March Slice of Life Challenge Day 13: Winter Gratitude

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 13: 
Winter Gratitude 

Most Saturday and Sunday mornings I desperately yearn to sleep in. Yet, as the owner of two dogs and two children, this rarely happens. Last Saturday morning, our border collie - Hondo - was barking at 5 am, our usual walking time. I rolled over, put a pillow over my head, hoping that he would cease his piercing bark. No luck.

I did not want to leave my warm bed. I did not want to bundle up and brave the icy early morning sidewalks. Five minutes passed. He did not stop barking. 

As a responsible dog owner, I got myself out of bed, put on his harness and dog sweater, and took him for a walk.

Yet as soon as we got outside, I was in awe. Immediately, before me was a watercolor worthy sunrise - gorgeous pinks, purple, and yellow hues.

Saturday morning sunrise

Later in the walk, as we passed one of our public transit shelters, I noticed the intricate frost patterns on the glass: 

Frost captured my attention

Touched by winter beauty, I was grateful for Hondo's insistence for his early morning walk. Had I slept longer I would have missed the sunrise and maybe not noticed winter's beauty surrounding me. 

As soon as we returned from our walk, I penned this double haiku:

Early wake up barks, 

chilly walks, icy pavement - 

marvel at sunrise.

Frost adorns plain glass-

Bitter cold beckons beauty.
Winter morning grace.   

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 12: Frozen

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 12: Frozen

"Please bundle up. Grab your hat. Winter coat. Mittens." I nagged. We were on our way out to sell boxes of Girl Scout Cookies late last week.

"Moooooom. I'm fine," My ten-year-old insisted. It was 33 degrees Fahrenheit, and she donned a t-shirt under a thin zip-up hoodie - her green Girl Scout vest on top. A true Wisconsin kid.

"I'll bring a jacket, but you can't make me wear it." 

Dear Lord. Did my kid really just say that? 

"Can you at least wear your hat and mittens?" I pleaded. 

Reluctantly, Alaina put on a fleece headband, but no mittens. A jacket did not accompany her.

We walked through our neighborhood for over an hour, ringing doorbell after doorbell and pulling our wagon full of Girl Scout Cookies.

Our Girl Scout Cookie sale en route.
Note the snow still on the ground and my daughter's poor choice of warm clothing. 

Around sunset, temperatures quickly plunged. I was freezing in my winter coat, hat, and fleece-lined mittens, but I kept quiet about warmth. 

"Last house," I said as we stood outside the blue colonial. I remained on the sidewalk as she ventured to ring the doorbell.

"Would you like to support my Girl Scout Troop and buy some cookies?" Alaina inquired.   

"Of course! What ya got?" 

Alaina steered the wagon closer to the house, displayed the available cookies. I patiently watched the cookie exchange from the nearby sidewalk.

"Thank you so much." 

"Before you leave, I have a question for you," the neighbor said. 

"Would you like some mittens? Your hands must be frozen." 

Alaina slowly nodded and quietly added, "I can bring them back tomorrow." 

The neighbor shook her head, "No need. I don't want them back. Just stay warm." 

The neighbor's gift of mittens

Let me tell you, it took remarkable restraint not to tell my daughter, I told you so...you should have listened to your mom. I am also quite surprised that I did not tell the woman (as I desperately wanted to) that I asked my daughter to dress properly and she refused. Instead I replied, "Wow! That was nice of her to share mittens with you, Alaina." 

"We live in a great neighborhood, don't we, Mom?" 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 11: Earbuds

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 12: 
Earbuds 

Have you seen Lois Beckwith's The Dictionary of High School B.S (Zest Books, 2008)? It's a fun little book of snarky high school definitions, written to provide a bit of humor to the high school adolescent. 

Using an entry from The Dictionary of High School B.S. as my mentor text, I came up with my own entry (about something that drives me bonkers as a teacher), written from the perspective of a high school teacher:

Example entry from The Dictionary of High School B.S. 

earbuds (n.) 1. a small, useful and lightweight device that acts like speakers to wear inside your ear so you can listen to music, audio books, or gaming anywhere. 2. a great way to easily block out any freshman drama or ignore office announcements in the hallways. 3. in some cases, a fantastic way to ignore what teachers are saying during a mini lesson - plus easy-to-hide underneath long hair or a hoodie. 4. a more subtle way to play Fortnite in class.  

