Slice of Life: A Joy Map

   It's Tuesday, and Tuesdays are for slicing.  Anyone is welcome to join us through Two Writing Teachers, slicing, sharing, and commenting on other slices! 

  

Yesterday, I got to give a series of presentations about the importance of joy in classrooms. As I spoke to various of groups of teachers, I could feel and see their joy emanating or growing... or not.  

In preparation for the day, I made a joy map-- have you ever made one? I love this map, and I will keep adding to it. There's' joy in knowing what beings joy. 

Inspiration for this joy map came from here.

I have about a hundred slices from yesterday from the responses and some of the questions. Instead of elaborating on any of them in this post, I am starting a list that may be useful in March, which is coming up soon. 

Slice of Life: Reflecting on John Schu's amazing presentation

 

  It's Tuesday, and Tuesdays are for slicing.  Anyone is welcome to join us through Two Writing Teachers, slicing, sharing, and commenting on other slices! 

  

As I walked down the hallway toward the gym, I was a little surprised to hear so much cheering and shouting. The school was excited to be hosting John Schu for an author visit, but in my experience, even in a not-so-acoustic gymnasium, the volume level of author visits is not too high. 

Here's what struck me when I walked in: the joy. 

I know that Mr. Schu is famous for stories, and I have loved his books. (If you haven't read the Gift of Story, I highly recommend you purchase it before finishing this post because it is all about the different ways that books can impact people. ) Any person who makes it his mission to help kids see themselves, stand up for themselves, and find the book that changes everything for them is a hero in my world. 

After watching John Schu present, he's even more of my hero. I have never seen ANYONE animate a gymnasium full of third-sixth graders in the same way. Every hand was up every time he suggested he might want a response. Every child read with him. Even non book-lovers-- because he made it safe enough for everyone. He gave out books, he gave out plugs for Target, and most of all, he gave out passion. When he asked for yells, kids gave him yells, but when he was quiet, every eye was on him and every mouth was closed. 

After a while, I studied him. What did he do that impacted the audience so much? He told stories, for one. By the end of the presentation, we knew many important events and people in his life. He also had a slide presentation, and he shared pictures of his home-- his porch, his favorite chair, his staircase, his kitchen table... he brought us into his life. He provided clear expectations for all of us to participate in his presentation. "I'll read the black regular print, and you read the fun print, as well as the onomatopoeia," he instructed. We were all happy to join him reading a picture book because we knew exactly what our role was and how to do it. Even when we messed up and didn't come in right on cue, he gave us another chance. "Hold on," he said a few times. "You can do better than that." And we did. 

For the rest of the day, I felt the joy that John Schu radiated because he loves books so much and every word of his presentation made every person in the gym know it. What an amazing thing to present with that much joy. What a gift of story and passion. 

Slice of Life- Where the granola goes... (or not!)

   It's Tuesday, and Tuesdays are for slicing.  Anyone is welcome to join us through Two Writing Teachers, slicing, sharing, and commenting on other slices! 

  

This morning, as I was going through my in-the-kitchen routines, I was pretty impressed with myself for remembering about an email I needed to respond to. 

(Full disclaimer: my morning began when I woke up checked my emails, and didn't see the expected notification that my call for slices had posted at midnight. Upon further investigation, I realized that I'd messed up in the scheduling department. Perhaps breaking a sweat, I published that post as soon as possible to the 

relief of the early morning slicers.)

I was also impressed with myself that I managed to have a conversation with a teacher who was driving to work while simultaneously (and quietly) unloading the dishwasher. 

I even remembered to retrieve the spoons I'd been collecting in my work bag which needed to make it into the aforementioned dishwasher. 

All this remembering must have tapped my brain because in true forget-to-schedule-the-post-at-the-right-time fashion, I poured granola into my coffee cup instead of my yogurt bowl. 

Sometimes multi-tasking isn't all it's cracked up to be. 

Slice of Life: Announcing my 2023 One Little Word

  It's Tuesday, and Tuesdays are for slicing.  Anyone is welcome to join us through Two Writing Teachers, slicing, sharing, and commenting on other slices! 

  

Over the years, I have stayed with the practice of choosing one little word to focus on throughout the year. This year will be my tenth year of this practice, and all of my words have entwined, becoming part of how I ground myself when I feel like I'm flailing. For various reasons, I'd recommend any one of my previous nine words, although I have some that have impacted me more than others. Present was my first word, and it is probably the most powerful one. Last year, I changed it up with just because it was a word I wanted to use much less. Originally, I tried eliminating just altogether, but I realized it was effective enough to become more intentional about it. 

When I took on my 2016 acknowledge, I realized that I really like words with multiple meanings-- ones that can be multiple parts of speech are great! With that in mind, I've chosen care for 2023. 

Care appeals to me because it can be something I both do and receive. I want to work on actively caring for the and about the people who matter to me, and I also will work on accepting care-- something that can be a little tricky for me. If I had any question about this in my mind, it's been made that much clearer with an injured right hand. I've had to ask for a lot of help and accept a lot of care. 

My words have had lasting effects on me, and I'm looking forward to paying attention to giving and receiving care. I'll keep you posted!