The Sunrise Story

Thank you  Ruth  for inspiring me to always look for the celebrations in life!  Join us and share your celebrations! It's been a long week. How does time work? Weeks with three-day weekends seem to always feel longer. Can anyone explain that to me? In this long week, I've been enjoying working with students. We've begun our process of reflecting on ourselves and our writing! That's always fun. In this process, I collected my notebooks from this year, so I could reflect along with them and discovered that I couldn't find a notebook (or maybe 2 notebooks...turns out it was only 1 notebook and I need to update my count). What startled me is that I couldn't even visualize what this notebook looked like! I celebrate my students! They were able to give me details that they remembered, "It was a big notebook." "I think it was white." "The one from the beginning of the year had spirals." "It said YOU MATTER on the title page....

Thank you to Holly for the opportunity to write about my Spiritual Journey. Today we are writing about moments of silence...I needed to write about this and think about it. Join us in thinking about and writing about your own Spiritual Journey!  I talk. A lot. All. The. Time. I wonder if I talk in my sleep? I talk to myself... constantly, even when I'm out shopping- Embarrassing, but true. Words fill the moments of my life. Silence. I yearn for more... moments in my day I stop. Listen. Wait. Wait. Wait... until I start talking again. Why? Uncomfortable in the silence... but it's where I need to be to really hear the voice of God. Silence. Less words. More silence. I'm listening...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, & Anna for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at  Two Writing Teachers .  Last week, Stacey wrote a powerful post about herself as a writer. She was inspired by Terje's post . Today I'm going to begin my answer to this question: What kind of a writer am I? I am the kind of writer who needs words and sentences to make sense out of life. I am the kind of writer who feels her way through writing. I am the kind of writer who writes daily, many times a day, for herself. I am the kind of writer who has filled sixty-three notebooks. I am the kind of writer who has a story to tell, but isn't sure exactly what that story is. I am the kind of writer who writes best first thing in the morning. I am the kind of writer who has discovered this secret...so much about writing is having faith. I am the kind of...

Thank you  Ruth  for inspiring me to always look for the celebrations in life!  Join us and share your celebrations! This week was so busy it feels like a distant memory. Slowing down this weekend! Celebrating the simple joys of life... Reading a good book. Watching students learn, struggle, laugh. Being known. That first sip of coffee. Using just the right pen to write. Writing. Fancy red chairs at Red Robin. Collaborative poetry. Intentional friendships. Seeing God in my hard moments. Quiet. Bella. Compliments. People seeing my potential and believing in me. Opportunities. Surprises. Saying YES. Saying no. Listening to music. Life. Life. Life.

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, & Anna for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at  Two Writing Teachers .  This weekend I met a legend. He did not disappoint! Kwame Alexander, a Newbery Award winning author, was signing books at a local Barnes & Noble. Since The Crossover was one of our favorite read alouds this year, I shared the information with my classes. The signing was on a Saturday afternoon and many students told me that they had games or plans already. I told them that I would be there getting our classroom copy signed. Traffic was terrible. Sitting on Route 50, I was afraid I wouldn't get to see him. It was almost 11AM and the signing began at 11:00. I worried that the line would be too long and I would miss him. You see, authors are my rock stars. I'd much rather get to meet an author and talk with them than I would any other kind of cele...

