It’s the Little Things

Do you have rituals or small things that you do that always brighten your mood? What about things that bring out a memory every time? For me, it’s opening the sunroof in my car.

Maybe it is partly to do with living in a place in which I actually know what it feels like when your nose hairs freeze. It feels like I do not get outside during daylight for at least three months every winter. So, when temperatures start to rise and the sun is shining, it lifts everyone’s mood. And it is the perfect time to get the sunroof open.

Getting in the car on a sunny day, rolling down the windows, and cranking open that sunroof is not just about the weather. For me, it is a visceral memory. Every single time I do this, I think about my dad.

My father dreamed for years of owning a Mercedes Benz. The song by Janis Joplin still rings in my head. “Oh, lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz…” It was an anthem in our house.

Then, one day about six months before he died, my father got his Mercedes. He loved the sunroof on his new car. Some of my strongest memories of my dad are in the car with the windows down and the sunroof open and music blaring on the speakers.

Now, thirty years later, both cars that my husband and I own have sunroofs. I could tell you that was a coincidence, but that would be a lie. Having a sunroof in my car gives me a powerful feeling of being loved and watched over.

So today, when I got in my car and opened that sunroof, I sat for a moment and remembered.

Bring on the sunny days so I can open up that sunroof and let the rays of sunshine and love fill me up.

Slice of Life: Doubting the good work

I led a training this morning about Flipgrid. During the training I highlighted the work that one teacher had been doing on this website, because he had shared his groups with me. He wrote in the chat that it would be good to share the work from a certain student. So I did.

Later in the day, I received an email from this teacher thanking me for making him look good in our workshop. This stopped me in my tracks. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad he found some joy in being celebrated and used as a positive example. I also loved the thank you note. However, it struck me that this teacher would use this particular phrase, as if he doesn’t do well and my workshop somehow changed things and magically made his work look good.

You are the magic maker.

I quickly wrote back that there was no “making him look good.” I just shared the good work he had been doing. Maybe he didn’t mean it this way, but it really made me think about how often we do this kind of thing. Especially as teachers. Why can’t we stand up proudly and know that we should have bragging rights for the hard work that we do?

This teacher had just finished a poetry unit and these students wrote poems and shared them on Flipgrid. The student we highlighted wrote the most profound “Where I’m From” poem. It dazzled in its brightness and love of writing. That teacher absolutely deserved the celebration for an inspirational assignment that made a student know she is a writer. His use of the new technology tool was a new adventure for him, so perhaps that is why he was hesitant to take credit for a good idea. But I wish he would’ve thanked me for showcasing his hard work. Maybe I am being nit-picky, but words matter.

Teachers, take credit for your amazingly creative ideas. Know that you are doing amazing things. Even when you have less confidence, know that you don’t need anyone else to make you look good. You look good all on your own. You are doing amazing work. Stand up and own it and confidently proclaim it.

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? 2/15/2021

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly link up hosted by Kathryn at Book Date .   Then, Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers  decided to give it a focus on kid’s literature.  This is a chance for bloggers to recap their weeks of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished:

Refugee was hard to put down. I stayed up too late one night reading it because the chapters are so short that you just keep wanting to read one more chapter. I love how middle grade authors play with style like that to make the books more appealing to readers. The content of this book was heartbreaking but it was well written and I liked how the stories wove together. I definitely recommend this book.

Today Tonight Tomorrow was another book I had a hard time putting down. I read it very quickly. It is such a cute YA romance book. I loved the reference to a love of reading and writing, and the way the protagonist was adamantly defending the Romance genre. I haven’t visited Seattle, but I could see how the love of that city was woven through this book too. I highly recommend this one!

Books I’m Reading:

The Art of Coaching is a book that I am reading for professional growth.

I just started reading Personality isn’t Permanent. I have not made any progress in this book yet. Putting together this blog post is reminding me that I should get back to this one.

What’s Next:

I have the next Pendergast novel right now, but I am not sure I want to read that one. I am hoping that some more of the titles I put on hold will come in this week. I guess I will just have to see how I feel and what comes up for me this week.

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Slice of Life: It Could’ve Been Much Worse

“The car in the garage next door is running, but the garage is closed. It was like that when I left and still running when I got back.” My husband said this in the two minutes I had before my class started at 5:30am.

I don’t exactly know why I hesitated to call the police. Was it hope that maybe the neighbor would come back and find the situation and fix it? I certainly hoped it was just a short time that the car had been running. And I definitely hoped that they would not come find a dead body in that garage.

