Tuesday, March 8, 2016

In the Details

Thank you to StaceyBetsyDanaTaraBeth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for 
creating community and valuing teachers' writing. This is post 8 of 31 for 
the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Join us at Two Writing Teachers


My students are taking turns writing on our class blog this month. Yesterday I got an email from a student who's post would not publish. 



Her email came through on my phone, but I was out to dinner with family and could not make out the Wordpress Dashboard on my small screen in the dim restaurant. It was late when I got home and realized I'd left my laptop at school, so the solution waited until this morning. 

We connected just before first period. I found the problem quickly. I'd mis-assigned rights to the blog and made her (and a few others) contributors instead of authors. So, I changed the setting on the Wordpress dashboard and published the posts that had accumulated in the "pending" outbox. 

Whew! Problem solved. 

At the end of a class period, there are always loose ends: pressing questions, grading concerns, learning issues, storing concerns (packing away laptops). Each I need to address as I make my way from the room to the hallway. Sometimes the phone even rings during that first minute of our six-minute passing time. 

I know I left adding users to the blog to the end of a class period one day and in the rush to do what needs doing, I missed the type of users I added. I need to adjust how I add users to the class blog next year. I am going to remember to slow down. Less is more as Ted Sizer said and reminds me. No need to rush. I will remember there is time enough for everything if I take my time to work each moment mindfully. Luckily we got the blog users and posts straightened out in less than five minutes. 

I love an easy fix. 

If you'd like to see what my students have been writing about, click the image above to visit our class blog. 






4 comments:

  1. I love your reflection at the end about rushing vs. doing things mindfully. I've been working on mindfulness over the past year or so as a way of managing anxiety, and it's so helpful! Reminds me of a snippet of a Dave Matthews song I love: "But rushing around seems what's wrong with the world..."

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  2. Yes, we always need to slow down, but sometimes. . . I love those easy fixes, too! And I love that classroom blog header, just terrific, Lee Ann.

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  3. Yes...a constant battle to slow down...glad your students are writing too.

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  4. I need this reminder to slow down. Glad the fix was an easy one.

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