I’m not a true Southerner… I only play one in my head.  The thing I like about Rick Bragg is that his essays mix my version and the real version effortlessly.   So before you look at all the wonderful decor and recipes in that magazine, be sure you read the last page.

I’m going to have to fit more of these conversations with my youngest in during the next two years.  Or, maybe I’ll do what I have threatened with the other two and just go off to college with him.  Think he’d go for that?