forget about it {sol 3.3.16}

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I'm the fifth grade recess duty person and I love being with all 60 of those kids, even if we are all in one room together when it's too cold to go outside. And even though it's mostly too loud - all the time.

Today, the volume was growing at a steady pace, and then the girls screeched over something, so I told them all to go to their silent spots. I began my diatribe:

"Don't talk in your loud voice. Don't talk in your appropriate voice. Don't talk in a quiet voice, or a whisper. Just don't talk." 

This was met with, "How about sign language?" and this friend of mine starts tapping his palm like he's dialing a phone, then he's got his hand up to his ear and is pointing at another friend to pick up the call, then they're laughing, and then I'm laughing, and then it was over.

Recess, that is.

This is why my heart will always be with the middle school kids. They are so clever and funny, and I love them so!

just one look {sol 3.2.16}

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Just one look.

It can do so much.

It can say,

You're so funny.

I'm so thankful for you.

You mean the world to me.

Just one look.

It can say,

You better get back on task.

No! Don't head-butt your friend!

Stop chasing each other around the room!

Just one look.

It says,

You're going to love what I just did.

That's absolute perfection!

I couldn't be happier to be in your company.

Just one look.

It sometimes says,

Are you sure that's what you wrote?

Make a better choice.

I wish I knew sooner, so I could have helped.

Just one look.

They can build someone up.

They can tear someone down.

Just one look.

It can do so much.

Just one look.

Make yours count.

currently march

Hi all! It's March first and time to catch up with what's going on currently! Thanks to Farley for hosting; this is one of my favorite linkys each month. Love finding new bloggers and making new friends!

Listening to...
Current playlist includes quite the mix:

Record Year by Eric Church,

Love Yourself by the Biebs, and

Heartbeat by Carrie Underwood

I'll leave you with some happy, romantic stuff from Carrie; this song is so so good!

Loving...Slice of Life
Are you familiar with the blog over at Two Writing Teachers? Well, every March they host the Slice of Life Story CHallenge, and hundreds of teachers from around the globe commit to 31 days of writing in March. It is awesome!

This year, 8 teachers on our staff are blogging, plus all of our third and fifth graders, and a first grade class! It's so cool to hear everyone talking about writing and sharing stories.

And the best thing about it? Writing for 31 days will teach you far more than any curriculum ever could!

Thinking...about how anyone could still be voting for trump
I don't understand it, how so many people are voting for him? I wonder what the rest of the world must be thinking about us? Also, if you haven't seen this video from John Oliver, you must check it out. Heads up - this is by HBO, so it's explicit!

Wanting...New Pillows
How long do people usually keep their pillows? I swear, mine are at least 10 years old. That's kind of gross, right? Anyways, I'm waiting for a Kohl's coupon, and a 30% off one at that, to go buy them!
Needing...Spring to arrive
There have been a few days that I've heard birds chirping when I woke up, but I'm excited for that to happen more and more, and open the windows up and get ready for warm weather and sunsets after 7pm...and eventually, summer vacation :-)


Polling Place

Yep, we're a polling place. It's a non-attendance day for the kids, but teachers are here for a PD day. It's kinda annoying to have a Monday at work, then a PD day, then three more days, but whatever. I'm just happy the kids aren't here with all the strangers in the building. And...if you haven't voted yet, I hope you're #feelintheBern!

That's it for me! Be sure to follow along with my blog, I'll be writing every day in March! :-)

always there {sol 3.1.16}

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My first year of teaching was in the fall of 2003. That year, in my classroom in Creighton School, in Phoenix, Arizona, I met some pretty awesome kids. The year was a whirlwind. It flew by in an instant (much like the past 12) and before you knew it, it was the last day.

I can't remember exactly what meeting I had, but right when the bell rang, I had to go to the conference room to meet with some parents. In the moment, I was too busy to even realize what I'd be missing out on: the last dismissal and the last time I'd see my students that year.

The meeting ended and I went back to my classroom. It was empty. There were no more voices, the laughter and jokes had stopped, and even the arguing had ceased. It was just me, 32 empty desks and chairs, and bulletin boards ripped bare of all the student work.

I sat down in my chair. And I cried.

The year was rough (as are all first years) but it was over. Those kids, my kids, they were gone on home, to go swimming or stop the ice cream truck, or play soccer in the street, and I was left here to clean everything up and put everything away. Alone.

