in love

It has been my dream for years to have a 7/8 combo ELA class where the seventh graders loop, a la Nancie Atwell. My dream is beginning to take flight this year!

Last year I had a combo class, but it was small. Mostly 8th graders, with three seventh graders. Those seventh graders are now in eighth, but my new combo class is a 50-50 mix of seventh and eighth, including my three from last year. The brilliance behind this plan has been found already, just in week one.

In four short sessions of ELA, I can already see the potential for this combo class design. This week, we began some procedures that will turn into daily routines. The first one is poetry, which is another recommendation from Nancie Atwell. Have kids study poetry every day because it packs big meaning in short text.

So there I was sitting with the kids in our meeting space, and after reading our first poem, Human Family to them, I asked them to partner read with their Accountability Buddy (long term partnership chosen by kids). The kids of mine who were with me last year knew exactly what was coming, and so it was such a delight to have them get right to work by prompting their partner to begin.

The choral reading of the poem we did, no complaints this year, no feelings that it was weird, because I had kids who were already accustomed to this practice. If I have just three kids looping this year, imagine the impact when I have 14 models next!

It's just the beginning, and I believe in my heart that this is such an effective way to deliver ELA instruction! I can't wait to see what other little insights I'll have as we move forward this year.

And to top it all off, on an exit ticket, one of my seventh graders wrote this:

"The highlight of ELA was being with the 8th graders."

Totally, #allthefeels.

Does anyone else have a combo, looping class? I'd love to hear more about your experiences!

Happy Saturday!

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"Twinkle lights are the perfect metaphor for joy. Joy is not a constant. It comes to us in moments - often ordinary moments. Sometimes we miss out on the bursts of joy because we're too busy chasing down extraordinary moments. Other times we're so afraid of the dark we don't dare let ourselves enjoy the light. A joyful life is not a floodlight of joy. That would eventually become unbearable. I believe a joyful life is made up of joyful moments gracefully strung together by trust, gratitude, inspiration, and faith."

-Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

Trust. I trust that I really do not need another new planner for the year. Here's the thing - I buy them every year, sometimes super expensive ones from Erin Condren, but then I don't use them. I use my iCal pretty consistently for meetings and appointments and I use a notebook all the time to process my thinking in PD sessions and in meetings. So, even though there was a super cute planner at Home Goods, I resisted. I trust I will not miss it!

Gratitude. Feeling pretty thankful for a great new coteacher. We spent some time yesterday in our room purging a bunch of crap from eons ago and deciding what we will do with the room. It's going to be a great collaboration, and I can't wait for this year with her!

Also feeling thankful for my super thoughtful friend who has sent me not one, but two little polaroid on-the-go printers. This one works really well for pictures, this one is better for text. I used the one that does good text to design my new Writer's Notebook. It's going to be my goal to write every morning before work, and meditate. Now that I've got a beautiful notebook, I can't skip it!

Inspiration. There are so many teachers on Instagram that inspire me; I have been loving following the back to school journeys and seeing all the classrooms. Especially flexible seating options! Sitting on the beach gives me inspiration, too. While I mostly sit on the Fresh Coast where the waves don't roll in as big as on the East of West Coasts, it still feels pretty great to clear my thoughts there. Inspired by the app Calm - did you know they will give educators a free account to use their meditations with students? Check it out! Anyways, I have been meditating now for four days, and it really makes a difference in my day being able to label emotions but not flying off the deep end with them. I've been thinking about how I could use this with my students....

Faith. I'm having faith that there's something better out there for me. I'm about to put a final end to a relationship, one that isn't serving me, one that I know I am better off without. It's so hard though, especially when you can see potential. Especially when you can see all the good, and even when you are able to put all the bad stuff over to the side and move forward. But people do not change because anyone wants them to, they only change when they want to. Who knows when or even if that would ever happen? So, it's sad that there's going to be an ending, but I am having faith that something better is just around the corner.

Feel like bringing some joy to your life? Write a TGIF post and leave your link in my comments so I can be sure to check it out!

