Difficult Decisions

"What color do you want your bedroom," I asked.

"Well, in apartments you always have white walls,

So that is a big decision.........But.........

I think I'd like............... pink!" 

She finally declared.

So, she had a pink bedroom, finally.  

To stay the course or take a new job?

To retire or wait?

To follow your heart or to break a heart?

To stay in your comfort zone or start over?

To drive or not to drive?

To fight to the bitter end?

So many decisions we make

Over the course of a lifetime

They impact what we see

How we feel, 

Where we live

How we spend our days

The chapters of our lives.

Today has been a day

Of Very Difficult Decisions.

Some chapters are hard to write.    

  

#sol17 To Read

Last month was Dr. Seuss's birthday,

This month is Poetry month,

Yesterday was World Book Day,
Lots of reasons to read.

Today is a Rainy Day,

Rainy days are Tee Pee Days,

Recovering from Stomach Flu Days,
Stuck at home
Stuck inside days,
Climb inside a toddler-sized-tee-pee
With a stack of upside-down books

Rest your head on a cozy pillow
Pull up a comfy blanket
Learning to be a reader kind of day.

#sol17 Shoes That Make Me Smile

It was a Back-to-School-Monday-After-Spring-Break kind of morning and I lay in bed wishing, of course, like teachers everywhere, for One-More-Day!  Delaying the inevitable departure into the highway-traffic-adventures ahead, I checked my email knowing that at least one of my grad students was likely to have sent something for me to read in the overnight hours.

However, on this Monday morning, I found nothing from grad students, but something from Amazon that made me smile! I am not sure exactly how Amazon knows what they know about me; however, it seems there may be some smart "cookies" in cyberspace that know not only what we are searching for, but also what we talk about!  

Amazon is right. I have been searching for a new pair of spring-type "fun" shoes to carry me through his last quarter of the school year.  This pair is a bit more "flowery" than I was searching for, but they did make me smile!

Amazon is also right about this image that popped up in my feed! right.  I've noticed glittery shoes of late thanks to a little girl who points her own glitter-encrusted sneakers at every opportunity! I guess Amazon not only knows what I search for but also "hears" my discussions with a Little Miss! Surely, on this sunshiny morning, glittery Mary Jane shoes with wiggling butterflies would make someone I know smile!  Come to think of it, they make me smile, even though this last pair does not come in my size!

#sol17 Writing Through Tough Times

We ask students to share their "hearts" and write about the special small moments in their young lives early in each school year thinking that sharing "Personal Narrative" stories might be the easiest things to write!  As I reflect on my own difficulties writing through tough times, I've decided this is a practice we might want to reconsider!

Sure, for MOST students whose summers are filled with special moments at camp or family vacations, finding a "moment" to describe makes sense.   But, when your life is focused on sadness or sickness or anger or hurt, it can be difficult, perhaps even impossible to notice and write about those moments amidst the strife.  It can be hard to trust that your audience will understand or may even want to hear your story!  

Sure, I can write about my elderly Aunt's tough times.  I can write about my students and their challenging journeys. I can even write about flat tires.  I'm guessing most of you can connect on some level with those tough times.

 At times, I've wondered if I should share  about my own "tough times" wondering if my own story might help someone else?  I've wondered if it might even help me? Yet, as I am returning to writing and this SOL community,  I've chosen mostly to share about the "easy-to-write-about" moments that I can now notice.  Perhaps some day, I may share my tough times, but for now, I'll just ask you to consider how hard it must be to notice the small, easier to write about, personal moments when you are not sure your audience will understand.  

 

#celebratelu Trudging Through Tough Times

I just want to go home

She said ,sadly

I get a little better

Then, something happens

I try to do

What they say

I get tired, though

When, I am exercising

I was never in the army

When I was young

I just want to go home

To watch my shows, when

I want to watch them

To eat what

I want, to eat

When I want to,

I'm tired

Of trudging through
Tough times

Me too

I said, sincerely

Thinking about
Taxes, Google Docs
Papers, boxes, cleaning
I too try to do what they say
Then, the tough times
Come, as Annie's
Theme song begins
The sun will come out

#sol17 Daily Dose of Words

"How can I make my child read? 
How can I make them like reading"
Parents ask me.

Expecting a magic cure,

A just right list

Of Books, Apps, Games, Tricks.

"Read to them, talk about books,
Tell them what you are reading,"
I suggest.
"Children imitate
Adults they admire
Let them see you reading

They will want to do what you do!

They will want to explore your book

Your magazines and newspapers."

When children
Live with, learn from,
Readers
Who share the power
Of reading

A Daily Dose of words

They will learn to love them

*My cousin,
A faithful reader

Known as Grump Grump,

Shared this precious image

Of a precocious reader
Holding HIS newspaper
In just the right way for him.
Clearly, he is approximating
Reading behaviors of those he loves.

Important Research About Beginning Readers

I do love the way Twitter can lead me to learning and research such as this Pathways to Begining Reading study reported recently.  

Researchers from Canada, Oullette and Senechal (2017) are reporting a significant reading-writing connection that collaborates what Marie Clay (1982) reported in her landmark study.  

Invented spelling can make all the difference 

Invented, or temporary spelling as some of us would like to call it, provides "mental reflection and practice with words."  The human brain gets better at whatever it practices. 

"Reflection about how to spell a word allows the child to actively practice making decisions.memorizing. This active practice likely results in synaptic changes in the child’s brain by strengthening neuronal pathways for long term-retention of spellings to be retrieved for reading and writing."

Using temporary spellings, children start out approximating the sounds in words, like they do when learning to talk, and then get more accurate and understandable as time goes on. 

In recent years, some leaders in the educational field have considered invented or temporary spelling to be the cause of bad spelling rather than a route to reflective spelling. There has been a strong push to encourage memorization of words and phonetic patterns. While I am certainly not suggesting we abandon some "direct instruction," this does suggest we should look for ways to encourage meaningful, personally directed writing for our beginning writers.   

Ouellette and Sénéchal conclude that invented spelling facilitates literacy growth. It integrates phonological and orthographic growth. 

Please spread the word. 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/raising-readers-writers-and-spellers/201703/landmark-study-finds-better-path-reading-success