The Sunrise Story

Thank you  Ruth  for inspiring me to always look for the celebrations in life!  This week was filled with celebrations and reflection. There was a lot of looking back at what was...and lots of dreams for the future and what could be! A highlight of this week was a girls night out to meet Glennon Doyle Melton. A few weeks ago, my friend Jessica surprised me with tickets to meet her. Wednesday night we traveled with a couple of other friends, to a beautiful church in a nearby town and anxiously waited for the evening to begin... She spoke from the heart. She spoke with humor. She touched every soul in that church! I really listened to what she had to say about writing... (Here are some of my very messy notes!) When the talk was over, we got to MEET her! Her sister took these pictures... Getting to meet someone that I admire is such a gift! I've been processing this all week and I'm looking forward to seeing where this will nudge me... The n...

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 .  It's Tuesday? Already?!?! We have eleven days left of school. The end is exciting and sad. Yesterday rising sixth graders came to school to visit. Eighth graders take them on tours and sometimes they stop in the classroom. They look so small, unsure, and nervous. I asked my current sixth graders who came into my classroom last year, and many raised their hands. We talk about their impressions and feelings when they were on that tour last year. It's a full circle moment for them because now they are the "big kids". That lead us into a conversation about then and now. That starts me thinking about where I’ll be next year and how quickly time moves and how grateful I am that I get to witness these amazing students grow and learn and c...

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...