My Blessed Little Life

On Monday, my students and I had a discussion about slicing.  I offered my students the chance to slice this month, and am very pleased that a few took me up on it (offering prizes must have helped!)  I had a couple turn in their slices because they had finished 31 entries and felt they were done.  I myself have scheduled slices to go out a few days ahead when I felt inspiration hit and could write more than one entry in a day.  But is that cheating?  That was the question. I don't think it is cheating to write and schedule ahead.  For me, I feel much more at ease to write my posts and know that they are done for the day.  I can log in and link up my slice before school, and then I know that I can go about my day without worrying about getting it done.  I also have started a post, and then felt I needed to step away for a day or two.  Sometimes having that little break brings clarity. I can refocus what I was trying to say.  So...

 23 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from  Two Writing Teachers Do you know any procrastinators? The people who know have a big deadline coming up and still haven't started that piece of work that has to be finished on time? I've met more than my share. In fact, depending on the task, I'm one of them. Certain chores and tasks are so unappealing that I'd rather do anything than what I need to do. I've been known to clean my entire house and closets and the garage instead of writing a paper for my Masters or grading 8th grade research papers.  My own kids and students definitely fit into this mold and got me thinking. What are the stages of procrastination?  Can someone tell when it really is time to get busy? Can procrastination be put into stages like grief?  I'm not really sure.  I know that there comes a time that procrastinators kick it in gear to finish that project. For me, it is usually after every other possible task on the honey-do list ha...

  18 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers This 6 word slice sums up how I feel every Monday.  Grades are due at three (and are done, just need to submit)...field trip with my daughter tomorrow to the literature festival, so sub plans to write.  Better get going to start another week.  Where is the coffee? Monday, you are one evil mistress.

  13 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers When my husband and I were first married, we lived with my grandma to help save money.  I was in my last year of college and beginning student teaching, and my husband started a brand new job two weeks before our wedding.  It really made sense to do this.  While we cooked separately most of the time, from time to time grandma would cook for us all.  One of my favorite meals from my grandma was not a fancy one at all.  We always knew that March 17th meant a celebration of our Scots Irish roots. Every March, Grandma would buy corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots at least a week in advance.  She was convinced that if she didn't do this, she would miss out on our St. Patrick's Day meal.  She would study each cut of meat, looking for the piece that had just the right amount of fat.   I always wondered why she went to so much trouble for a meal, but this meal alwa...

  12 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers I am an avid TV watcher.  Most often, I have Food Network or TLC on.  TV has always been a companion. It is extra noise in the background as I work on whatever I am doing.  Lately, instead of plot lines to move watchers, networks have cashed in on the reality craze.  It is interesting to me that everything on is some sort of a reality show,  Want to find love?  Join 24 other women on the Bachelor and you may have a shot..  Can you take random ingredients and create a restaurant quality meal in 10 minutes?  Food Network is your place.  Can you survive on a desert island?  Survivor is your game.  Need to lose a few pounds?  The Biggest Loser is for you. I have to wonder if these shows have convinced people that everything is a competition of some sort.  Everything is a game. Even with my lesson plans at school, I've noticed that kids expect to be...

  10 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers Ten days of blogging for the Slice of Life challenge have passed.  I have really enjoyed the challenge so far.  It has made me really think about what is happening in my life and how I can put it into words.    I have always loved to write, but have never really considered myself that good at it.  I have so many ideas running in my head, but when I go to actually put those ideas onto paper nothing seems to work.  I write sentences, only to erase them over and over because they don't sound right or they don't really explain the feeling I want them to.  I explain to my students all the time that writing is really about the revision process. That is where the real work takes place, and it is really true.  It is where the frustration lies for me as well.  Self doubt plays the biggest role here, I think. That nagging thought that no one will want to read what I have to...

  6 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers Do you have any quirks that make you a little special?  A little different than everyone else out there?  There are certain habits that we all have that might be peculiar to others around us.  My kids remind me of this all the time. Every time we go any where that has an escalator, my kids make fun of me.  For some reason, I apparently have the same routine.  I always let the kids go on first...I suppose this comes from the mom in me making sure they are all on and safe.  And then I will wait at least one step before I get on.  I'm not sure why, but I do this.  I wouldn't even know that I do this without my kids being so kind to point this habit out...and by kind, of course I mean they ridicule me endlessly. I also have strange driving habits, such as never turning left unless it is absolutely a necessity.  I will turn right and go around the block before having ...

  2 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers Saturday is here! A day usually spent running around, completing all of those errands that don't get completed during the week. It is also the day that I bring in the school bag, park it by my chair/ bed and then find as much busy work as I can to avoid actually grading anything in said bag. Does anyone else do this? As a language arts teacher, I often have so many papers to read, but no desire to do so. I'll wish I had on Sunday, but Saturdays aren't for school work! I did make it to the gym this morning and walk/ran a 5K! I have never been a big exercise person, so actually having the desire to be at  the gym before 9am is huge for me! I always feel a sense of accomplishment after completing a workout. Hopefully that sense of accomplishment will carry through to all of the other Saturday chores that I need to accomplish today! Well, I'm off... running errands and fighting crowds....e...

  1 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers Today starts the Slice of Life c hallenge.  I introduced my students to the classroom Slice of Life c hallenge as well, and I was really happy to see how many of the kids were excited to try this.  I think that they were more willing to try this when they found out that I am doing the adult challenge along with them.  I had planned to have my students add their posts to a classroom blog, but unfortunately it is blocked on our school servers, so I had to come up with plan B.  Luckily, I think plan B will work out better for the majority of the class anyway.  I asked my students to just write for 10 minutes...about anything.  I fou nd that many of the stud en ts were more willing to do this i f they could use a journal instead of blogging online... but I understand why.  Sometimes just the act of physically writing something and having the option to draw and embellish is free...

I recently had a professional development day for my school district and was able to hear Ruth Ayres speak about teaching writing.  She mentioned her blog, Two Writing Teachers, and a challenge that she sponsors every year called the Slice of Life.   To complete the challenge, the idea is to write every day in the month of March.  I was really intrigued by the idea, and began to think about really doing this.  She also mentioned that they were beginning a classroom challenge this year for the first time.  Could I really write every day for a month?  I've had this blog established for quite a while now and sadly have only posted 20 times...so writing every day is a little lot daunting for me to even consider.  But the more I really thought about it, the more intrigued I became.  I really need to practice what I preach I guess, and I should show my students that I am a writer too.  I can't really expect them to do this and then not follow ...