Greetings
This started out as a slow week for sentences, as I suspect folks are getting crazy with teacherly duties (Oh, yeah, I have report cards due this week!), and then it picked up steam late in the weekend. Here are the wonderful sentences submitted by some friends and colleagues and acquaintances:
Nancy has her groove back and is settling in but just on the horizon is … a break from the action: “We took a great field trip this week, dug deep into Judith Ortiz Cofer, and generally got back into the groove but we’re all waiting for Christmas break to hurry up and come.”
Nothing like leaving your classroom, crossing your fingers that things will go just fine without you there and then coming in and reading the note from a substitute that makes you want to transform into the Grinch (before his heart grew three sizes). The Mindful Teacher did some yelling this week, I think: “My sub could not control my class so they took advantage of that and now I get to be the mean, disappointed teacher and a couple of kids will have rotten days — and that’s just great.“
Matt is always on the search for new and cool tools for his classroom, and he is always eager to share, too. This week, he f0und a web creation site that I have not yet heard of it and now need to explore. “I discovered RapidWeaver is a pretty cool tool for creating web sites quickly and cheaply.”
Bonnie is hopped up on optimism for whatever is ahead. I can almost hear her from where I sit. “My mantra for the week: collaboration can be messy, and I say, bring it ON,…it’s grant writing time and the HVWP is on its way, sharing leadership and bringing more of our people to the table; of course it would be easier to just keep the status quo but NO WAY…we are pushing ourselves beyond our( my) comfort zone and I say BRING IT ON!“
A friend, Karen, brings into sharp focus the need for writing in her life and the demands that she has (which are many) and the incredible juggling that goes on in our lives, as she tells us: “Write this for her, write that for him, write this other thing for someone else, will there be time to write for me?“
Sue reminds us that this is an incredibly hectic and nutty time of year (and my projects are way behind due to one snow day last week and another on the horizon for tomorrow) as she writes, ““Tis the season”, and we feel it this week as the calender is full with activities, the students friends and family are all busy in preparation, and the focus has moved from routine day to day activities to the all important “checklist”!“
Tom, who is a leader with the Hudson Valley Writing Project and a poet (right?), is looking at the same sort of sky that I am seeing here in Western Massachusetts. “On a Sunday morning when gray skies promise snow and light winds sift through barren branches, inside, with warm scrambled egg bellies, we read newspapers and listen to the humming that emerges from a newly built fort of blankets on chairs.“
Cheryl, who is part of the Bit by Bit Podcast trio, thanked me for the reminder (thank you, Cheryl, for participating) and writes about the deconstruction of her room. “My week, my technicians got rid of 12 years of old towers, monitors, printers, so we can move forward and fix towers with parts and get technology moving.“
Ginny, who hopes to podcast her sentence via her PodcastPeople site (I think, and if so, maybe it will inspire others), talks about working with up and coming teachers. “I met with some trainee teachers earlier in the week and we discussed reflective practice as well as tips on creating a teaching portfolio.“
Cynthia is a friend with a wonderful accent that you can’t hear (unless she could podcast) and she reports on the combination of work and play: “TGIF took on a new meaning this week: the students had the day off while the teachers traveled to Jackson for the MPSEA State Teachers’ Meeting and Christmas shopping!“
(some late additions) Susan reminds me that she and I and another person from our writing project site need to be working on a Monograph Book project (thanks Susan for taking the reins for now!) as she completed another draft of the writing for us. “One long day of writing, pushing the monograph to its next phase; wish I had a week.“
And someone new (a connection from Bonnie, I think), Eric, writes, “Late to bed- up early, breakfast for six under 7 (pancakes, scrambled eggs and leftover latkes), drawing, playing, ice skating, heading north to home where the menorah waits- when is this party gonna end?“
Thanks to everyone who shared this week. Next week, I will be passing the feature along to Larry F. so be on the lookout for a post here that will guide you to his incredibly useful site of resources. It is an amazing compendium of links.
Peace (in connections),
Kevin
