sol #6: daily mood

A year or so ago a friend gave me this:

and it lives on my conferring table, usually buried around a bunch of other papers and notebooks and binders. The girl in the pic stacks her stuff up so nicely. My items, on the other hand, are in a big jumble all over the place.

A few months ago, one of my students in homeroom started adjusting the mood for me. It's so much better when someone else does it, because sometimes they pick the perfect mood (well, what I think my mood is) and other times it's so off that I'm left wondering, "What in the world?"

One day it was even better, because it was a mood (not sure what mischievous things I was up to!) but it was the mood and a teeny tiny note:

Love spending my days with teens!

sol #5: what I'm loving, monday edition

Ahh I'm prob doing this wrong because this may not be a slice, per say, but anyways, I bring you What I'm Loving Monday. I suppose there's a few little slices here, so I say it counts :-)

Loving that I teach in Chicago and so we have a holiday for Pulaski day today, woop woop!

Loving sunday strolls around the neighborhood with a dear friend.

Loving yoga teachers that inspire me with their words, music, and prompting. I've got wild thing down now, and totally did a chiropractic adjustment on my spine yesterday with that move!

Loving the sun and blue skies in Chicago in March.

Loving my cleaned apartment that now smells like Pine Sol.

Loving planning my bestie's 40th in Denver, with a Taylor Swift concert, can't wait!

Loving March when classroom communities are strong and kids are thick as thieves.

Loving that my 20 year high school reunion is coming up and I still feel 25 on the inside.

Loving reconnecting with all the Slicing teachers this month!

What are you loving today?

sol #4: figure out what you need

Do you ever get mad at yourself for not doing something you know is good for you? I've had this ongoing battle with exercise. I'd have gym memberships, or yoga studio memberships, and I just would blow money and not use them. And, even worse, I would beat myself up for not going.

Until January.

In January I finally figured out what I needed to make it work for me. I realized that I do not like to work out after school, well, except Fridays. All of the teachers out there can attest to this - you're emotionally drained after a day teaching. I think it's simply because we respond to the needs of others all day. Kids need things: to use the bathroom, to borrow a pencil, to talk to you about a disagreement they had, to get a hug because something went wrong. The adults we collaborate with need things, too. To send them a document. To complete some survey. To fill out paperwork. To provide feedback. To plan an event. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt completely drained after work each day.

Which is why I don't have the energy to go to the yoga studio during the week.

So in January, I finally found my system that works for me. The system where I don't have to feel guilty. The system where I can take what I need when I need it.

Fridays after school is when my  yoga routine starts. I'm part of the Studio Experience Team, where we do 90 minutes of cleaning in the studio and then get unlimited yoga at a much more affordable rate. So Fridays after school, I run over there, complete my shift, and then end my week in Hot Power Fusion.

Then I take a Sculpt class on Saturday and a C2 class on Sunday. Monday through Thursday, I teach and coach and maybe meet a friend after that, but there are no longer days that I beat myself up for not doing something more than I want to.

I finally made a routine work for me. And now I'm just left wondering, why did this take me so long to figure out?

sol #3: not *our* seventh graders

There I was, sitting at the score table at a volleyball game. Varsity was playing so my assistant coaches and I were on the record keeping and score boards. We were just killing time, casually chatting while we waited when one of them looked over to the bleachers and commented, "I don't like the seventh graders."

I looked over to see typical shenanigans in the bleachers, nothing bad, just a bunch of kids he didn't know personally because they are in another grade.

Unlike the seventh graders in our combo ELA class. Our ELA class is composed of half seventh and half eighth graders. I love this setup for a few reasons. Number one, one of my literacy idols, Nancie Atwell, runs her classes this way. Number two, when half the class loops, you get not two teachers, but 16 teachers on year two. Number three (which I'm coming to find more and more this year, as it's our first year building a few classes this way), kids become unlikely friends. What I mean is that is most eighth graders are not friends with seventh graders. Setting up a class in this fashion gives them the opportunity to be friends with someone they probably wouldn't have been.

So back to my story, my kiddo tells me, "I don't like seventh graders," as he looks onward to the bleachers. Then, he turns towards me, places his hands on my shoulder, looks right into my eyes and adds, "Not our seventh graders."

sol #2: big mac on three

Found out last minute that JT from my ELA class is moving. So, beginning of the class today, I asked the class to think about something they might like to say to him in a letter that we would write towards the end of the block.

After they had written their notes, we met in a community circle. My coteacher and I had snooped through the notes, and we were so touched, and also curious about a nickname we didn't even know about - Big Mac. We sat down together and opened the floor up for sharing. 

First, EB explained that a handful of the boys just started calling each other Big Mac. I didn't really understand, and then IO asked me, "You've never had a Big Mac?" The kids went on to say that one day someone called another the name, then it stuck.

Then TF shared. She started by describing how at the beginning of the year, she was really upset that she was in a class with seventh graders (she's in eighth). She spent a lot of the first part of the school year being upset, but finally, she began talking to the seventh graders, and JT was one of the first kids she began to speak to. She said she was sad she wasn't ever going to be able to wink at him again, or see him wink back. She started to really tear up when she related the next story. You see, early on in the year, she had asked him for his snapchat user name, and she had it all along, but tears were really falling when she then added, "I had it. I had it all this time, and I never added him." That was when KA came over with tissues, but like half the box worth, and so every started giggling. Thankful for a little respite in that moment, but I am so proud of her reflection and courage to share something that I bet she now wishes she had done differently.

