day 31: challenge accepted

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Today I got to go plan with the third grade team. We were taking a third grade assessment again so we could create a rubric. I had said something like, "I love doing this! It's so helpful!"

Fast forward a few minutes as I was composing an Instagram post, and I said, "I love emojis! I wish I could speak in all emojis!"

Sometime thereafter, Jennie said something along the lines of "Michelle loves everything." The meaning I implied from that (all in good fun, of course) is that what I say I love doesn't count, because, quote, I love everything.

Very well, Jennie. Challenge accepted. I will come up with a list of things I hate. All day long I have been thinking about all the things I hate. I know yesterday I said I'd be more positive today, but sorry....I have been composing this post in my head all day!

So here you have it, the things I Hate...yes, Hate with a capital H:

1. Traffic. I hate it. Such a waste of time, especially when it takes an hour or more to drive my 12 mile commute.
2. Passive Aggressiveness. Please just be direct with me. If you're mad at me but conflict avoidant (is that a word? I clearly don't know how to spell it!) that's not my thing. You need to address the problem in a direct way. I appreciate that.
3. Grudge lists. This kinda goes with #2. You don't get to be mad at me and keep a list of things in your mind, and finally, 7 years later ocme out with it. "Don't you remember that time in 1997 when you ___?" Ummmm....no. I don't remember what I did last week.
4. Meatloaf. Meat should not be in a loaf. Ever.
5. When my landlord doesn't clean up the leaves in the fall. This has now been two years in a row that my street looks like Skid Row (as H called it last year). It is all gross with mud and leaves and dirt buried in the snow and now that it's all melted it's just gross out there. Come'on man, do your job!
6. Scary movies. I will not watch it if it involves super scary things or drugs. I don't want to know about it, see it, or have nightmares about it. 
7. One more thing - but I forgot what it was. There was one more that I had at lunchtime, but then Jill said, "You can't put that. It's like saying you hate murder. Everyone does." hahhahaa...what was it? Anyone remember?

So there, Jennie. I do hate some things, but definitely not emojis, as you can see from my post from earlier today!

Look at those emojis....

Confetti, thumbs up, checkered flag,

trophy and a heart!

LOVE!

Maybe Jennie's right. It's not in my nature to not love stuff!

One more thing I loved: the SOL Challenge this year! I'll be back on Tuesdays!

classroom slice of life 3.31.15

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Hello! Today's the day - our last day for this challenge, but how amazing our time has been, right?

I'm already thinking about what's next. And what is next, you ask? National Poetry Month - it's April! Check out this awesome poem, Poet Breathe Now:

Let's try and pen some poems this month! At our meeting tomorrow, we can talk about a day to link them up...maybe once a week?

Excited to read your final posts today!

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day 30: smashed

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So annoyed yesterday.

H and I decided to go to brunch. It was raining and cold and so my windows were all fogged up. We got in the car and I was raving about Louder Than a Bomb... I had my new shirt from the event in the back seat that I was showing him. Being all enthused in my conversation, I didn't think to check my mirrors when backing up and I totally smashed my bumper and driver's side tail light into the pole of the El tracks (The train runs right through his parking lot, elevated by posts.)

and now my tail lights and back bumper are totally smashed. As I heard the crunch of my bumper and pole, the other sound I heard was the "cha-ching" of my bank account being deducted my insurance deductible. I can think of 1 million other things I'd rather blow $500 on. This is not one of them:

I'm so annoyed at this accident. I know I need to be thankful that I have money in savings to cover it, but I'm still just so super annoyed. So annoyed, that I've even realized I've used that word three times, but I'm too irritated to fix it. So there!

ha. Well that made me feel at least a little better.

I'll be back on the happy train tomorrow. Everyone gets excused once in awhile for negativity, right?

classroom slice of life 3.30.15

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Happy Monday! Well, it's just today and tomorrow, writers! Be sure to link up!

I'd love to know what you thought about the Slice of Life Blogging Challenge, can you share some information with me about the questions below? On tomorrow's post, please write about any or all of these questions:

• What did you love about the SOL Blogging Challenge?
• What was hard about it?
• What did you learn about yourself as a writer?
• Do you think you'll blog more now in the months ahead? Why or why not?
• Would you participate in the SOL Blogging Challenge next year?

Thank you for your honest answers, and I can't wait to read your thoughts!

