The Sunrise Story

I've been reading " Upstanders: How to Engage Middle School Hearts and Minds with Inquiry" by Sara Ahmed and Harvey "Smokey" Daniels. They discuss how Sara begins her classes calling it a "soft opening". The students come in and know where to place their homework, there's a message on the board, and they find a spot and begin reading. This eliminates teachers nagging and nudging students to get started on a "bell-ringer" or "warm-up".  I couldn't get that picture out of my head since I read about it, but this year I committed to beginning every day with notebook writing, Sacred Writing Time. I wondered if this could work with writing like it did for reading, so I tried it. Three class days ago, with music playing, and a message for students on the board, me at my desk writing already, our soft opening began. The students came in from lunch. This means they are loud and laughing and silly. It took only a couple of minutes...

This week has been filled with ups and downs, but there is so much to celebrate! Monday would have been my Dad's 70th birthday. He passed away almost ten years ago. This year, I talked to my students about my dad and I told them about his birthday. We talked about remembering those we love and I decided to invite them to do some extra homework. The typical middle school moans and groans could be heard when I announced that, but they were immediately silenced when I told them their assignment...eat ice cream.  Ice cream was Dad's favorite treat, Dairy Queen, to be exact...so I told them how every year on his birthday and important "Dad Days", I go to DQ and order my favorite blizzard. The classroom exploded with excitement! Many students grabbed their agendas to record their homework and even more demanded I sign their agendas. "My parents won't believe me!" Here are a couple of agenda entries from my sixth, seventh, and eighth graders... Wha...