Thank you  Ruth  for inspiring me to always look for the celebrations in life!  Join us and share your celebrations! There are weeks when writing a celebration post is so hard and I just want to skip it...and then there are weeks like this! This week wasn't extraordinary, in fact it was very ordinary and routine...but it was like a light was shining through the ordinary, to make it glow extraordinary. Monday: I celebrate NO COMPUTERS at school. Nothing worked. It was like rewinding ten or fifteen years. No email. No internet. No promethean board. No nothing. It pushed me to think creatively and I LOVE the result! (I even pretended computers were still broken after they were fixed in the afternoon.) Wednesday: I celebrate the last day of the graduate class I taught. The teachers in that class grew so much and I watched them push themselves out of their comfort zone as writers and support each other. Being able to witness that is such an incredible gif...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, & Anna for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at  Two Writing Teachers .  I arrived to school yesterday to prepare for the day ahead. Walking down the hall, I was going over my To-Do list in my head when I heard, "Computers are down." A colleague informed me that all of the computers were not working. I furrowed my brow and then I burst out laughing, "Maybe we should all go home, like a snow day, " I joked.  Yesterday was an exercise in the "old days". I couldn't access any files. I couldn't make anything new. I couldn't even use the promethean board as a blackboard. No attendance online. No emails. Nothing...wait, this was getting better! I embraced the problem. I'd been wanting to read What Do You Do With An Idea?  Brainstorming what I could use this read aloud for, I decided to ta...

Thank you Ruth for inspiring me to always look for the celebrations in life!  Join us and share your celebrations! This week has been filled with much celebration. Leading up to another day of celebration, Mother's Day. I have been blessed with so much in my life! My job brings me joy and allows me the privilege to educate amazing young minds! Friends who know me, really know me, and love me anyway! A church where I really understand the words, "Church Family"! My beautiful puppy who snuggles with me and takes me on long walks!  And even with all of those blessings, Mother's Day is a hard day for me. I felt like I was born to be a mother. I love kids! I want to be a mom...but I'm not. I'm 43. Single. Not a mom. That's my reality. It has taken lots of tears and lots of prayers to find peace with my life. My faith reminds me that God has a plan for me and even though I don't know what it is, I work on believing that every single day. This wee...

Thank you to  Holly  for this amazing opportunity to explore my Spiritual Journey every week! Authenticity. Real. Ugly. Truth. We cover this up on social media. We show pictures of success and clean houses and smiling kids and cute dogs on social media. I do this. Some people complain about that. I don't think there's anything wrong with posting about our joy and our success, but the unavoidable consequence of that is believing that as the whole truth, when it's not. I will not post a picture of my sink filled with dirty dishes (but know that it's there). Authenticity. Real. Ugly. Truth. God loves us. God loves me...just as I am. God loves you...just as you are. What powerful words!! We all have the ugly moments. That's a time when I turn to God. That's when I let it go (or try to) and believe that God will work it out...or God will work ME out. That's where life really is. I love that Holly picked this topic! It's as if she read my mind, ...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, & Anna for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at  Two Writing Teachers .  I left school today to meet a friend for a "grandma dinner".  It's the 4:30 dinner...you know, when grandmas eat. I totally splurged on a yummy steak for dinner and an even yummier strawberry shortcake for dessert! (By the way, strawberry shortcake is the only acceptable dessert with a fruit in it!)  This friend and I talked and talked and talked. We shared stories about family and work and teaching. There's something about getting to know a new friend over good food. Making new friends can be hard...being vulnerable, feeling insecure, wondering if I'm talking too much, not enough. It can be nerve-wracking. I felt very little, no I felt NONE, of that tonight! Feeling trust like that is such a gift! I thought I'd get home fo...

Our next #LCPSedChat will be May 7th at 8 pm.  Dr. Eric Williams will be guest moderating this month so be sure to join us.  Below is the topic and questions we will cover.  We hope you can join us. Guest Moderator: Dr. Eric Williams @ewilliams65 When: May 7, 2015 at 8pm Where: Twitter (use Twubs.com or tweetchat.com to follow the conversation more easily) Hashtag: #lcpsedchat Who: EVERYONE! Looking for LCPS teachers...ALL are welcome! Topic: Students and authentic problem solving 1) Why did you go into education? 2) What does an ideal graduate look like? 3) What are examples of authentic problems that students have addressed in your class, school or district? 4) What advice do you have for teachers who engage students in solving authentic problems? 5) How can engaging students in solving authentic problems help recapture the joy of teaching and learning? 6) How does engaging students in solving authentic problems develop the attributes of idea...