Learn, Think, Write

Life has been crazy lately.
We jumped back into reading and writing on Monday, I had a class Tuesday night, and today I helped a teacher with a video after school and then raced home to participate in two Elluminate online discussions with people from the Powerful Learning Practice. The online chats ended a little after 6, and then it was time for dinner and work on the yearbook.
Feeling just a little tired, I was having one of those, "Is this really worth it moments…"
Then I opened an email that made me smile.  This young woman, a student in my ninth-grade English class, will be the Head Page during this year's General Assembly, missing many weeks of class. To keep her connected, we are putting much of her work online, and we'll Skype her in when we can.
Her advisor suggested she might want to blog about her experiences.
Yes, great idea!
Since we are in the process of setting up our blogging platform, this seemed a perfect way to test it.
I gave M. a blog yesterday, and she has already replaced the header, posted, and received three comments. Tonight, she sent me this email (and I asked if I could share it here):

My
parents haven’t heard the end of the “world of blogging.” They
still don’t get it…. “So you’re saying that if I know
something special about gardening, I can write about…but why would I want
to just write down what I know…how does it help me?” I guess they
really are from a different generation.
I am completely enthralled with every bit of it. It seems now that I am aware,
blogging’s everywhere—tv, newspapers, online… One of my
favorite sections of the Free Lance Star, today, (the it! section-comes every Thursday)
and there’s an entire spread dedicated to the ‘blogosphere’
and neat blogs to check out. I can’t stop looking through all the neat
blogs! I’ll bring it in tomorrow, in case you don’t get a chance to
look at it.

Your
fellow blogger,

M.

ps-I
read your entry about the ‘first day back’ to school. The last line
is SO powerful, and TRUE! I guess if I were a true blogger, I would have
commented this…I’ll get the hang of it, eventually!

I am delighted she is discovering the joys of connecting, reading, and writing. That she cared enough to share her thoughts with me makes it even better.

Yes, indeed, M. A fellow blogger.
I love the sound of that.

I am convinced the first day back after the Christmas and New Year holidays is the toughest one of the year.
We stay up late,  eat all the wrong things, and get all off schedule. We travel, play video games, read favorite books, ski, and sleep late. And, then, we go back to the routine of school.
The last thing my students wanted to do today was work.
And I felt the same.
Yet, I started the day with a tradition our English teachers started last year–each of us reciting a memorized poem to the entire student body to introduce our school's involvement in "Poetry Out Loud."
As the minutes clicked away, I felt myself becoming more and more nervous, sure I would trip over a word or forget a line. My poem, "When I am Asked," by Lisa Mueller, was short enough and meaningful to me, yet I began to feel my heart pound.
And then it was time. Other than one long pause before a nearly-forgotten line, I was, well, ok.
The experience made me much more empathetic about what I was about to ask of my students. They will be memorizing and reciting a poem, reading Antigone, studying Greek tragedy, and writing a one-act play. Oh, and they will be sharing the planning of how we will handle all this.
So, I adjusted my lesson plans on the fly, wanting to slow down today. I wanted to have a chance to greet them, talk about their time off, to share where we will be going this semester. Let them wake up. It was good to see them smile and laugh.
Sometimes taking a step back is better than full steam ahead.

Jenny Luca tagged me for this meme, so I thought I would play along.

1. Because my dad was in the Army, I attended 13 schools in 12 years. I attended one semester in an all-girls school in France, where I was one of two English-speaking students, and I graduated from high school in Germany.
2. I have been teaching for 28 years, and I've never taught the same lesson plan in the same way. I LOVE change (my furniture, my job, my hobbies, my goals….)
3. I am an INFP and growing more "I" by the day. I like nothing better than spending a day by myself.
4. When I was 5, I decided to play beautician, and I cut off all my sister's hair. It was the first time I saw my mother cry.
5. I have run four half-marathons, each time beating my previous record. Becoming a runner was a life-long goal that I finally achieved after turning 50.
6. One of the reasons I wanted to become a teacher was because I disliked school so much.
7. I am totally affected by my environment, and I find that white lights on a tree, rolling waves on a beach, the first sunny spring day, or a crackling fire on a snowy day can totally change my emotional state–for the better!

Now, I'm supposed to tag 7 more, unless you've already done this :)
Dana
Antonio
Susanne
Jennifer
Elizabeth
Patrick
Patrick