Lessons from Church

This past Saturday was Liam’s First Reconciliation at our church. We’re Catholic and that basically boils down to his first confession. He and I have practiced what confession is, said the prayers to say, and the order of events during confession several times over the past few weeks. While Luke had been nervous when he went the first time, Liam was excited. Our priest is fabulous when it comes to communicating with children and really seemed to put them all at ease. When Liam came out he looked at me and flashed a huge grin.

Then it was our turn. The adults get to head back to confession. I quickly went over the steps in my own head, nervously wondering if I would forget what to do. I recited the Act of Contrition to myself several times. I thought over what I needed to confess to my priest. Over and over I went over what I was supposed to do, what I was supposed to say.

And then it was my turn. I walked into the room and Father smiled and asked me how I was doing. I tried to go through my steps and he humored me, let me rattle off some items. But then he really looked at me and asked what was on my mind.

I confessed the struggle with anxiety that I’ve talked about here. He listened, really listened. He mentioned that I seemed to be a person who likes to be in control – not a control freak but someone who needs to know how everything is going and that I am helping to steer the ship. J Yep, bingo. We talked about the need to let that go. He recommended praying the Serenity Prayer over and over until it was basically my mantra.

I left that room feeling lighter than I had in years. And as I sat in the car driving towards Chicago I really thought about it. What lessons could I take from this? There are many things I immediately thought of related to teaching. The fact that I was trying to follow a scripted formula when I went to confession – if I had stuck to that “list” of what I felt I was supposed to say, we wouldn’t have gotten to the heart of the matter. Nothing would have really changed and there would have been no deeper learning, no deeper meaning. Something smacks of test prep here, don’t you think?

But also, I cannot forget Father’s eyes when I was speaking – he truly listened. I never felt that he had a rote response ready to hand off to each person who came in the room but really listened to each person, made an individual recommendation for where they were and where they needed to go – which is exactly what my aim is during conferring in the reading and writing workshop.

One-size fits all formulas don’t work for me and neither do boxed programs. Teri Lesesne has been writing up a storm this past weekend, discussing “unprograms” and all that they entail. (Her first post on this thought is HERE) This is the program I’m choosing. Deep conversations over books we love. Conferences where we get lost in a conversation. Meeting my students where they are and taking them where they need to go. Scripted formulas might help students score well on standardized tests but they are not where the true learning lies. 

Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

 I’m joining Jen & Kellee (and many other bloggers) in discussing what we are reading this week. Join us! Go to their site and link up your own blog.

I didn’t have quite as much time to read this week as I have in the past few. As I wrote on Tuesday, we had a crazy week and I’m just grateful to be on the other side of it. (Although Liam is laying next to me right now, struggling with the stomach flu. We need a healthy house!) Regardless, here's this week's books:

At any rate, I did get some great books read this week. Two from today were from the Nerdy Book Club 2012 nominees. One week left to read books we aren’t familiar with before voting begins next weekend. Check out this year’s nominees HERE.

As for plans for this week? I want to finish Chris Lehman’s Energize Research Reading and Writing, it’s amazing so far. I also have Penny Kittle’s Book Love that I’d like to dive into. And a stack of other books that are just taunting me. I know #bookaday is coming and that I will really get to polish off some amazing books soon, so that is helping.

Happy Reading!
Katherine

Babymouse and Lunch Lady Mash-up

On December 12^th Colby Sharp and John Schu are holding the December meeting of the #SharpSchu book club on Twitter. (Read more about it HERE.)

My students have been reading the selected books from the Babymouse and Lunch Lady series for the last few weeks. I debated how to cap off the unit – we’ve done a video for the October books, a VoiceThread for the November books. This week I decided it would be fitting to have the students create their own comics to celebrate. We’re in the middle of a graphic novel unit in reading and a comic unit in writing. A mash-up comic between the Lunch Lady and Babymouse was born. Enjoy!

