slice of life

Welcome to the BigTime Blogging Challenge! Today, we are writing Slice of Life stories. They are small moment stories (think memoir) and are hosted by Two Writing Teachers, so be sure to share your story in both places! Don't forget to leave comments. But, it's important to note, on the Two Writing Teachers blog, don't leave your link in the comment of other people's posts. The feedback there is more about encouragement and sharing about what you loved about the writing you read!

I don't have any of my own kids. The closest I have is my niece, Caitlyn. She lives in Charlotte but when she was a baby and a toddler, my sister and I lived in Phoenix, super close to one another. Caitlyn grew up with me and she's the closest thing I have to my own kid. I am the original Auntie (the name she still calls me) and I couldn't be more happy to have that title.

As I mentioned a few posts back, she was visiting me for a week in June. We did so much together (I was actually super exhausted!) but I had so much fun with her.

But then it was time to take her to the airport. On the way, everything was fine - I was more worried about not missing the flight to even think about her leaving. We ended up being pretty early, so we sat and read books and watched You Tube videos. We called her mom and talked to her. It still wasn't hitting me how sad I was going to be that she was leaving.

Finally, they called for preboarding for her flight. There was another child flying solo, so they met one another and got to sit together. As I was hugging her goodbye for the third time, it washed over me - this kiddo, the closest thing I have to my own child, is leaving and I'm not going to see her anytime soon.

She walked down the tunnel, looking over her shoulder and waving, and I sat back down. I tried to read a little, but couldn't focus. I walked to the window and watched the plane sit there.

The plane finally began to taxi away and the tears came. I had gotten used to having her around all the time again, just like it used to be when she was so young. I always had someone to talk to, to share meals with, and laughs. I got to experience things with her for the first time - riding front seat of Raging Bull and tears at the sushi restaurant.

To some extent, this must be what it feels like to have a kid. I was so so sad, and even sitting here thinking about it makes me a little misty.

Can't wait until next summer when she comes back again. Thank you to my sister for sending her. As I sit here, I'm just thinking:

Get the details for the challenge here!

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fun summer plans

Summer is awesome, isn't it? Today we're talking about fun summer plans for the #btbc15. I've been having the best summer! In June, one of the huge highlights is that my niece, who is 11 years old, came to visit me in Chicago for the week. We did so much and had so much fun. Here are some of the highlights:

Dinner on Hektor's rooftop

(amazing view, right?)

Dave and Busters

Sushi!

Cubs game!

Six Flags

I also got her to start blogging over at Monkey Business! (Check out her blog and leave her a comment!)

That week in June was so fun, and I love this kid. I was so sad to see her go!

Next cool plans are the California trip that I'm currently on!

This month I'm also taking a Writing Workshop with my writing buddy JennieB. Then, when that ends, I'm going to Florida for a week to see my mom and stepdad. We're staying in Ormand Beach for a week right by the water and I couldn't be more excited (except by that time, summer will almost be over!)

I know by the end of this I'll be all set to go back for another school year. I'm so thankful for summer breaks that give us time to rejuvenate, reflect, and get ready for another year!

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remember when

Get the details for this challenge here!

Good morning friends! Today's post is a remember when! Format it how you want, but here I go with mine!

Dear Dunk,
Remember how we met at community college and then bonded over shopping? I'm so glad that happened, because if it wouldn't have, I would have never had such an awesome fourth with you and your family!

Dear Just Jantz,
Remember how we share an office at work and I get to see you every day? I miss those days (but am also still enjoying summer break!) Also: You looked so pretty in that picture yesterday on fb!

Dear Team Heartless,
Remember when we had the most amazingest team ever teaching middle school? I still think about that time so fondly, and am so happy for a great principal who put us all together!

Dear boyfriend,
Remember how you walked little Aubrey to the car last night, holding her hand and doing math facts with her? So cute. My heart was melting!

Dear Mom and Rob,
Remember how I used to get to see you all the time? I miss those days and I miss your faces! Can't wait till July 31st!

I'm still on vacation, but promise to go through all the posts as soon as I return home! Happy Sunday everyone!

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saturday skinny

Happy Saturday everyone! Today's Saturday Skinny post is all about what's going on in your neck of the woods. First thing's first on my skinny: it's the fourth of July and it's the actual day my blog was started. Happy Birthday BigTime Literacy!

