Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers. For the month of March we are challenging ourselves to write a Slice A Day.
I might
have mentioned it – just a few times – it has been a long week. Little sleep on
the weekend, week after testing, and a class that decided my post on “talking”
was permission to speak freely – all add up to a frustrated teacher. Add that
to a day off on today to present at our state reading conference (and am a
bit stressed about it) and you will get the idea that the last three days might
as well have been three weeks.
It seems that whenever I am over my head and stressed, life has a funny way of reminding me that all is truly well.
Like
coming home from school and seeing Luke walking down the street with Bally, our almost fourteen-year-old Golden Retriever. She
can’t get around very easily so he was moving very slow just for her. (We won’t
go into the fact that he didn’t leave a note and I wasn’t sure where he was at
first. Nope, focusing on the positive.)
Like
opening my email and seeing a wonderful surprise – a friend that wants to come
visit my classroom. YAY!
Like
lunch with two fun and smart teachers to prepare for our presentation on Thursday.
Like
dinner with another friend I don’t get to see that often. Time to focus and
have a great conversation. Might have been my first time I took a deep breath
all week.
Like
finishing the amazing audiobook Bud, Not Buddy on the way home from said
dinner.
Like reading our current read aloud to my class as they hung on my every word. Noticing as one student brings a paper up and puts it on the table behind me. Then he returns to his seat.
As they
lined up to switch classes I turned to see what he had written for me. Is this
not the sweetest thing? Just letting me know I need to purchase more books. And
will I? You bet. Even though I told the author of the Lunch Lady series –
Jarrett Krosoczka – that his series is one of the most popular books in my
classroom. So popular that it tends to go “missing” quite often and I have to
replace them.
After
thinking over these fabulous moments of the day, I realize that life is full of
ups and downs – times that are busy and times to relax. I’m finishing up a
crazy busy week, but after handing out report cards on Friday I will be able to
breathe and relax for a good long time. Ahhhhh. Feels good.
Feel free to send some positive vibes my way this afternoon at 1:45 when my group is presenting! And if you are attending IRC, please stop by and say hello!