“Well, I have classes to teach. I will see what happens and maybe call the police if it doesn’t get better,” I replied to my husband. VIPKid as a company is quite the stickler for promptness. So, I proceeded into the office and started my class. It was the typical class with Dorith. She was being super silly and trying her hardest not to follow the class content. No big deal on a normal morning, but this morning I was a little distracted and probably a lot less patient.

And then. I smelled it in my office. All of the sudden, the smell was all I could think about. I finished my class and immediately dialed the phone. It was now 6am.

The Response

I felt like such an idiot when the dispatcher asked if I had tried to contact the neighbor. No, I had not tried. But at least they took me seriously and got a squad car to respond immediately. The two cops that responded were very nice. I explained what we knew and they saw the situation and went to try to contact the neighbor.

I went back inside and left them to it. Then, we heard the garage door opening and watched as the smoke that had built up in that garage billowed into the sky. There were waves and waves of smoke and if I thought I smelled it before, that was nothing compared to now.

The cops knocked at my door and thanked me. They told me that the neighbor had some story about the car supposedly being an automatic car and how he put the car in park and thought the car was off when he went into his apartment at MIDNIGHT. That car was running in a closed garage for 6 hours!

The fire department responded immediately. My poor neighbors were mostly still sleeping and woke up to police and fire department members pounding on their doors to bring the carbon monoxide monitor around. When they came into our apartment, my office had read outs of 90ppm. We were told to get some warm clothes on and come outside. It was not safe for us to be in our apartment.

Safety Checks

Carbon monoxide levels were too high in almost every apartment in our building. Everyone went outside to wait as they aired out our apartments and the Fire department’s industrial strength fans ran. This is when I realized that it was good that I had not knocked on the neighbor’s door. I would not have thought of the carbon monoxide levels. I would have just been relieved that there wasn’t a dead body in that garage.

Although it was the beginning of February, the temperature was a balmy 30 degrees, so we could stay relatively comfortable in our winter gear. I was thankful for that as well. (Had it been a mere 3 days later, it would have been in the middle of a wind chill advisory)

It was 7:45am before we could enter the building again. Two people were checked out in an ambulance but no one needed to be transported to the hospital. We were all okay. The idiot who left his car running in the garage was okay. The babies and pets were okay.

I think we saved some lives. And it certainly could have been so much worse. I will not hesitate if I am ever in this situation again.

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? 2/8/2021

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly link up hosted by Kathryn at Book Date .   Then, Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers  decided to give it a focus on kid’s literature.  This is a chance for bloggers to recap their weeks of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished:

Crimson Shore is the 15th book in the Pendergast series. This book brought in an element of fantasy again. I am determined to finish this series, because I am fascinated by the characters, but it is hard to suspend my disbelief at this point.

Luster: a novel was a book I read for a book club. I would not have picked this book on my own. I did not like this book. It is very hard for me to like a book when I don’t like the characters. The plot of this book was weird and the characters reacted in very surprising and many times unbelievable ways.

Books I’m Reading:

The Art of Coaching is a book that I am reading for professional growth. I have another book study meeting this Friday and have another chapter to finish before then. This book is really helping me frame my job and the work I should be doing.

I just started reading Personality isn’t Permanent. It came highly recommended to me, and I am excited to dig in.

What’s Next:

Refugee Book Cover

Last Spring, I started to read this book with one of my students, who was from a refugee family. Then, covid happened and she returned the book to the library right before the building closed and I left my copy at school and didn’t get back to the classroom for three months. I really liked the beginning and I am sure I will love this book, although I don’t expect it to be easy on the emotions.

I also have the next Pendergast novel on my ebook library shelf as well as a bunch of middle grade titles on hold that I hope will come in soon. To get started with examining my biases, I will pick up one of the books on my must read list, probably starting with White Fragility.

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? 2/1/2021

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly link up hosted by Kathryn at Book Date .   Then, Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers  decided to give it a focus on kid’s literature.  This is a chance for bloggers to recap their weeks of reading and share their plans for the next reading adventures they will take. Visit the host blogs for a list of great blogs participating and a whole bunch of titles to add to your to-read lists.

Books I Finished:

cover of Space Case

Space Case by Stuart Gibbs was a quick and fun read. I enjoyed the science fiction and the murder mystery. This is a book that older middle grade students would enjoy. I will most likely be looking for the second and third books in this trilogy very soon.

