musings

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Total Honesty

Hi!  I’m home!  I just plopped into my favorite chair moments after arriving back from my very first week in the Writing Institute.

How was my week?  It was very wonderful, and I have so many things to tell you.  I made writing friends I expect will team up with me in many ways over many years.  Reading all about things I wonder about has me just about exploding!  We wrote and wrote and wrote.  I tried some new ways of thinking and discussing that helped me grow.   You and I will have to blog a lot about these many things over the next few weeks.

But the reason I stopped to write to my student readers at this exact moment is that the most important lesson of my first week was stepping into the learner role in a way I haven’t done for a long time.  I strive to be a learner every day, but most of the time it is comfortable learning rather than painfully stretching learning.  You see, I’m spending five weeks writing, when to tell you the truth, writing is really hard work for me.  I kind of like it best looking back at it after all the wrestling with words is done, and I especially don’t prefer Robert Frost, Jr., to read his right before I read mine, if you know what I mean.  I’m absolutely and completely exhausted at this moment, for I tried a lot of new things I’ve never tried before, found my way around a place I didn’t know, worked to listen intently to people I’m not familiar with, did my homework even when I was tired, and followed rules that sometimes felt hard to me.  Nothing has looked better to me in a long time than Gloriana’s exploration shoes sitting on the doorstep welcoming me home as I drove in the driveway.

So why am I telling you all this instead of my usual, “Great day coming!” sort of speech?  Here’s my promise.  Next time we are tackling that gigantic inquiry, when you have to keep looking for solutions without me giving you the answer no matter how long it takes, I will remember today.  When I give you my word that if you go on the journey with me, try again, and keep trying, you WILL conquer that complicated math idea that is so new and unfamiliar, I will remember today.  When you say, “This is hard for me, and even though I know I’ll figure it out someday, I don’t understand yet”, I will think back to this day.

My most important lesson of this writing week–walking in your shoes.  I won’t forget it.

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Inspiration!

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Spring has sprung!  We began our day by taking some advice from a teacher we really admire, Mr. Draper.  We read “The Edge of Spring” on his blog, and then we ventured out to observe our world more closely.  Maybe we were missing things right there before us!  We paused to really listen and look at spring.  

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Here are a few lines of the fourth graders’ poems.  Read the full poem on their blogs.  (See the links on your right.)

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“Buds on the trees,

Birds chirping,

Bumpy bark . . .”

“I can smell the freshly growing grass and see sprouts growing all around . . . . “

“Fallen trees, hmmm?  A branch with moss on it . . . . “

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“Ant holes.  

Grass is turning spring colors . . . . “

“Fruit flies searching for food along the rim of the jungly woods . . .”

“Tweet, tweet, go the birds

that are all around, circling the world.”

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“Buds starting to bloom . . . . “

“The whistling, whipping wind before me

Blows the blooming flowers.”

“The trees are swaying . . .”

“In early April, I SEE!”

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As Mr. Draper says, “Enjoy the wonderment!”

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Wonderment

Our first share—Mr. Van! Could it BE any more exciting? We closed our eyes, and when we opened them, in the middle of the circle was a GIANT book! It was a Webster’s Dictionary from 1927. One student commented, “It’s like the old Google!”

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You wouldn’t believe all the things Mr. Van got us thinking about. The challenge was for us to consider this year ahead of us a year of wonderment. He invited us to look at things with questions in our minds to explore, sometimes even questions about things that we have seen many times before, like a bird’s nest. Ask a fourth grader about our discussion, for it was very rich.

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“When you see this, you’re going to feel wonder.”
“You’ve never thought about that, have you?”
“Did you ever think about this?”

What an inspiration with which to start our year! It makes me wonder about . . . .

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One Load at a Time

My niece Gracia got married Saturday, and this is just part of the thirty-some sets of sheets and towels that needed to be washed after all our guests left. I tackled the heap starting Sunday afternoon and did about a load every hour and a half until 8:00 Monday night.  It all got hung on the line and folded into piles.  What looked impossible at the start was accomplished!

It struck me as I hung up sheets and more sheets that this was a good reminder of what I try to help my students understand about giant undertakings.  You’ll get there if you just keep at it one load at a time. Whew.

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A Room with a View

Every morning, this is where you will find me–gazing out my window at the sunrise, anticipating a brand new wonderful day with my students.  I take a breath, smile at the many blessings of being a teacher, and hurry to the door to shake hands with some of my favorite people in this glorious world.

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First Week Smile

Every year my love of teaching is totally refreshed the minute the first child walks in the door. What an example they are to us all! Who can resist the way they approach each day with zest, wonder about all the curious things that come across their paths, go after learning with energy and enthusiasm, and care deeply about people and animals and fairness and right? They spread joy to us just by being who they are. I am blessed indeed.

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Comparative Organization

Just the other day, we were creating a quick write paragraph for some of the organization techniques. When I read mine, my dear students asked me to put it on the blog. They make me smile.

My class reminds me of Einstein! Einstein had a lot of really unusual and creative ideas just exploding out of his brain, and my fourth graders amaze me every day with their thoughts. Einstein sometimes had his own individual way of doing things that was different than your average, everyday guy. My class also feels like it is important to come up with their own plan and their own solutions. However, I read that Einstein forgot to put his socks on or comb his hair from time to time, and my fourth graders mostly look neat and tidy with socks all on. Einstein also came up with some theories that changed the world, and my students haven’t . . . . . . YET!

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A Little Smile : )

How many people get to the end of their workdays, sit back, and smile? Because of these outstanding children, I smile every day.

Today we welcomed Mrs. Doris Shedd to our class. She is in the process of getting her teaching degree at Granite State College, and she is volunteering in our class as part of her learning program. It multiplied my delight in my students as I watched her reactions to them.

Our class welcomed her to morning meeting so charmingly. Sitting at lunch, I could hear three or four children asking her questions and sharing stories from their weekend with her. During our discussion of our weather experiments, I asked the class why I might have chosen to begin our weather unit by having them do experiments. The immediate response from one of my sparkling brains was, “Because you’re wonderful?” Mrs. Shedd was delighted, and so was I.

So I end my day as I began–with a satisfied smile.