The Sunrise Story

I love musicals! What is it about musicals that I love? Musicals tell a story with music and dancing. It's how I wish life would be...I'm going through my day, something frustrating happens, and I turn and belt out a song about it. Wouldn't that be great?  This past weekend I saw Rent at the National Theatre in Washington D.C. with two friends. I first saw this show, before it's debut on Broadway, in Boston twenty years ago. I loved it more this time, and I didn't think that was possible! This story is timeless and powerful. The music touched me all over again and the performances were incredible...goosebump-inducing singing and dancing! I've always loved musicals. My family picked one musical a year to go and see. It all started with Cats. Since then I've seen Les Miserable, Miss Saigon, Ragtime, Annie Get Your Gun, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Crazy for You, Kiss of a Spider Woman, and Phantom of the Opera. When I listen to musical soundtracks, I always...

Write about superheroes? No. I could write about Bella, my dog, and her obsession with penguins? No.  How I have too many tabs open (on Chrome) and it's stressing me out? No.  UGH! I don't know what to write about. I've been blogging for years. Maybe I've run out of things to say. No. I know that isn't true, but I'm stuck and I think I'm too focused on making it "good" and "worthy". I hear my own annoying advice rattling around in my head, "Just show up and write!" so here I am.  Um.... Yeah, I.... Arrrggghhhh!!! This writing thing isn't easy. You know what's ironic? I've been writing (not on my blog) a lot recently. How do I balance different kinds of writing? I have to switch off what I'm writing over there and really be present here. I guess it's like reading more than one book at a time. Oh, and that reminds me, I'm reading an AMAZING book that every single educator I know...

I'm not the smartest person. I'm not the prettiest. I was never picked first for any team. I'm not the best and I really don't want to be. I work hard at so many things but what's most important to me, what I value the most is being kind.    The end of the school year is time for reflection. I ask my students to reflect and I reflect myself. I think about what I did well and where I can do better. In my reflections this year, I've come to the conclusion that I did a good job at developing relationships with students and connecting with them.  Here are some of their thoughts... "You Matter" is how I communicate to my students that I see them and they are important to me and to our classroom community. Every day those words are on the board and it's made a difference. Many students told me that seeing those words every day in class made a difference to them. We talk about what those words mean. We discuss how to communicate t...

I recently blogged here about using improv with my middle schoolers.  We finished the year with our practice of improv. (I even had a class ask to perform improv on the last day of school!) In our study of improv, we learned that the most important rule of improv is "Yes, and..." That means that as a performer, you must always agree with your partner, otherwise, the scene stops cold. The "and" means that each performer needs to add something new to the scene. As the days and weeks progressed, I saw improvement in the students following these rules. Perhaps that's why the word YES has been floating around in my head lately. I find myself writing about it and reflecting on it and wondering about the power of yes. As with anything in life, when our attention is on something, it seems to suddenly appear everywhere... With summer approaching, and the word YES prominent in my consciousness, I've made a decision. This is going to be the summer ...

I'm planning my "Wanderlust Staycation".  Bella, helping me plan This is my last week of school. There's so much going on, I don't know where to begin...so naturally, I'll begin with summer plans. I was disappointed because I didn't have a week long beach trip planned. Things weren't lining up for me and I was getting sad answering the question, "What are you doing this summer?"  I decided I'm creating my own staycation. I'm calling it the "Wanderlust Staycation" and currently I'm asking for suggestions from local friends for day trips or fun activities around Loudoun County, Virginia which is outside of Washington DC. I've lived here for seventeen years and there's so much to do and see. Right now, I'm gathering suggestions and soon I'll be making a map of my summer. I know that I want to discover new (to me) places. I want to explore and see new things. I love going by myself or with a frie...

The end of the school year inevitably means awards ceremonies. Last year, I wanted to try out maker space in the language arts classroom, so I had a brilliant idea...class awards ceremony.    The students were instructed to create an original award for themselves. It could be about anything that happens in school...not limited to language arts class. It was a rousing success, so I'm repeating it. We've brainstormed possible awards to win. They get to win the award they've always wanted to win. They pick what's important to them in an award. These awards show me what they value in their days. It's amazing!  We watched lots of acceptance speeches and analyzed them as mentor texts and they have started composing their acceptance speeches. Next week during the classroom ceremony, they will give their acceptance speeches to the class.  Finally, we create the actual awards. Some students brought in supplies and I provided some...paper plat...