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classroom slice of life 3.29.15

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Good morning! Hope you are having a great weekend. Here is a little bit of writing inspiration for you as we are in the home stretch of the challenge!

"I wrote from a sense of need. I needed something to do. You can't just sleep all day long." -Snoopy

"All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world." -E.B. White

"Writing is like baseball or piano playing. You have to practice if you want to be successful." -Betsy Byars

"I give myself permission to suck. I delete about 90 percent of my first drafts.....so it doesn't really matter much if on a particular day I write beautiful and brilliant prose that will stick in the minds of my readers forever, because there's a 90% chance I'm just gonna delete whatever I write anyway. I find this hugely liberating. I also like to remind myself of something my dad said in (response) to writers' block: 'Coal miners don't get coal miners' block.'" -John Green

Let's finish strong, kiddos!

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day 29: power to the people! Write on!

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A few days ago I was texting with friends, trying to figure out what we were going to do this weekend:

They laugh at me but have no idea about the event I attended yesterday. Said poetry slam was Louder Than a Bomb, presented by Young Chicago Authors. LTAB is a poetry festival, this year, celebrating it's 15th year. I came to find out about it last year when I came across this video on Twitter:

LTAB is a poetry competition, but the point is not the points, the point is the poetry! All of March, the teams and individuals attend bouts until they are narrowed down to four teams to compete at the finals. This year, finals were held at the Arie Crown Theater at McCormick Place. LTAB is actually the largest youth poetry festival in the world...how awesome is that?

I went with one of my favorite work friends, Alexa. Neither of us had been before. When we arrived, we found seats, and the DJ was playing music and all the kids were dancing on stage....tons of kids from all over Chicago and a few suburbs. "This is what the city of Chicago looks like."

Eventually the competition got underway. Each team was to have three individual performances and then one group performance. Kids were encouraged to "Step up to the microphone and dream." They were told to share their stories. This festival came about to give a voice to marginalized groups across the city.

The kids spoke poems about all kinds of topics - some I have no idea about, but many included themes of police treatment of black boys. Being such a traumatic event, what happened in Ferguson was woven through many of the pieces. Kids discussed politics in Chicago, wars happening in our city and around the world, their experiences being different than the "Barbie Army" applying their red lipstick in the bathroom mirrors as the different girl hides in a bathroom stall. One girl spoke about an act of violence she endured. All poems were just that - laced in metaphor, plagued with sounds that make the poetry come alive as it was performed for us.

The best thing? There was a theater full of kids who LOVE writing. One of the co-founders talked about how these kids who participate in LTAB walk around their high schools as popular as the star football players, but instead of catching a pass and winning Friday night's game, they are "hyper literate nerd word" kids, looked up to by their peers. LTAB gave them art, poetry, and a space to find themselves, and that's exactly what they did.

As a presenter at the end gave out the literary award, he shared a quote (I didn't catch who said it) but it was, "The world may be in bad shape, but you can't blame the youth." So true. Last night was exhilarating. I am definitely not done with classroom teaching. I totally want to teach high school. Think of all I could learn from the youth that sits before me if I was ever able to have that awesome opportunity?

Check out archives of LTAB here.

classroom slice of life 3.28.15

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Hi there! Happy Saturday! Not too many days left now - so exciting that you've all written so much!

Another strategy that Two Writing Teachers share for writing posts is to use one you've already written - revise it by adding on or making it different:

Some ideas for major revision:

1. Take a favorite line from an old post and use the old ‘explode the moment’ strategy. In a new post, start with the line you chose, and then close your eyes and picture the moment that line came from. Write down everything you see, hear, and feel. Create a picture with your words.
2. Go to an older post that you loved and highlight all the key words, then create a poem from all the words you highlighted. You might even decide to add on more!
3. Reread some of your favorite posts. When you get to the end of a favorite post, write a new ending for it. Sometimes your new ending to an old story can become the beginning of a new story!
4. Take a true story that you wrote and turn it in to fiction–or even fantasy or sci fi! Revise it to change the characters, or the setting, or both. Then as you begin to write, you might change around what really happened, giving it a new ending. You might even wind up with a completely new and fresh fictional story by the time you are done.

I know we only have a few days left of this challenge, but we can all continue writing a few times a week for all the months that come after March! Then, when you're feeling particularly tired (like Sidney was on Wednesday) it's okay to take a little break.

Excited to read some new slices that might begin from one you already have!

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