This blogging journey has been so fun! In two years, I have learned so many new things and been able to learn and share with tons of people! But the best thing was last Sunday night and getting ready to do a Twitter Chat and seeing some friends (who I've never met) participating with me. Love the relationships that are blooming from this blogging journey!

So, Saturday Skinny: I'm in Southern California visiting my girlfriends! My friend Katie and I got out here on Tuesday and then went to our friend Jamie's house for the night. Then, we made our way to Newport Beach.

I had my first Balboa Bar:

We spent some time on the beach (but never enough):

and had lots of fun with a Selfie Stick:

And then Thursday afternoon, Hektor came too. He finally got to meet the last of my closest friends, Jamie. We went back to the beach, had a great dinner and met Katie's childhood friends, and he was able to see why I love these friends so much (they're hilarious).

We'll be here till Monday and still have some wineries to see, a Dodgers game to catch, and a fun fourth of July at a lake by Jamie's house. Excited!

So I'm sorry if I've been off the grid with commenting at you guys back! I get home on Monday night so I'll be more normal with it beginning on Tuesday!

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social media connects us!

Hey there! We're continuing on with the BigTime Blogging Challenge. Today we're talking about social media and how we use it to support our teaching.

For me, my start was in blogging. I originally started this blog as a way to archive information I might need to share in the future. I had no idea BigTime Literacy would lead me to a world of collaboration!

Twitter came next. It was at 2014's Illinois Reading Council conference when Stephanie Harvey was talking about how amazing it is. So, I started an account then and there, and tweeted a thank you to her. She favorited one of my first tweets!

Since then I've been able to follow lots of great people (and I'll save that for a blog in two weeks) but there's so much great information to be had on Twitter. Articles and blog posts and quotes and even learning about what's going on in other buildings in my district. I'm remembering the kinder teachers at Irving - they had a wedding for Q and U - and I happened to see the picture of it on Twitter. The next day, with my 1:1 kiddo - I was able to talk about Q and U - and use the picture from my colleagues down the street. That is one of the amazing things about Twitter!

And then there's the Twitter Chats. The past few months I've participated in a few of them - the Good to Great chat (#G2Great) on Thursday nights and just did my first Teaches Pay Teachers chat (#tptchat) on Sunday night. Dr. Howard and teachers from the Two Writing Teachers blogs are always at the #G2Great chat, so you always make great connections at that one. The ideas that are shared and the enthusiasm are really inspiring!

To participate in a Twitter Chat, I think it's easiest on a laptop. You'll also need an account with Tweet Deck, which looks like what you see below:

Tweet Deck is a website where you can follow hashtags in real time. You'll need to use this in order to participate in the conversation. The moderator will have 5 questions, labeled Q1, Q2, Q3. The participants will answer questions with A1, A2, A3. You have to use the hast tag - think of it like a TV channel. Then, you have one of those columns in Tweet Deck tracking your chat. I know it seems complicated, but you'll catch on easily. And, the hour long Twitter Chats go so fast!

I also use Instagram pretty regularly to follow other teachers and share what's going on with my day-to-day. It's easy to post a picture quickly and share with friends! I just found out about if this then that, which can make your twitter automatically post pictures you share to instagram (and not as a link - as the actual picture!)

I've got a facebook, too, for this blog!

As you can see, I'm everywhere, learning from friends I know and new friends I don't!

What about you? How have you used Social Media with your blogging? Please share!

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daring greatly book study 1 of 5

Hi there! Welcome back to the BigTime Blogging Challenge! For details of the challenge, check this link, and so we are onward with today's post: Book Study!

Today we being our talks of Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. (If you want to blog about another book, feel free, or blog about whatever you want! The challenge is just about writing every day!) We're booktalking the Introduction, Chapter 1: Scarcity: Looking Inside our Culture of "Never Enough," and Chapter 2: Debunking the Vulnerability Myths. First, let's start with the quote that is at the heart of the book:

This is the second time through for me on this book, and I'm so happy to be revisiting it! Brené Brown is convinced we live in a culture of scarcity:

• Never good enough
• Never perfect enough
• Never thin enough
• Never powerful enough
• Never successful enough
• Never smart enough
• Never certain enough
• Never safe enough
• Never extraordinary enough

She says this is because it's a tough world to live in - there's been so many tragedies: 9/11, multiple wars, recession, increase in random violence and school shootings (p.27). She says all of this stuff makes us angry and scared, and rather than coming together to heal (which takes vulnerability) we are instead at each other's throats.