Happy Friday!

writing joy

New chat in town, #TeachWrite. Last Monday was their first twitter chat, and it was awesome. It's specific to a special group of people, us teacher writers! And, they've taken it to the next level, by offering up an invitation to write after the chat. This month the topic of conversation is JOY :-)

There are many reasons writing brings me joy, but here are just a few...

It's cool to create stuff. I didn't consider myself a writer until a few years ago, but to be a part of a group that is creating content is amazing. One of my teacher friends, Kayla just published a post about how to make your desktop look cuter. I watched her video tutorial, and then spiced mine up. All of that happened because of blogs, because of creativity, and I can't tell you how much joy my new desktop, and the conversation around it on Twitter and Instagram, has brought me!

Writing brings me joy because when it's on a blog, it's not this solitary task, it's social! I've made new friends online, and some I've even met in real life! Relationships are so important to me, so to have more friends because of writing is something I definitely treasure.

Writing is joyful because when you are writing in a public format, you see that you are not alone. When others read your work, they sometimes leave comments, and to know that you are not the only one to experience things makes you happy. I am so thankful for the interactions that have come about because of my blog.

Writing and students... My students do a lot of writing. We quick write or journal write almost daily, they publish blog posts, and of course we write more formally, too. Because I do the work with them, I'm better able to coach them at writing. I understand that it takes vulnerability to put your writing in front of someone else, to wait to have them critique it. Mem Fox said it best...

But to the point about students and writing and joy - sometimes, there are a few students who end up loving to write. Without my sharing of it with them in an authentic way, they may have never realized that. If each year even one student considers a writing life, that's enough cause for joy.

Sharing about my writing life with teachers brings me joy, too! Tomorrow I'm teaching a small PD session to a few teachers who are interested in beginning their own blog. To share something you love with others, to inspire them, to be their cheerleaders, all excellent reasons to feel joyous about writing.

How has writing brought you joy?

Be sure to check out Teach Write, their website, their twitter, and tune in the first Monday of every month for a Twitter Chat. They *even set up a remind account for text message reminders for their chat, so smart!

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"Twinkle lights are the perfect metaphor for joy. Joy is not a constant. It comes to us in moments - often ordinary moments. Sometimes we miss out on the bursts of joy because we're too busy chasing down extraordinary moments. Other times we're so afraid of the dark we don't dare let ourselves enjoy the light. A joyful life is not a floodlight of joy. That would eventually become unbearable. I believe a joyful life is made up of joyful moments gracefully strung together by trust, gratitude, inspiration, and faith."

-Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

Trust. I'm trusting that these cool Chicago temps are just a nice break from the heat, but that summer is still upon us. That the universe actually does have my back and is working behind the scenes to create amazing things. That I'll get to see my BFFs all together sometime in the near future. That there is a Goldendoodle puppy in my future, sooner or later.

Gratitude. Thankful for the easy summer days where I wake up slowly, coffee in hand, blogging happening at 8:15 in the morning. For my nieces who sent me the cutest cheer up note in the mail after a day I had been feeling pretty sad. For my friends who call, who share, who lunch with me, who listen. For a job I love so much, with kids who are amazing and funny and like coming to ELA, at least most of the time. For Arbonne: products that are toxin-free, but more so, for the community of friends who cheer me on every day.

Inspiration. Inspired by my nephew, Jackman, who is the cutest kid I've see, always cheesin' for the camera. 

By Beers & Probst and their book, Disrupting Thinking. By the teachers and bloggers who keep producing writing and sharing their lives with me. By Brené Brown and her work, that I've been immersed in all summer - so much that the format of this blog post comes from her book, The Gifts of Imperfection. By all the teachers on facebook and Instagram, and their beautiful classrooms that are coming together as we speak.

Faith. Faith that this school year will be the best one yet. That I will keep myself balanced with work and personal obligations, and fun! That my single friends and I will find our way in romance, but knowing that we'll have other until then (and after, too!)

Feel like bringing some joy to your life? Write a TGIF post and leave your link in my comments so I can be sure to check it out!

Happy Friday!