Sunday Slice

Words ran from me this week. Hard news from an old friend chased words around the house and out the door. Still, flowers bloom, friends connect, the sun rises, spring break arrives.

Thankful.

Hand painted stainlessd tumblers from Boutiques, a gifty market fair in Singapore.

The rooftop cactus garden at Singapore’s Changi airport. 

Shophouse near Jalen Sultan, Kuala Lumpur

Chestnuts roasting at the

Inspiration at the Hungry Tapir. 

Tech Trouble: Slice of Life Day 17 of 31

 I walked to the bus stop this morning. The air is still and heavy with humidity today. Grey skies bode rain soon. I found myself wishing for last week's windy weather. The 912B pulled up just after I got to the stop. 

Yes! No waiting this morning. Air conditioning cooled me as I stood the few short blocks to school. I pulled last night's blog up on my phone.

Wait? Where is it? 

I see the title, Stories Simmering. I see a blank white post beneath! What happened? Where's the slice I wrote?! 

Where's the photo from parent conferences? Where's my reflection about the stories I'd been thinking about all day? Where's the bird's nest fern? the trumpet flowers and the Ixora, the blossoms that mark and cheer me on my walk home? Nooooooooooo. Bummer. Oh well, tech trouble happens.

Still, as my students would say, I broke my streak!  I don't know what happened yet. The fixer in me  wants to figure it out now. It'll have to wait.

I wrote the post after school yesterday on my laptop at home. I'm on my school laptop now, and while the platform should sync and show me same same, I'm not so sure it is. 

In ten years, I've not had encountered this particular snafu. Perhaps the wifi at home dropped the post while I publishing? Perhaps I'd selected all and hit a key deleting as I posted? Perhaps I closed the laptop too soon? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps... definitely fixable. Definitely low impact and import. 

I'll investigate when I get home today after parent conferences.  We'll see if I can solve the mystery.

Many thanks to the team at Two Writing Teachers who host the Slice of Life Story
Challenge every day in March and on Tuesdays through the year. 

PS: Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Classroom Climate

One day, I will keep a daily journal of the climate of the classroom.

When during the year are we flushed with enthusiasm for learning?

When do kids come into class wanting to tell me everything that is happening?

When do they fall silent?
When are we mired in minutia?

When are kids so engaged they lose track of time? 
When does it seem like the very air is electric with curiosity and engagement?
When do routines lose their shine?

When do kids want to talk all the way out the door about what we were just doing?

When do they lean on one another and help one another?

During the beginning of this year, I told myself I was going to remember the thrill of the first month of school. And I do remember those feelings, that excitement. Putting name tents on tables, responding to interest inventories and building communities with games and stories. 

Beginnings are joyous: getting to know students, writing together, introducing students to books.  Beginnings shine, so full of light. 

The final days before spring break, not so shiny.  Some moments as we wrap up quarter three, loom more dark cloud than blue sky. 

Tis the school season, I tell myself and this too shall pass. One moment in the feels and rhythms of a school year.