Books I’m Reading:

The Art of Coaching is a book that I am reading for professional growth. I have another book study meeting this Friday and have another chapter to finish before then. This book is really helping me frame my job and the work I should be doing.

Crimson Shore is the 15th installment in the Pendergast series. The murder mystery has just begun at this point. It is always interesting to see how Pendergast works and to see what methods he will use this time to solve the crime.

I just started reading Personality isn’t Permanent. It came highly recommended to me, and I am excited to dig in.

What’s Next:

I have the next Pendergast book ready to go. I also will be getting Luster from the library soon and want to read that for my book club.

What are you reading this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Must Reads in 2021

Here is my list of books that I am planning to read in 2021. I will add as a caveat that I am quite out of the loop as far as Children’s books and Young Adult titles. I am planning to remedy that and will probably start with award winners from the last few years.

Also, please excuse my formatting issues. I am still learning how to work with this new (to me) version of the editor on WordPress. I am working with the mantra that “done is better than perfect” in this case.

A study of race and my biases:

I feel like this may be quite an ambitious undertaking. I definitely feel the need to dig in and do this work, but I think it may take me a little bit longer to get through some of these books because it is uncomfortable.

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

White Fragility by Robin DeAngelo

Not Light, But Fire by Matthew Kay

So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Open City by Teju Cole

Books about Coaching:

I learn best by reading and reflecting. I am looking forward to more learning this year as I continue to refine my craft and settle into my new role as an instructional technology coach.

Taking the Lead by Joellen Killion

The Art of Coaching by Elena Aguilar

For Entertainment:

The majority of this list comes from a list that my sister shared with me. She started an online book club and we are making our way through the list of 14 new books that you will read in one sitting. So far, the titles I have read from that list have been quick reads and intriguing, as promised.

Pendergast 14-19: I started this series in January 2020. I have stuck through it so far, so I will work to get through the rest of the series this year. These are certainly not books to read in one sitting, but they are intriguing mysteries and the character of Pendergast is certainly a unique character.

Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

A Burning by Megha Majumdar

Sea Wife by Amity Gaige

Survivor Song byPaul Tremblay

It is Wood, It is Stone by Gabriella Burnham

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

Luster by Raven Leilani

I set myself a goal of reading 70 books in 2021. I was able to read 59 in 2020, but I did not read many (if any) middle grade or young adult books. I am hoping that I can easily add in some of these titles and have a higher book count this year.

I also had about 6 weeks last Spring that were really slow reading weeks for me. I think the anxiety about the virus really manifested itself in my focus and concentration. I just could not lose myself in stories the way I usually do. Thank heavens, that seems to have remedied itself!

Here’s to a wonderful new year full of reading and writing! I would love to hear from you in the comments.

I Want to See You Be Brave

Working to create the life you want to live requires bravery. I’m not talking about climbing mountains or facing dragons, I’m just talking about stepping out of your comfort zone. But that is scary.  

If I were not careful, I would be in danger of becoming a hermit. I am a homebody. I find my energy in the peace and quiet of being alone (well, maybe not quite alone, I usually have a dog to cuddle). However, the dreams I have and the goals I want to accomplish require human contact. So, I need to get out of my house and see people. 

Putting yourself out there is scary. Currently, I am working to build a business. The best way to do this is to become vulnerable and ask people if they are interested. This puts you in a position to receive a lot of no answers. If you aren’t careful, this can take you to a place you don’t want to go. Being brave in this endeavor involves learning to realize that rejection of your offer does not mean rejection of you. Facing this and continuing to go for it, means being brave and being yourself. 

Sometimes, when someone really strays from the social norms, it is hard to understand them. However, the mere act of choosing a different path is an act of bravery. I think about my sister when I think about this. She has created a life she loves doing something she never thought she wanted to do, until it slapped her across the face. When she decided to leave her medical residency to be a stay-at-home mom, I’ll admit that I was one of the skeptics. I was there when she came home after trying to go back to work. I was jealous of this opportunity that she saw in her life. I tried to convince her to stick to convention and follow-through with her schooling and her plan. I was not the only one.