Another student relayed that he was also sad to have him leave, but it came with some comic relief. "You guys, it feels like a funeral!"

Then AO added, "Yeah, look, even Ms. Brezek is in all black!"

Luckily we were laughing and wrapping up, when EB asked to speak one more time. He sat there, on the little stool, leaning over, elbow on knee, pointing at JT, "Just remember, *this* is your home."

This is why I teach. These moments. Of course, I'm devastated that we're losing a great member of our ELA family, but to read my kids' letters, to hear the way they responded to this news, to feel the love in the class, this is why I do everything I do.

I'm reminded of Brené Brown and her new book, Braving the Wilderness. One of her tenants revealed in her research this time is "People are hard to hate close up. Move in."

It's the sweet spot in the school year, when we have formed those relationships. We've 'moved in' on the lives of one another. And to hear from a student after student, some in tears, saying how much they'll miss a peer (who some had no desire to even know on day one), well if that isn't magic, I'm not exactly sure what is.

Big Mac on three!

sol #1: sentimental stuff

Warm fuzzy day, I love it.

Every Valentine's day, the kids get little yarn necklaces and share kindness and appreciations that make one another feel "warm and fuzzy." This year was no exception to the amount of joy it brought me.

One trio of kids, we'll call them Alice, Tanya, and Isaiah, were huddled together. The girls were tying warm fuzzies to Isaiah's necklace, telling him such kind things:

"You're my best friend."
"You're so nice to me...well, you're not, but I know you're just joking."
"You're so cute, too," one of them said, as they grabbed his chin.

Then they asked him to say thank you. He just smiled.

"Say thank you!" they demanded.

"No thank you," he said, with a grin, shortly followed by, "Thank you."

The girls went on, "Now tell us something nice!"

Slowly, he pulled a string from his necklace, looked down at the floor, up at the wall, around behind him, and finally, said, "Here you go, Tanya, because........ you're cool."

All smiles, with Tanya, saying to her friend, "And after all that sentimental stuff I told him!"

Sentimental or not, all the kids were smiling, around all of the classrooms we did this. Like every other year, it was a win.

one little word 2018

Hola friends, happy new year to you and your families!

I hope you had a fantastic break! I'm reveling in the fact that I'm still on mine (we practically worked up until Christmas!) and so now I'm home from Christmas travels and have a few days to relax and prepare for January. We go back on the 8th!

Last year, I picked abundance for my word, hoping that I would create a lot of that in all aspects of my life, but it didn't really go anywhere. My 2016 word, forward, was so much better. I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about this and I'm so excited to reset this year with my new word for 2018:

I have found that I go off on tangents with things. Or I have these great ideas, but then I don't see them through. Or I try and take on too much and so nothing gets done. So this year, I want to be steadfast with my goals...pick the right ones and then get pretty focused about accomplishing them.

Looking back at my vision board for 2017, I can see where I've accomplished things and where I have not, or have fallen short:

• Went to Spain, check
• Found a relationship (which promptly ended) but I'll say that one's a check
• Became a Teacher of Distinction with Golden Apple; didn't win, but check
• Wrote 88 blog posts (shooting for 100), I'll call that a check
• Read 40 books (shooting for 50)...so...idk. I will be kind to myself and say check :-)
• Became quite a bit more mindful via yoga, so check
• Did not get a dog (yet) <<-- Notice my growth mindset! :P
• Did not get an engagement ring (yet)
• Did not delete credit card dept (yet)
• Did not get a bikini body (yet) hahha, I mean, I'd like to lose 15-20 lbs but a bikini body would be amazeballs!

So I bring all this up because I need to become more focused. And so I thought if my word was discipline (that's what I started with) then I could pick a goal and see it through to the end. Except discipline sounds so rough. Then I found steadfast and it was love at first sight!

As I continued to think about this, I realized that there were a lot of things I want to do, but I know that if I try and do it all, I'll fail. Already this month, some of the things I want to do:

• Detox from the holidays, and by detox I mean cut sugar, alcohol, caffeine, gluten, soy, dairy
• Exercise (at least 3 times a week)
• Write in my Writer's Notebook

Just those three and I knew I couldn't commit to it all, so I'm just focusing January (and prob Feb too) on the detoxing and exercising. I'm going to keep my focus laser like and steadfast in this area in particular. Unwavering. Loyal. Firm. 

And then, when I have done that, maybe mid February or March I'll get to the writing. Maybe there will be something I feel particularly compelled with at school. Or I'll take dating up again, ha.  I'll keep reading along the way, probably writing, too... I actually become even more accountable with my eating and exercising when I'm sharing about it! (Did you know I became a blogger bc of a food challenge? Check out those posts here.) But you see what I mean.

So 2018. Steadfast. We're starting with health and who knows what possibilities lay ahead!

I know this isn't exactly teaching related (yet), but I think the better I feel outside of school, the better I'll be for my students. We'll see what I'll get a hold of in school with this #oneword!