This is a great mentor text for students to have fun with - the opportunity to play with topics and words and humor! 

What would your entry be about? 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 10: What Moves You?

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 10: 
What Moves You? 

I often return to Ralph Fletcher's classic text, Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer's Notebook (Heinemann 1996). In Chapter 2 Fletcher writes, "If I want to write movingly I must first pay attention to what moves me. I must be connected to it: I must be fused. That's what the notebook is for. It gives you a roomy space to record and explore what amazes, delights, disgusts, or appalls you."

 

Indeed, Ralph Fletcher. My notebook is truly a reservoir of what moves me - what captures my daily attention or feelings. For example, here's a snippet from a bit of Friday's notebook writing: 

Standing in the doorway of my classroom, I greeted seniors as they straggled in with their Starbucks coffee cups and earbuds dangling from their ears. Friday morning. 7:30. Many of them barely uttered a hey.

Just before the final attendance bell rang I heard, "Mrs. Haase! It's so glad to have you back!" Addie, a senior, brightly greeted me as she breezed into first hour.

"It's good to be back and see you, too, Addie." I replied. 

After being gone for two days of school, navigating notes from a collections of substitutes, it was great to be missed by a student. Her cheery greeting reminded me why I love teaching, even after being absent from school. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 9: Blackout Poetry Fun

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 9:
Blackout Poetry Fun

Blackout poetry, another form of found poetry, is a fun way to play with words. Using a page from one of my favorite professional resources, I Read It But I Don't Get It by the phenomenal Cris Tovani, I created this blackout poem:

Infer
Use background knowledge
with textual evidence.
Lift up words.
Think beyond the pages
Find deeper meaning.

Look for clues.
Analyze
thinking.
Unlock the door. 

(Don't worry, I would never deface Cris Tovani's work unless I was annotating. I used my black sharpie on a photo copy.)

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 8: Spine Poetry

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 8: Spine Poetry 

Have you ever tried Book Spine Poetry? For me, writing a Spine Poem is simple and fun, yet so visually appealing. As I was straightening up my bookshelves at school on Thursday afternoon I wrote two new Spine Poems. 

My first Spine Poem is based on professional education resources (and some of my favorite books). The second Spine Poem uses mostly Young Adult titles. 

For the Good of the Earth and Sun

Poetry Matters.

Minds Made for Stories.

The Journey is Everything.

Write Beside Them.

Read Write Teach.

Imagine It Better. 

If you're reading this

hold still

for one more day.

Just listen

my brilliant friend. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 7: I remember

For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. 

March Slice of Life Challenge Day 7: I remember...

Writer Natalie Goldberg has some fantastic, practical ideas of how writers can live a writerly life in her book Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Mind. On page 10 Goldberg writes:

"Do a timed writing for ten minutes. Begin with "I remember" and keep going. Every time you get stuck and feel like you have nothing to say, write, "I remember" again and keep going. To begin with "I remember" does not mean you have to write only about your past. Once you get going, you follow your own mind where it takes you....The memory can be something that happened five seconds ago. When you write a memory, it isn't in the past anyway. It's alive right now." 

On Wednesday I used this question to fuel some writing in my writer's notebook. Writing nearly two full pages, I was surprised what my mind uncovered in only ten minutes. Since my daughter was home sick from school on Wednesday and I stayed home to care for her, I wrote about remembering the time I had mononucleosis as a sophomore in high school and missed way too much school. I remembered being so tired that I could barely function; I attended only one class each day (math) for over a month. To make matters worse, I had an enlarged spleen and couldn't participate in a church youth group trip that I participated in each year. 

I hadn't thought about having mono in ages. 

My I remember exercise also led to writing about one of my childhood bedrooms, how we packed up our boat to save room in the car when we went on summer vacation to my grandpa's cottage, and how I didn't realize how introverted my dad was until I was an adult. 

Ten minutes of writing opened up all kinds of things to write about and for all kinds of "seed ideas" for another time.