She confronted the demons of what other people thought and went with her gut and worked out a plan with her husband and gets to be a mommy every single day. Choosing to not go through with her residency plans had some consequences for her. She now has a medical degree and is a MD but without board certification. She has the ridiculous amount of medical school debt. But her bravery in choosing her life path made her search for a part-time job to help with the debt. She found a job that mixes her passion for writing and her medical expertise and she can work from home with flexible hours. I would say that this job is probably even more of a fit for her than working in a clinic would be. And she gets to be a mommy. Every. Single. Day. (And she is really good at it)

I think there are many examples of people out there who are living their dream every day. But many of them did not get there without a big act of bravery. At some point, you need to choose to leap. And hope you don’t fall. 

Now, I also don’t want you to think that I am saying that you need to be unconventional in order to have a good life. I absolutely love my conventional full-time job of being a teacher. I am not sure I would want to give that up (although not having a job that I have to leave home to do would be awesome too). But it takes bravery to stand up and say that you are happy where you are. Have you noticed? People seem to love to work to bring you down a notch. Don’t let them. Be brave and go for what you want in life, whatever it is. 

I want to be brave and I want to see you be brave.

Learning to love the person you are and to dismiss the feeling that you are not good enough takes some guts. Do it. Be brave. Live your best life. And maybe act like a weirdo and dance crazy in public. It might do you some good.

I would love to hear your story. Tell me about your best life. What do you have to do to be brave? I would love to hear from you in the comments. 

What Does Being Intentional Mean, Anyway?

     

    Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the idea of time suck and the way the hours can waste away to nothing if you are not careful. I have seen multiple speakers talk about budgeting your time and time blocking. It makes so much sense to me.

    You see, as a teacher, every summer becomes a battle between knowing what I want to accomplish in my time off and the ridiculous time wasting that seems to happen. Dave Ramsey says that you need to tell your money where to go or you will wonder where it went later. This same concept applies so well to time. Have you ever gotten to the end of a day off and wondered just exactly where all those hours went? Me too.

This summer, I want to do better. 

    How do you do better? Well, for starters, you need to decide what is important to you. For me, this summer, I want to focus on writing more, consistent work on my doTERRA business, my marriage, exercise and health, getting ready for the new grade level this fall, and maintaining my household/completing some projects around the house. 

   It will be important for me then to write out my schedule and create routines that support the work I want to do in each of these areas. I think with a solid time blocking plan I will be able to accomplish my goals while also giving myself permission to take time off and relax. I mean, it is summer after all. We will need to visit the midday happy hour at the beer garden every once in a while. 

    So this summer I am planning to be intentional with my time. I will focus on the things that I want to accomplish in order to use my time in the best way I can. 

   Who would like to join me in this plan? What is most important to you? Do you time block your schedule? Any tips or tricks are greatly appreciated!

 

Celebrate This Week 5/27 All The Things

It’s Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres’ blog to read others’ celebrations.

I have been having a hard time balancing all the things this Spring. And the result has been very minimal blog time. I have been thinking each week about the things I want to celebrate, but not making the time to sit down and write. That is something I want to change and I will be working on my time blocking to make sure it does change. 

Since I have not written in a while, I am just going to share a list of the biggest celebrations from this Spring:

  1. I interviewed for and got a new position in the same school district for the upcoming school year. Next year, I will be teaching 2nd grade at Milwaukee Spanish Immersion. This represents a big challenge for me, but I am ready to take on that challenge. I have been at the same school for all 17 years of my career so it is a big move! I will be in a brand new grade level and it will be my first time in my career of truly teaching in Spanish. Time to brush up and make my husband only speak Spanish with me this summer! 
  2. We traded in our car and leased a new car. This brought me closer to goals of paying things off because it frees up some money each month with a lower car payment. The debt snowball now has even more momentum. (Check out Dave Ramsey’s information for more about debt snowballs and budgeting…it is changing my financial picture in a very positive way)
  3. I am growing in my leadership skills and really gaining momentum with building a doTERRA business. I love my essential oils and am thrilled to teach others about them. It makes me happy to be able to empower people to improve their health.
  4. I attended a baby shower and a bridal shower in the month of May. It is so great to celebrate new beginnings with people who I love. The bridal shower was for my cousin so there is a lot of family time to look forward to coming up Labor Day weekend!
  5. My cousin decided to take a 4th grade position at her school. This is awesome because now I know what to do with the bulk of my class library. It is a relief to know I am handing it off to someone who will use it and who will love the books as much as I do.
  6. I had fun last night at a team event and I now have a pretty vision board on my office wall. I loved spending the time thinking about my vision for the future and finding words and images to represent it.  

What do you have to celebrate? I would love to hear from you in the comments!