She lists three components of scarcity and some questions to consider for each:

1. Shame: Is self-worth tied to achievement, productivity, or compliance? What about favoritism? Is perfectionism and issue?
2. Comparison: Healthy competition can be beneficial, but is there constant overt or covert comparing and ranking?
3. Disengagement: Are people afraid to take risks or try new things?

The anecdote to all this is what she defines as wholeheartedness. She says at it's core, wholeheartedness is vulnerability and worthiness: facing uncertainty, exposure, and emotional risks and knowing I am enough.

Some quotes that I just loved from Chapter 2:

Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity (p. 34)

To put our art, our writing, our photography, our ideas out into the world with no assurance of acceptance or appreciation, that's also vulnerability (p. 34).

After being on this blogging journey, I couldn't agree more. It totally takes vulnerability to write on a blog and share it widely! Your fears are that what you have to say might not matter, might not be good enough, or there might not be anyone who cares.

Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage (p.37). 

Yep, totally feels like courage. It takes courage to put your ideas and thoughts out there, unsolicited! It takes courage to love unconditionally. It takes courage to tell your colleagues, "I don't know the answer..."

The willingness to show up changes us (p. 42).

I've been changed. Blogging changed me - for the better. I don't fear judgement anymore, but will take constructive criticism appreciatively, from those who are putting themselves out there with me. Blogging has also made much such a more informed writing teacher. I understand what it is to live the "writerly life" - a life I want my students to lead.

Nothing has transformed my life more than realizing that is's a waste of time to evaluate my worthiness by weighing the reaction of the people in the stands (p. 54).

This book has made me feel okay to tell myself, "I am enough. I am smart / kind / compassionate / thin / happy enough." I no longer care about the opinions of others - opinions of the people who are not in the arena with me. People who don't walk in my shoes, they get no air time in my thoughts. And when those thoughts do come, this book has helped me be able to let them go so much easier!

So those are just some of my thoughts from the beginnings of the book. Next week on Thursday, we will be back to discuss Chapter 3: Understanding and Combating Shame.

What are your initial responses to the text? Be sure to leave your post here!

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bigtime blogging challenge 15 begins!

Hello everyone! Today's the day! The BigTime Blogging Challenge officially begins, so I hope you're ready for a month long celebration of writing and teaching and collaborating with other teacher writers around the blogosphere!

First, just some housekeeping:

1. Write as often as you like, but be sure to link your posts to mine here at BigTime Literacy.
2. Use the image above in your post and then link back to BigTime Literacy.
3. Make sure to comment on at least three other people's blogs to keep the encouragement going!
4. You can write according to my prompts or not - the whole idea is to just write every day!
5. Use #btbc15 when you post on Social Media so all our writing can be collected together
6. Have fun and make new friends!

And let's get to business now! Today's prompt:

Introduce yourself and talk about what you're hoping for this challenge.

Well, as you all know, I'm Michelle. I am a Literacy Coach - my third year coming up. Prior to that, I taught middle school ELA for 10 years. (Man, I'm getting old wise!)

I seriously love to write. One day I'd really like to write a book, so I've just been using this blog for the past two years to write about what's going on in my world - mostly teaching stuff but also some personal life stuff, too. It's my hope that over time patterns will emerge and I'll have more direction for my book. In the mean time, I'm really enjoying getting to know other bloggers. I've become friends with quite a few of them - met a few for lunch IRL and others have been added to my personal facebook page. I love connecting with and learning from other educators!

This blogging challenge began in 2014. I had signed up to give a PD in my district about blogging, and I planned the challenge for the month after the PD. The reason for that was twofold: First, I know that new bloggers need to write consistently to get into the habit of it, and when you do a challenge together there is more support and encouragement, which keeps us going. Second, BigTime Literacy was celebrating it's first birthday and I wanted to do something great to celebrate it - so the blogging challenge was born!

This year, I'm hoping to make some new friends, share some new stories, and just enjoy my summer free time with writing and reading. I hope many of you will join!

So tell me, who are you and what are you hoping and/or expecting from this month-long writing challenge? Can't wait to see who's here!

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