I should be working this Labor Day weekend and have even joked about it Facebook and Twitter #twitterproblems. But truth is I’ve been using today to love on my husband and on my self and I don’t mean in a weird way, but just giving our relationship and our home attention. Last night, we had friends over for dinner and then another set of friends (thirteen year old twins and their mom – I joked with the mom – who is a friend too – that Brad and I had about the emotional level of thirteen years old so please let them come play) over for games.
I think that time away . . .time not thinking and obsessing about school and our second family and set of children is vital to our success as teachers. David Hume, an 18th century Scottish Philosopher, would get so bogged down in waxing philosophical that he’d presumably go play badminton to clear his thoughts. I think of Newton under the apple tree who was arguably taking a break from his work and thoughts and et’voila – made the oh so important gravity discovery. I know for myself when I lived in Texas, Saturday nights were gaming nights. This night of completely immersing myself in all-consuming multi-faceted strategy games was a much needed respite from the challenges of teaching. I could completely shut my brain off to the constant chatter in my head.
CS Lewis writes that it’s not the load we carry, but the way we carry it. This thought is so true of any profession though arguably most true of professions which involve working with children. Children are our most precious possession. They are so capable and full of potential yet so needful of our guidance, our protection, and the opportunities we as professional educators can provide them.
As I write this, I have my planning book beside me with three books – none of them part of our school curriculum. One is all about leading Morning Meetings This is where in just three weeks, I have students get to know each other, lighten up, and whine a bit on Wednesdays when we have to go to PE instead of having a Morning Meeting. This was where community is built and social skills are learned and allowed to blossom. This where I start hearing my students asking how are you feeling today because I know yesterday you were sick?
Another book is the Daily Cafe by the “sisters” Gail Boushey & Joan Moser. This is my bread and butter for reading lessons. I keep my read-aloud/think-alouds to 15 minutes so on occasion it takes up to four days to complete even a little picture book. We talk about what good readers do and then practice. All of the skills go up on what looks like a menu from Burger King or MacDonalds – the menu categories are Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary. So far under comprehension, we have Check for Understanding – where we stop every couple of pages and ask if we understand and take a minute to retell- and story elements – characters, setting, and plot. Last week, we started my favorite one under Expand Vocabulary called Tune into Interesting Words. I love watching kids “tune” their ears like they are tuning the knob on the radio as we read new books.
My third book is word nerds. I am a word nerd. I had Atticus Finch, Mr. Big Words himself, for a father – scoring 18-20 on Reader’s Digest Word Power quizzes every week. I taught my students about Prosody last week – such a fun word that encompasses my favorite part of reading – the acting part. Prosody is reading with expression. When students read with expression, they are truly understanding/comprehending the story. And here is where the magic happens – I know what I am going to teach students how to do this week!
And so I bid you adieu and until next time! Thank you for taking the time to read and for my teacher/educator friends, I hope you got much needed rest and are ready to tackle a beautiful new week!