Slice of Life Archives - Page 8 of 10

Slice of Life: Book Club 3/24

I am participating again this year in the Slice of Life challenge in which we write a slice every day in March. If you are interested in joining in, visit the Two Writing Teachers blog for more information.

Tomorrow after school I am hosting the first meeting of my staff book club at school. I am so excited to have this meeting. It is something I have been thinking about for years. I finally decided to put it out there and I am so happy about the response. I feel like the book culture at my school could use some help. It is great that other teachers love the idea of a book club. I am so happy that I decided to put it out there.

The book club decided to read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I loved this book and am really looking forward to discussing it with others. I will be stopping by a neighborhood bakery in the morning to pick up some french pastries to share with my colleagues. I know I will love my time at book club and I hope that the other teachers do too.

Slice of Life: Monday Poem 3/23

Thought I would try a poem tonight. I don’t remember where I saw this idea, but I loved the playful form of two word lines. It was a challenge to stick to only two words for some lines. It is definitely something I will try again.

Monday

Bone Tired
Get up
Dress Well
Drink Coffee
Hurry up
Plan well
Make copies
Organize papers
Log in
Check mail
Greet students
Give directions
Repeat myself
Repeat myself
Repeat myself
Deliver lesson
Answer questions
Listen in
Blow whistle
Clap Hands
Line up
Eat lunch
Become genius
Read aloud
Confer quietly
Sort words
Remind students
Repeat myself
Repeat myself
Repeat myself
Line up
Find bathroom
Quick Meeting
Gym over
Walk back
Quiet writing
Homework directions
Line up
Say goodnight
Exhausted teacher
Yoga time
Clean more
Cook dinner
Read e-mail
Write blog
Must rest
Sweet dreams

Slice of Life: Serendipity 3/22

Sometimes things happen that seem to be more than coincidence, as if the universe were conspiring to send you a message. There are many books that I have read over the years that speak of some sort of force like an energy that brings you the things you need. Both The Celestine Prophecy and The Secret come to mind. Whether you believe in this sort of theory or not, it is hard not to read meaning into some coincidences.

On Friday, my husband and I went to our favorite bar. It is a beer bar in our neighborhood and we are regulars there. We enjoy having a beer at happy hour on Fridays and talking to the bartenders and relaxing. This week, we happened to sit down next to two Spaniards. This was significant because my husband is also a Spaniard. We overheard them speaking Spanish and knew from the accent that these two people were from Spain. Now, over the years we have met many people from Spain who are living in Milwaukee. We have been friends with some of them, acquaintances with others, and we most recently have really drifted away from the group of friends we had. So when we run into people from Spain we are curious, but cautious. It does not necessarily follow that just because you are from the same country you will be friends. But Friday, we had a very pleasant conversation with the two men that we met. One of them was just visiting and the other is living here. It was nice to talk about the things that we miss about Spain and the things that we like about Milwaukee. We had a nice conversation and we exchanged numbers and we will see what else happens, but it was nice to meet him.

The conversation with this Spaniard who we hadn’t yet met turned to conversation about a few people from Spain that were mutual acquaintances. My husband and I have not really seen these people for about three years. We talked a little bit about possibly trying to contact a few people who were friends of ours to try to re-establish contact. I am happy about this because it has not been something my husband has been interested in doing for a while and I kind of miss these people.

Then, on Saturday, we got a text from another couple who we had met in December. These people live in our neighborhood and also go to the beer bar frequently enough that the bartenders introduced us to each other. She is from Spain and he is from here and they didn’t really know anyone else from Spain. My husband and I had tried to contact them a couple times since we met them, but it never worked out. Then, all of a sudden, on Saturday, they were interested in meeting up. It just seemed too serendipitous. I wonder if their ears were burning from the night before when we were talking about the people we knew that were living in Milwaukee but from Spain.

I don’t exactly know what the universe has in mind for us as a message from this weekend, but it definitely felt like a sign. If nothing else, we might have a few new friends. Now, I need to go make Paella because we are craving Spanish food.

Slice of Life: Spring Equinox 3/21

Today, I am experimenting with poetry and with a digital design tool Canva.

