The Sunrise Story

I get to spend this week in a home grown reading institute put on by Teachers College. It's an amazing opportunity that these brilliant staff developers join us and share their ideas and talent with us. Yesterday we discussed our own reading lives. One of the activities we completed was to create a textual lineage for ourselves. I created mine in the form of a timeline.  Creating a timeline of myself as a reader was fun. Here's the rundown of my textual lineage. It all began with weekly trips to the library with my Mom. We'd gather piles of books to read throughout the week. I can still remember the excitement I felt when it was time to go to the library. It felt like coming home.  There were some negative experiences in my lineage as a reader... like the time Sr. Helen forced me to read "Misty of Chincoteague" and write a book report on it. UGH! To this day, I refuse to read that book. It made quite an impression on me.  The moment that I treasure ...

Yesterday was a cranky day. I felt frustrated and lonely. When I tried to turn things around, something always seemed to go wrong. Days like that frustrate me. Yesterday, I found something that brought me some joy and a little peace. I crafted. I made some word stones. I've made these before, but I wanted to test out new techniques and methods. I used my typewriter and typed up some words. I gathered my supplies and got to work. Soon, the cranky feelings were replaced with wonder and joy. I puzzled my way through making these. It's a slow process because of the drying time. I think the slow helped me. Making gave me permission to redirect my focus from frustration to creation.  When cranky days appear, I get into this negative headspace that's hard to escape. Writing helps. Walking helps. Listening to music helps. Crying helps. Yesterday, I found a new way to cope...create. Once I began making these stones, I noticed that my breath slowed down, I no...

I am a writer. It took me so long to be able to make that declaration without feeling like a phony. Once I did, it changed me and it changed my teaching! I've been having this discussion with teachers for years and we decided that this is a discussion that we wanted to share with a wider audience. I'm excited to share this invitation with you. Please join us! Please share! Join us the first Monday of every month for #TeachWrite, a new Twitter chat dedicated to growing teachers as writers and teachers of writers. Do you…. Believe that teaching writing is easier when teachers are writers themselves? Believe that our own writing lives deserve to be nurtured? Believe that all writers grow through dedicated writing time? Believe that all writers need support and encouragement? Believe that writing is a messy process and the best way to learn this is through our own practice? Believe that when teachers write, they make writing a priority in their classro...

Dinner out during a busy school year is a difficult thing to do. Lots of days there are meetings after school and for many of my friends, there are kids and husbands waiting at home...so I came up with a solution. Grandma Dinners. I always thought the name was self-explanatory until a friend's husband mistakenly thought that Grandma Dinners meant we were dining with my grandma. Nope. Grandma Dinners are early bird specials. We go out to dinner at 5:00, sometimes 4:30. It sounds ridiculous until you consider that many teachers eat lunch at 11:00 in the morning. It started with one friend. We'd plan Grandma Dinners and meet every month or so and catch up. It didn't take long for it to catch on and now I enjoy many Grandma Dinners during the school year. Spending time with friends is essential for sanity, so this time is sacred. Some of you reading this may be thinking that this is silly. You are missing out! Grandma Dinners mean we get excellent service as man...

Life is a series of choices. Each choice brings us down a path and leaves another abandoned. Many choices are small and we don't pay much attention to them and others alter the course of our lives.  July is a time of reflection for me. A long time ago, I made a decision, in July, that changed the entire course of my life. It brought me to a place that I never expected. Each July brings me back to that decision and I spend some time wondering, "What if?" I have no regrets about that life changing decision, but I do wonder how things might be different. Today I celebrate exactly where I am in my life. I'm grateful for my family and friends. I'm grateful for my home and my job. I love my sweet dog, Bella. I wouldn't trade my path for any other. It's messy and quiet and unusual and it's all mine. Thank you to Ruth Ayres for providing this space for sharing our celebrations. Please join us and share your own!

This school year brings changes for me as I'm transferring to a new school. It's a brand new school. It's still being built! Yesterday and today we are spending the days together for a staff retreat. Change can be scary and hard. This change is exciting and new! We spent yesterday getting to know each other. The day began with our principal and the director of middle schools welcoming us. Next, we played "Bear Bingo", our school mascot is the bear, as we each introduced ourselves to the group. Lunch together was relaxing. I don't know many people so it was an opportunity to get to know each other. We sat outside and enjoyed our sandwiches as we learned about each other. After lunch, we came together to create our value statements. I love how we did this. It's a process that was completed with parents and then repeated with students. This time, it was our turn. I love the opportunity to hear what parents and students want our school to be. ...

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