Slice of Life 2022: 9 of 31- I've Never Been So Happy My Teaching Was Ignored

  It's March, and March means the Slice of Life Story Challenge. All are welcome to join the challenge of noticing and writing about the moments of daily life that are stories.

We’ve been short subs so I wasn’t surprised when a replacement didn’t show up when my third-grade writing workshop was ending. 

What are we going to do now? Sebastian asked. 

Honestly, not sure, I answered. 

I let the kids go outside for a short mask break and to run around. With only a half hour or so left until buses begin to be called, I was still not sure what to do. I was hungry, I had to go to the bathroom, and I was not sure if a replacement was on the way. I didn’t want to be a nudge and call the office, figuring that if there was someone to tagteam a patchworked day of subbing, they’d be here. But still, I wasn’t sure what to do with the twenty expectant students in front of me. 

A readaloud. I’d do a readaoud. I looked for a picture book, but I was in a first-year teacher’s classroom and the selection was sparse. How do we not have more books in this classroom? –a question for another day. Epic. I’ll log in to Epic. 

I pulled up the website and began trying out various passwords. Saved passwords are magic when you’re on your own computer, but they’re an issue when you’re a guest on someone else’s!

Finally, I got into my Epic collection, and Black History recommendations came up. (Disclaimer: This slice of life happened last month, but it’s too good not to share!) Mae Jemison– I’d read one of the picture books about her! 

We read about her yesterday, several informants piped up. 

Of course they had. 

The book right underneath was about someone I hadn’t heard of before, but it looked good, and he was a scientist. Perfect. I’d read that, sharing the words and pictures on the Smartboard. As I got going with Ernest Everett Just, I reminded the third-graders to be active readers and ask questions about what wasn’t clear. I cued them to interrupt me if there was a word they didn’t know. I invited them to let me know if there was language they thought was beautiful. No one did. Those kids were silent. If I pointed words and language out, they appreciated it. If I asked questions, they answered… but no one was taking that initiative. In fact, several were reading their own books under their desks. I chose not to call them out for that. It was the end of the day, and I was tired. I was hungry, too… remember? 

And then I turned the page to where Ernest discovered sperm fertilizing eggs in sand dollars. Right up there on the Smartboard. 

Yep, “a wave of movement when a sperm contacted the egg. As slight as a shiver, it signaled an amazing discovery.” 

I read those pages fast, without looking up, and hoping like anything that no one would interrupt or call out any questions as I’d been nudging them to do during ALL the preceding pages. 

No one did. 

I have never been so happy that my lesson was uninspiring. And yes, there are plenty of reasons to preview a book!