On Saturdays, I also participate in the Celebration link-up. If you would like to read my celebration post you can find it on my other blog here.

Slice of Life: In Mary’s Garden 3/20

Today we had an author’s visit at school. I love that I have hooked up with the local independent bookstore, Boswell Book Company. I am on their school contact list and I get the e-mails about the opportunities for author visits.

This morning, we had Tina and Carson Kugler visit our school. This married couple wrote and illustrated the book In Mary’s Garden, which was released on Tuesday. What is so cool about this is that this book is about a local artist and pertains to a local bit of folklore. I absolutely enjoyed meeting the Kuglers as well as hearing about the work it took to make this picture book. It was so great to have our students learn about this really neat local attraction and possibly get them to ask their families to go visit.

Mary Nohl was a local Milwaukee artist who used found objects to build sculptures in her yard. She built an amazing space that was locally famous and many people came to visit it.

I really enjoyed hearing more about this interesting artist. I loved that the authors really focused on their own process. They worked hard to honor the artwork while also working to tell the story of this interesting woman. The video below talks about the artist.

The authors were amazing and I am so excited that we were able to host this event at my school. This is a wonderful picture book and I think it is such an interesting story. I hope many people buy this book and share our fun story about the local artist who brought intrigue to the shores of Lake Michigan.

Then when doing some research, I realized that Mr. Schu did a blog post about this book. If this isn’t an amazing recommendation for this picture book, I don’t know what is. To find out more about the book visit Mr. Schu’s blog here.

I am so excited that I got to experience a little bit of the fun book release party for this spectacular picture book.

(of course, I forgot to take pictures, so you’ll just have to take my word for it)

I love that I can provide this type of opportunity to my students.

Slice of Life: Upheaval at School 3/19

This year, our school has been put through the wringer. Our principal of 15 years decided to retire at the end of October. There was a plan in place and our assistant principal took over and we had a smooth transition. Just when we thought things were falling back into place, right before Christmas break, the district gave us the news that a person who was being demoted from Central Services would be placed at our school. It was a big upheaval. The administrator that was placed in our school had never been a principal and had very little experience in elementary schools. The situation was difficult for everyone, but we settled into our roles and sucked it up and it has been going well. The new principal took on the role very well. She worked hard to learn what she needed to learn about the way our school operates and she has been diligently trying to help our transition be smooth.

Now that we finally seem to be settling into this and things are falling into place and working smoothly, the district decided to throw a wrench into our lives again. They are possibly messing with the assistant principal again and changing her role at our school. I can’t believe the amount of ridiculousness that has been going on this year. And this woman has had to go through so many changes. Our principal said today at our staff meeting that she is pretty sure that this is happening because of her. It is awful that the powers that be are trying to make things difficult for our principal, but in the meantime they are losing sight of the purpose of education. Making things difficult for her will make things difficult for all of us. I am worried about the effects that all of this will cause in our school. I don’t understand why they are choosing to put us through the wringer. I wish they would just let us be until the end of the school year.

The reality of our situation as teachers is that we all have to bend to the whims of the political minds that run our district. It doesn’t help that I work for a large urban district. I wish that the business of igniting young minds did not depend so much on political moves. But I will keep plugging away and hoping that we get some consistency soon.

Slice of Life: Genius Hour 3/18

Two years ago, I attended EdCamp Milwaukee. It was an amazing experience and I had a wonderful day of learning. While I was there, I attended a session on Genius Hour. I had never heard of this idea but I was impressed by all the great ideas.

I went back to my school and immediately worked on a plan of how to incorporate Genius Hour into my day at school. Last year, I had my middle school ELA students work on individual projects. I loved the days that we worked on Genius hour and so did all of my students. This year, I have been trying to figure out how to incorporate this idea into my fourth grade classroom. I can’t believe it took me this long to get it started, but now I am so excited to start.

Today we had our second brainstorming session for my students to come up with their ideas for genius time. I suggested learning to code as one of the suggestions. I was so impressed with how focused my students were. It was so fun to hear how excited some students got when they wrote code and were able to draw pictures on the computer. I loved how engaged my students were today. It really turned my whole mood around.