The tears continued to trickle down my face when the door flew open and two rowdy boys bounded into my space. Abruptly, their smiles and jokes stopped.

"Ms. B, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" they demanded, smiles gone.

Through my tears I replied, "Because everyone is gone! There's no more kids here anymore!"

Petie replied, laughing, "But we're right here!"

And he has been there, when he was in seventh grade, he was there, and eighth grade, too. And when I moved to a classroom down the street, he managed to find me there, too. And now that I'm in Chicago, and even though he's still in Phoenix, he's still here online, and my heart swells every time I hear from him.

"But please don't get emotional," he says, and I'm laughing out loud.

Love you, kiddo!

An InLinkz Link-up

conflict & appreciation... a Move Your Bus book study

Hi everyone! Welcome back to BigTime Literacy for #D100BloggerPD's next post on Move Your Bus! The series is winding down now...getting close to the end. Today I'm here with a reflection on two chapters: 27 - Go right to the source when there is a problem and 28 - Show appreciation.

Chapter 27 is all about how when you have a problem with someone, you should go right to the source to hash it out, rather than burdening everyone around you with the problem. I'd like to take a different angle on the chapter:

During the past few years, I've learned this lesson over and over in my relationships - the relationship I had with my ex-boyfriend, the ones I have with my friends and family, and also with my colleagues.

What I mean by "accepting" something is this: let's say a situation happens that you do not like and would not want to happen again. Sometimes we just let it slide and hope it doesn't happen again, or accept it. While it's easier to deal with problems like this in the short term, this take on conflict can be problematic for a few reasons:

1. You have to carry around the stress of the situation, which might cause you to want to talk to another person about it (like Clark says, burden someone else on your staff with the problem).

2. By not confronting it, you send a message that the behavior or the situation or whatever happened is okay, which lets people believe that you don't have any boundaries as far as that is concerned, which makes it seem like it's okay to do...maybe even again.

I'm so lucky to have this great friend, one of my best, who taught me how to address conflict. Since meeting her, living with her, and teaching with her, I'm so much more direct with the things that bother me. And, I also prefer to address conflict in person, because via email, messages get confused and it may not be interpreted the way in which you mean.

So, I agree with Ron Clark - If you've got an issue with someone, go to them, talk to them. He suggests beginning with how it made you feel, and also leading with, "I respect you, and I wanted to come to you directly instead of mentioning this to anyone else" (p. 145).

And you know what the best part of this is? That once you've had the conversation, it's done. You feel relief (no matter how hard it was to initiate the conversation), there's no holding grudges, and no one has to wonder whether or not you're upset, because when you're a person who is direct with conflict, you let others know when there is an issue.

I am the kind of person who thinks about gratitude and appreciation naturally. It's always been important to me to tell my friends and family how thankful I am for them, and that has transferred to work as well. 

As Clark mentions in Move Your Bus, there are many ways that people feel appreciated. Have you ever read Gary Chapman's Five Love Languages? This chapter totally reminds me of that - how Ron Clark says that some staff would like a note or just a compliment on their work to feel appreciated, yet others might feel most appreciated by a gift of some sort. There are three other love languages, which have been adapted to a book called The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, but this is important information to have because we all feel most appreciated differently.

What I know for sure is this: While the salary a staff at a particular school district makes is important, people (myself included) will continue to work in a place that may not pay the highest wages if they feel appreciated by their colleagues and their supervisors. People like to come to work and feel good, and if that means $5K less than a district nearby, they will continue to come, because they know they are an important and valued member of the organization.

Well, that's all for me today. On Monday, be sure to check out my friend Annie's post over at her blog, Show Your Thinking. She'll wrap up the last two chapters, Enjoy the Ride, and the conclusion.

And be sure to come back next month, as the #D100BloggerPD group will be sharing about our new book: Hacking Education: 10 quick fixes for every school!

the paczki did me in

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I'm off balance.

Ever since I went to a birthday party last Saturday, my food consumption has been waaaaay off balance.

It started Sunday morning with McDonald's for breakfast - I hadn't gone grocery shopping and needed something before I went to church. Then, Sunday night I had some pretzel bread and a cookie with the Turkey tacos I made. (Whyyyyy??)

