Courage Doesn't Always Roar: A Teacher's Quest to Be Better Each Day

On the first day of the March SOLSC, I wrote about this challenge being like a treasure chest. On March 1, the chest opened and each Slice became riches gingerly placed inside the box. Today, the last treasure is placed inside the box and another chapter closes.  Ferris Bueller wryly said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." March is my chance to stop and look around- to slow down and notice, to wonder, to reflect, to question, to celebrate, to mourn, to feel. Writing every single day is not easy- in a month where report cards were due, and my daughter turned 4, and I attended professional conferences, and so on and so on. All the more reason to pause this month- to breathe in life, and exhale here, with all of you.  I have been touched by your stories, your treasures, too. Reading the many Slices that were shared this month expanded my world view, my compassion, my conviction that we all have a story to te...

On this day before the last day of the challenge, I wish I could write something different. I wish this story wasn't weighing on my heart, but it is. It's not my story to tell, but there is nothing else for me to say today.  When the news is bad, and it's not your own, how do you act? The sun is shining warm sunny rays and the sky is that beautiful blue you've been missing but a friend's world is collapsing or torn apart  Your world is not. Your children, rosy and healthy do their normal things: ride bikes, and glide on scooters, dig in the dirt, have a full-blown sock war, with socks strewn all over,  laughing and then crying. The same. Alls well. But the news you heard is that all is not well for someone you know. And you are sad for them and scared and worried and guilty and anxious and angry that life can turn in a split second robbing happiness  from where it rightfully should perch. When the news is bad and it's not your ow...

This story caught my attention as I watched in on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HumansofJudaism/?pnref=story  (Posted on March 11th, 2016- pinned post.)  Earlier this month, I attended a Long Island Writing Project workshop at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County. The Holocaust is such a painful topic: I'm embarrassed to say I rarely let my mind think about it because I find it so upsetting. As a parent, I find it even harder to think about what so many families endured and how so many lives were ripped apart. It's inconceivable to me that such evil exists, yet we know it does. This story, though, makes me think of a mother's influence. The lady speaking in the video describes how her mother packed chocolate for her, knowing there would be awful times ahead and the chocolate might somehow make things less horrific. The mother very kindly asks her daughter if she can give her chocolate to the lady going into labor, knowing the lady might n...

When I was younger, I loved taking quizzes in magazines like YM or Teen . I would circle the answers, then add up my score, or count how many A's and B's and C's I selected. Next, I would find the category that fit my score and read the description, nodding in agreement or taking the quiz again to get a better result! I was reminded of this because I've taken two personality quizzes this week. One was shared on Facebook by Michelle Haseltine: What Is Your Teaching Spirit Animal?  I got the Fennec Fox:" Well aren't you just a fluffy-eared angel! Students and staff alike are drawn to your sweet nature and willingness to listen (although some people may abuse these qualities). Also, you probably have the cutest classroom ever." (If "cutest" is defined by lots of piles of papers- mine's the cutest! Ha.) The other quiz, The Color Code Personality Test, was shared by my friend Nicolette James. It was shown to her at one of the #CELI17 worksh...

Okay, Books. The One and Only Ivan received the final rose, wore the crown, had the cape...it was our slam dunk, home run read aloud. It will leave a lasting impression on my students, as it has left on me.  But now it's your turn. We are looking for our next, best chapter book read aloud. Are YOU the one who will cause my students to beg, "Just one more chapter!" Will YOU be the book that makes them think more than they ever have, feel more, be inspired more?  Here are some of our contestants for the next read aloud: The Wild Robot  The Terrible Two  Out of My Mind Charlotte's Web What books would YOU add to my list of contenders? We just finished a fantasy, so I was thinking another genre might be important to read, but I LOVED The Wild Robot and I worry if I don't read Charlotte's Web , my students might never experience it.  I am looking for our next chapter book read aloud and would love your ideas! 

Tonight, while surfing on Twitter, I stumbled upon this article from 2004, written by Donald Graves. Entitled, "What I've Learned From Teachers of Writing", it's a fascinating piece. I particularly was interested in the section where Graves details what he believes first-rate teachers do: "They are highly literate. Good teachers are voracious readers who read for personal and professional enjoyment. They write for themselves, their students, and for broader audiences through publication." (Donald Graves) So many of us here in the Two Writing Teachers community live this each day. We are also members of the Nerdy Book Club and read widely for ourselves and to be able to recommend books to students. We listen to podcasts about books and writing and send each other Voxer messages about these very ideas. All this month, here we are, living the writerly life, often reflecting on our teaching and publishing our work to a wider audience of educators. We read...

Today I had the chance to participate in the Connected Educators Long Island Summit (#CELI17), sponsored in my district, Farmingdale. It was an honor to be asked to be part of the panel that was the opening conversation for the day. The panel included education leaders (Superintendent and Principal), teachers, and students! The students were middle schoolers who spoke articulately and with conviction about how schools should look and feel. Their driving message was "Let students follow their passions."  At the end of the Summit, this video was shared: The difference between the adult answers and the kid answers was startling and revealing. Why do we go to our flaws first? The kids in the video thought of ways to improve upon their already fabulous selves. The adults thought of all the ways their self needed to change. What if we saw ourselves through a lens of possibility and positivity? How might we be able to create a better life if that is the lens we use? T...

"Your spark can become a flame and change everything." -E.D. Nixon "Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." -William James The other day, a colleague who works with some of my students, providing reading support, relayed a story. She said my students told her, "Mrs. Sokolowski has that book. She has so many books. She really, really loves to read."  The story was a sunbeam piercing through the storm clouds of doubt, rolling through my mind about all the ways I am getting it wrong in the classroom.    I could make an extensive list of all the things I need to change and fix. But, perhaps, the one thing I am getting right is my students believe me to be a person who loves reading. Of course, they are right- I am a person who loves reading. I hug the book when I finish reading it, and sigh the sigh of a person who has just experienced something exquisitely beautiful. My throat catches as I read the last pages of The One and...

How do I make them care? Pencils strewn on the floor Cast off, ignored, then swept away. No pencil to write with, they tell me. How do I make them care? How do I make them care? Notebooks home once again Unprepared for the day's work. A shrug when asked why. How do I make them care? How do I make them care? Failing grades on math quizzes Week after week after week Practice your math facts, I ask 13 out of 25 didn't. How do I make them care? How do I make them care? Talking, laughing, ignoring the teacher trying to teach Funny chats, lectures,  good choice tickets given Still... teaching interrupted. How do I make them care? How do I make them care? Name-calling, fighting, squabbles to settle all day long. So many lessons on being empathetic Yet they can't see the other's perspective. How do I make them care? I have really tried to get away from giving student's rewards and consequences, points and prizes. I want my students to pi...

This is my third year in third grade, and my third time reading aloud The One and Only Ivan  by Katherine Applegate. I read it once before by myself, which means I've read this gorgeous book four times in all. You would think my voice wouldn't catch anymore on the last line, but today, as I read the last page aloud, I felt the tears threatening and had to stop, breathe, and then push myself to say the words. I didn't want to ruin the very end of the book by blubbering, but it just gets me every time.  Yesterday, I asked my students to write the formulaic "I am" poem as if they were one of the characters in Ivan. Their writing showed how they understood the characters deeply. One of my students, who absolutely struggles mightily with reading and writing, was captivated by the story. I had him dictate the poem to me and I was touched by how much he was able to express and how much he understood. It's the power of an exquisite book, being read aloud by someon...