I am looking forward to learning all about the topics they picked.

Slice of Life: Corned Beef and Cabbage 3/17

There are so many things that can make me think about my grandma. She was one of the most influential people in my life. I was the oldest grandchild by five years and so I had the privilege of being the favorite and the one with the closest relationship with my grandparents. I used to spend most weekends with them. I would call my grandma and invite myself over to their house. Then I would spend the weekend with them.

Around St. Patrick’s Day, I think about my grandmother. Her mother was Irish, and the tradition was to find a meal with Corned Beef and Cabbage every March. Each year, I look for a traditional Irish meal around this holiday. If I don’t find corned beef and cabbage, I look for a great Reuben sandwich.

So, when I wear a button saying “Kiss me I’m Irish” it makes me nostalgic for a time when I could share a traditional Irish meal with my grandma.

Slice of Life: Mondays 3/16

I am not usually one of those people that gets down about things. I have a pretty positive outlook and I can usually find the silver lining. But this year, with this group of students, I hate Mondays. I. Hate. Mondays. Or should I call it might-as-well-not-have-bothered-with-lesson-plans-because-of-the-bouncing-off-of-the-walls day. This group of students is full of individuals that are sweet and want to do good, but they have one of those group personalities that makes my days very exhausting.

Mondays are full of reminders of the way we do things and redirections and giving my signal for quiet only to be ignored and struggling to get their attention. This group is making me dig all the way through my toolkit, which has been built up over 15 years of teaching. I am almost at the end of my rope with them.

I know that tomorrow will be a little bit better and by Friday we will be right on track. Then, we will go home for the weekend and it will start all over. Oh, how I hate Mondays!

Does anybody else have this challenge this year? I would love to hear from you in the comments.

Slice of Life: Let’s Go to the Movies 3/15

For fifteen years, Ramon and I have loved watching and critiquing films together. We enjoy the kind of movies that really make you think and we love animated movies. For many years, we have not gone to the movie theater because of the prices. For some reason, we chose to believe that spending that much money on a ticket to a movie was just not worth it when we could watch films for very little money at home. In the last couple of months, my husband and I re-discovered the fun of going to the movies.

There were two major things that happened that got us interested in going to the theaters again. First, a beautiful cinema opened up in our neighborhood. A great business owner restored and remodeled a movie theater that had been closed for many years. The Avalon theater is so gorgeous inside.

There is a lounge and bar in the theater and waiters are there to serve you during the movie. The seats are extremely comfortable leather chairs with a nice tray table that you can use for your snacks. Going to this fabulous place made the money spent on movie tickets worthwhile. So right before Oscar time, we were able to watch both American Sniper and The Imitation Game. (I highly recommend the latter by the way) We watched the Academy Awards with so much more interest this year.

The second thing that happened was a gift card. My sister and her husband gave us a gift certificate to Marcus theaters. That was such a thoughtful gift because they knew that we don’t often go to the theater anymore. This weekend, we went to our usual movie theater and discovered that they are remodeling and have beautiful leather reclining seats now too. I was so excited to see Kingsman. Colin Firth is my Hollywood crush and I was looking forward to seeing him in a different type of role. We loved the movie, although if you don’t like violence or crude humor it is not for you. I think the movie was similar to a Quentin Tarentino film. The dark humor abounds. We had such a nice date night and will definitely be going back to see other movies in the future. (We might even get there on a Tuesday for $5 movie night)

Since we rekindled our love of cinema, we have been watching amazing movies at home too. My husband has been busy requesting DVDs from our public library and we also rent some movies. My favorites lately were A Hundred-Foot Journey, 12 Years a Slave, Whiplash, Big Hero 6 and The Theory of Everything. I have to say that I really agree that the actors who won Oscars deserved them, and the nominations were all well-deserved also.

I love that these few things happened to bring us back to something that we enjoy. Being an avid reader makes me love a good story and a good film can bring that story to life so well. Having a spouse who enjoys discussing films is priceless. I hope we will continue to go to the movies and that we won’t forget how much we enjoy it ever again.