Since I didn't go grocery shopping until Sunday night, I didn't have time to meal prep like I usually do on the weekend - making a week's worth of chicken salads. So to make my life "easier," I bought a bunch of soup from the grocery store and just divvied it up for the week.

So then yesterday at lunch I had some soup and more pretzel bread. Then, I met my stepmom for dinner at our favorite pizza place in the suburbs (Aurelio's). At least I ordered a salad to start with, but then had pizza.

And finally, as if all that weren't enough, my stepmom's sister (step-Aunt?) gave me a paczki. I should have taken a picture of it - but I was already deep with the guilt. It was so so good - filled with strawberries and fresh whip cream. Perfectly sweet and amazing.

And now I sit here weighed down (ha, literally) with food guilt. I usually stop before I get this guilty, but I didn't. Today though, today I'm going to clean my act up! Back to the egg whites and apple for breakfast, salad for lunch, and dinner...well, need to figure out something healthy!

Does this ever happen to you?

You know you shouldn't indulge, but you do anyways and then you feel so so bad about it? Leave me a comment so I feel better! :-)

An InLinkz Link-up

tribute to primary

This month, the #compelledtribe is sharing posts in tribute to a teacher of our choice. This prompt came at the perfect time, as a week or so ago, I had to help out with sub coverage in a first grade classroom. Today, I'd like to give tribute to all the primary teachers out there, who do such wonderful work each day!

I don't want to take anything away from intermediate, middle, and high school teachers - all of us work very hard to study and teach our content, build relationships with students, plan amazing lessons, and provide feedback to help our students grow. But have you ever spent a whole day in a primary classroom? More particularly, a kinder or a first grade classroom? Primary teaching isn't just singing songs and playing in centers. It's hard work that takes loads of planning, organization, and structure!

Primary teachers, you are a special bunch! Your students show up with a range of abilities in kinder and all grow in their learning in different ways. They are so small and can't really be independent for much time at all, so I'd like to recognize all the work that goes into planning engaging instruction for them.

Kinder and first grade teachers are the first official teachers (parents are first, #amIright?) of reading... very important work going on with this age range! In our literacy block, you teach your students to be independent with authentic activities so that you can be freed up to provide guided reading that meets each child's needs. You study and prepare lessons that are differentiated and really hit exactly what each child needs. You prepare word study within guided reading, and for explicit instruction of sight words. All of this is after you've  worked with books, and taken anecdotal notes on what the children can do. And all of that happens while the rest of your class works independently for 10-20 minutes at a time. Seriously, it's amazing work that you do!

Our Kinders are writing personal narratives, complete with pictures and labels, and making their way to sentences. Firsties are writing Teaching Books about all kinds of topics, books that are planned out in advance and polished beautifully. While their final drafts aren't perfect, each one is each child's best work, which will be added to a portfolio for reflection later. And don't forget about celebrations! Our writers always get to share their work with their peers, which really amps up their engagement!

And don't even get me started on math. I have no idea how you teach math conceptually children who are five and six, but you all know exactly how and deliver instruction to them in a meaningful way. Jamie Duncan, your passion and knowledge inspires me so much!

Not only all of this, but our Dual Language and Bilingual teachers do so in two languages as well! I know it takes time to plan and prepare for both languages, but building two languages is so important in recognizing the gifts that our students bring to our classrooms. Thank you for studying best practices and trying out new and modified ways of delivering instruction that will best support our learners. 

And academics aside, you do so much to support their social and emotional needs at this age - give them band-aids, wipe their tears, and tie their shoes. You use class pets for classroom management and give them a hug when they miss their parents. You help them learn the importance of taking turns, and sharing, and listening. You read them stories that they can "live through" so they can learn from them about compassion, empathy, and self-control. You build them up when they're down and also teach them important life lessons when they're not being their best selves. It's a short 9 months that you spend with your students, but your lessons and impressions are lasting.

It's February, a month celebrating love and friendship, and I simply adore the work you do each day. Thank you for your tireless dedication to our students...they are so lucky to have you!

Have you sent some love to a colleague lately? It's the perfect time to do so! Hit them up (I sound so middle school, don't I?) on Twitter, with a note in their mailbox, or a hug when you pass them in the hall. Lift others up, and your heart will be full along with them!