Deep Thoughts From the Airport (SoLSC 2/31) #sol15

Here I sit, waiting in an airport for my flight home. I travel quite a bit. See although I live in Wisconsin (even though the winters are rough, Milwaukee is a great city!), my family does not. My parents and little brother live in Phoenix, my older brother and his family with four of my nieces and nephews live in Dallas. I have friends scattered across the country. I attend conferences and conventions. I fly quite a bit, so I know the routine at the airport, security line protocols, and I plan for them to be as efficient as I can.

Today we were randomly selected for the pre-check line. It seemed to take longer than the regular line. As the TSA agent was explaining the rules, I made the comment, "Oh, we're going old school." thinking that since we could keep our shoes on and liquids in the bag (which I already knew), it was a blast from the past. And it really should be going faster. It didn't seem to work that way. It got me thinking that sometimes when we do things that are intended to be faster, if they go against the grain of what we've become used to, it might actually make things less efficient.

The end of my deep thoughts from the airport for now. I'm sure there's a connection to the classroom, and life, here somewhere.

Reading is...

Last spring, during our poetry unit, inspired by Baseball Is... by Louise Borden, I asked my 7th graders to write a "Something Is..." poem.

After everyone shared in class, I was extremely glad I had done this poem with my students because I was impressed with what they came up with. An idea that allows them choice in topic so they can write about something they know + a strong mentor text = powerful results.

Of course, since they were doing it, I needed to also, so I wrote a "Something Is..." poem, too. When brainstorming my list of things to write about, the one that stuck with me the most was reading, so that's what I went with and let my thoughts and words take me where they would.

Reading is…

getting lost

in stories

finding an escape

from the everyday

Reading is…

having a fresh start

every time

I crack the spine

and turn to

the first page

with a held breath

of anticipation

Reading is…

finding myself

in the pages

of a book

discovering

who I am

who I want to be

Reading is…

getting my acceptance letter

to Hogwarts

jumping on the train

at Platform 9 ¾

finding friends

family

my truth

and bravery

in a world I didn’t know

I could dream up

that J.K. Rowling showed me

I can

Reading is…

gasping

laughing

crying

cheering

swooning

yelling at

rooting for

learning with

and from

the characters

I grow to love

Reading is…

fairy tale castles

summer at the beach

outer space

deep in the ocean

around the corner

far from home

on the other side of the world

mythical lands

adventures

I visit

through the worlds

found in

the pages of a book

and my imagination

Reading is…

writers who become

authors

with agents to push for them

editors to guide them

copyeditors to correct them

designers who create covers

publicists who tell everyone

marketing, printers, publishers

booksellers, librarians, teachers

friends all supporting

that book

and recommending others read it

Reading is…

going to a mall

The Exit 8 Big Top Mall & Video Arcade

open 365 days a year

meeting Ivan

and Stella

and Ruby

and Bob

and Julia

and George

hoping for the best

while fearing the worst

and holding back tears

of sorrow

and joy

having Katherine Applegate’s

words

touch my soul

and teach me more

about humanity

and kindness

and people

than I thought

a book could

Reading is…

the way I experience lives

hundreds

thousands of lives

beyond

the one I live

that I carry

with me

always

Reading is…

what I turn to

when I need

to be alone

to find hope

to get answers

to learn things

to take a break

to discover inspiration

to know

I am

not

alone

in this world

Reading is…

letters swarming

words swaggering

sentences slithering

paragraphs sailing

steadily across

the pages

Reading is…

late nights

when I

just

can’t

stop

turning the pages

until I can’t

keep my eyes open

any longer

struggling to

so I can know

what happens

next

Reading is…

covers and

jackets and

spines and

pages and

acknowledgements and

dedications and

titles and

blurbs and

stories

Reading is…

getting lost

being found

finding escape

discovering hope

opening eyes

seeing myself

experiencing others

knowing more

figuring out

Reading is…

what you make of it

when you embrace it

What would the topic of your "Something Is..." poem be?

Sometimes It's Best to Go With the Distraction

It was a dreary day in Southeastern Wisconsin today. I had lessons planned. After our Independent Daily Reading and choice quick write, we were moving on to looking at non-fiction books together to identify what types of things authors do to teach through their writing. You see, we're doing our big research unit right now, and I'm trying a new focus this year. But in my last (4th) class of the day doing this, after our quick write time, a student looked out our classroom windows and exclaimed about this.

How could I ignore that distraction? It was an eerie view outside those windows. My kids were totally distracted. So I made an on-the-spot decision to go a different direction and follow the distraction. Sometimes a teacher just has to do that. You see, I wasn't going to get them back and focused on the lesson at hand at that point. So we didn't even try.

Instead? I told them maybe we should work with the distraction and go with the nature at hand - let's write stories about it! We'd spend the last twenty minutes of class writing stories - the only stipulation was that the setting had to be what we were seeing outside those windows. We did a quick review of narrative structure and what elements should be included in a fiction short story, then we looked out the windows at our setting inspiration, and we started writing our stories. And, yes, I do mean we. I sat down to write a story of my own as my 8th graders were writing theirs. There were smiles, and engagement, and glances out the window, and giggling, and sharing of ideas, and the sound of pens scratching across paper...and every one of my students was writing for that whole 20 minutes. Sometimes it is best to go with the distraction. That other lesson? It can wait until tomorrow.

My last line at minute nineteen: As she tried to look beyond the edges of the white fog blanketing the woods, she heard the screaming start.

Making Something Out of Nothing

I'm skipping writing a blog post tonight. For numerous reasons: I'm exhausted, there are some things going on I can't talk about, I'm feeling a bit negative/worried tonight and don't want to put that out there, but first and foremost...I'm just not feeling it. I have a few ideas swirling in my head, but I can't quite get a solid grasp on any of them enough to make it into a whole post. (by the by, that's such a frustrating feeling) However, after yesterday's reflection on routines, I am forcing myself to type something...in essence, to make something out of nothing. Why? Because if I at least type something I'm keeping that routine...even if I don't really have anything to really say.

So, I'll leave you with this final thought that brought joy to my day: 

THE REAL BOY by Anne Ursu released today. It's a book I loved and I hope you will too. 

Thinking About Routines

I feel guilty.
I didn't write a post on this blog last Thursday.
I had gotten myself into a writing habit up until then.
I wrote a blog post every weekday when I got home from work.
I broke that pattern/streak/habit/routine on Thursday for good reasons.
I couldn't stop thinking about not having written a post.
I felt weird that I didn't sit down and write.
I never found the time.
I felt guilty.

I worked late and, when I got home, had to prepare for a weekend getaway to experience this:

I had a wonderful, much-needed, enjoyable weekend away.

But I still felt guilty. For not writing.

And here's the thing...I haven't been able to figure out if I should or shouldn't feel guilty about it. I haven't been able to figure out if I ruined my momentum by skipping that day. I haven't figured out if this is a necessary thing, or a detrimental thing. But I do know that even though I didn't write that day, I kept thinking about topics I could write about. Thoughts are percolating in my mind. That's a good thing.

But what I really came to realize is that routines are important. Even those days I didn't want to write, I did it. And it helped me see myself as a writer. It helped me feel what my students go through when they come to class and have to sit down and write. It kept my momentum going. So I'm pondering writing routines in the classroom...because if just a short time helped me get the ball rolling, it might help my students, too.

But I'm going to stop feeling guilty. And I'm going to make sure my students have time to write. And I'm going to make sure I try my best to stick to a writing routine, but if life gets in the way, that's ok. It happens. It's important. It gives me things to write about.