Choice Lit Topic: Self Care
When Choice Literacy was launched in 2006, we never imagined that wellness and balance would be a part of the conversation here. Yet how can anyone take care of students if they don’t learn how to take care of themselves? These features are all about being kind to yourself so that you can show grace and compassion to others.
Results
Love the One(s) You’re With
Not long ago, I had the privilege of attending an awesome conference with a whole host of inquisitive, reflective, and energized English language arts educators. During our “down” time (we’re...
Finding Meaning and Joy in Teaching: A Podcast with Meenoo Rami
Franki Sibberson talks about finding meaning and joy in teaching with Meenoo Rami, the author of Thrive: 5 Ways to (Re)Invigorate Your Teaching.
Keep Going
If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges. —Pat...
Why Write?
I went through a period of time when I didn’t want to write. For more than five years, I’d established and maintained a daily writing habit. Then I found myself...
Laundry Line Luxuries
One bulb at a time. There was no other way to do it. No shortcuts—simply loving the slow process of planting. Loving the work as it unfolded. Loving an achievement...
SPREAD: Teaching and a Balanced Life
Franklin planners. To do lists. Electronic calendars. Books describing how to delegate . . . or prioritize . . . or simplify abound. I have tried most of them, inching...
Teachers’ Night Out: Reclaiming Our Fearlessness
The performer dangled high above the stage, wavy blond hair cascading down her back as she skillfully wove her feet from one section of suspended white sash to the next,...
Nourishment: Making Time and Space for Little Joys
As I write this, it is early Saturday morning. I’m wrapped in a quilt pieced with pirates and bright fabric that my mom made just for me. Sweet coffee is...
Staying Child-Centered When You Work with Adults
A hesitation can be a teachable moment. Occasionally my daughter asks me if I miss teaching kindergarten students. My answer is always the same: I pause, gaze off in the...
Teacher Vulnerability
Dear Mrs. Johnson, This has been just a wonderful year of school for Molly. You have reignited her love of learning and I can’t thank you enough for that. This...
Trust
As soon as you trust yourself you will know how to live. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe When the basket of meditation stones was passed to me at the writing retreat,...
On Perfection and Goals
When I began teaching, Mark McGwire was breaking the home-run record in major-league baseball. We sat in the stands and cheered home runs 67 and 68, awed by the consistency...
Notes from the Mad Teachers Liberation Front: Create Your Manifesto
Summer can be a fine time to renew, refresh, and recommit to our passions and ideals. When a group of teachers here in Oregon, who work with children and young...
Volunteered: What I Learned from Cleaning Out the Barn
Recently my boss “volunteered” me for another committee. At first when I got the email, I was ticked and disgusted. I have plenty on my plate, and finding the time...
Lines Written at Lunchtime Above Tintern Abbey
You said you knew it wouldn’t work because the pink of my bathroom sink clashed with the terracotta of the walls and the off-Monet of the shower curtain. But...
The ABCs of Literacy Coaching (Part 1)
Summer gifts me time to think about the upcoming coaching season. In particular, I’m thinking about the new coaches: Vikki, Samantha and Meghan that I’ll be mentoring in the fall...
Write Today
Too many irons in the fire. This is a phrase I've heard most of my life. I started hearing it as a child, and today, decades later, my mom's voice stays...
Telling Our Stories
We all know that teaching requires constant renewal of the mind, heart, and spirit. How do we find time to truly renew ourselves, to refuel our spirits that get used...
Trying to Coach Without the Budget in Mind
With daily headlines keeping alive the reality of a sputtering economy, I fear for my job more than ever. Perhaps it was my sheer naïveté in my first year coaching,...
When You Hate the Book
My family took a vacation to Tuscany this past spring. A dear friend bought my husband and me a copy of The Agony and the Ecstasy, by Irving Stone. My...
Letting Go After Holding on Tight: Reflecting on the Last Days of School
Teachers will tell you that the end of the school year means several weeks of never-ending to-do lists, the scary prospect of packing up a room so walls can be...