Cybils - Book Reviews

I’m been fortunate to be part of the CYBILS award this year. I’m reading for round one – easy readers and early chapter books. While being on this committee means even more reading, I love that it has exposed me to books I hadn’t read before. An added bonus is that my son, Liam, is seven and the perfect age for many of the books. Here’s a few that have been great reads for us:

Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World by Candace F. Ransom

Iva Honeycutt is eight years old. She lives next door to her cousins, her double-first cousins. (Her mom and her mom’s sister married two brothers.) There are three kids in Iva’s family and three kids in the other family. The two sisters planned on having kids at exactly the same time so they could be best friends. That worked out great for the oldest two, and great for the youngest two, not so great for Iva and Heaven. Heaven is bossy and doesn’t like to go on adventures like Iva. Iva dreams of being great – of exploring and discovering things just like her Great-Grandpa. But things start to go awry and Iva has to rethink her choices.

I thoroughly enjoyed Iva and think many of my students will as well. Her independent spirit and her sense that she is being wronged (when often she’s not) is going to fit right in with some of my kids. J

Wedgieman: A Hero is Born by Charise Mericle Harper

This book cracked me up. We start out with Veggieman as a baby. He loves to eat healthy, fight crime, and help others. This all goes well as he grows into an adult until one day he helps a boy down from a tree. A branch makes his V on his shirt look like a W and the kids mistake him for Wedgieman. Wedgies are more fun than Veggies, after all. What is a super hero to do?

I should note that the book was fun and I gave it four stars. My son, Liam, is on at least his third or fourth reading of this one and is adamant that it is a five star book. J

Stella Batts Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow by Courtney Sheinmel

I’ve now read two in the Stella Batts series for Cybils – both adorable. In this book Stella is trying out her dad’s new magic gum at night. (It glows in the dark.) Unfortunately, she falls asleep with the gum still in her mouth. Even worse, it migrates to her hair as she sleeps. And Stella’s bad luck begins. She can’t blow a bubble, her hair gets chopped off, and worst of all, her best friend delivers horrible news. Poor Stella!

I loved this one. I think my students who enjoy Clementine, Marty McGuire, Ivy and Bean, and Ramona will find a new friend with Stella Batts.

These four books are on my list to read today. Can’t wait to see if I find a new favorite in there!

Gratitude

I’m supposed to be doing the “prep” for a colonoscopy tonight. Good times. No big deal, just something I have to do every five years. And tonight’s the night, but now it’s not.

I started my prep like I should around lunch. Ran home to grab some stuff and Chris was home sick – stomach ache and fever. Talked to him, went back to school.

After school the boys went to the kitchen for snacks. Checked on Chris on the couch, he was still feverish. I hurried upstairs to begin a very icky night.

Then I heard a shout from downstairs. Liam yelled that Luke was choking on a Lego. (Why my ten year old had a Lego in his mouth in another issue.) Chris knew I was upstairs so he ran to the kitchen.

Luckily it had been a tiny Lego Luke had in his mouth. Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing it for a few days and when we do, we won’t want it back. Even more unluckily – jumping up after having a fever, stomach issues, and not eating the whole day – didn’t go well with Chris’s body. As he was walking back into the living room to lay back down, he passed out. I saw him as he walked and quickly was by his side. Once he woke up we realized he was bleeding. His crash had pushed his glasses into his left eyebrow. The blood, his groggy-ness, and his general color was enough to place a call to 911.

And what ensued was a whirlwind evening. My mom came and took the boys to her house. The volunteer firefighters and the paramedics were amazing, as was the hospital staff. When you live in a tiny town, you generally know everyone. Current and former students’ parents helped us out repeatedly. Chris had a check-up, some IV, eleven stitches, and orders to rest. Luke is also fine. For both, I am beyond grateful.

Now I sit in Liam’s room. Chris is downstairs with the dog watching basketball. Luke is on one side of me, Liam is on the other. Both are a bit shaken but doing well, and the same could be said for me. Hug your family tonight, I have and am full of gratitude for the blessings I have.