Back in the Saddle Again

It has been two weeks and a day since I rejoined my colleagues in SBISD. It feels so nice to be back in the saddle again doing what I love. Teaching 4th and 5th grade students again is heavenly. When I made my decision to seek a different employment opportunity in July, I suppose I never really wanted to let go of the classroom and teaching. Based on my experience, I know now what will make me the happiest. By far, without a doubt, being at a campus, working with students and colleagues, is where I belong. Each day, I get to see groups of students and discuss great books, read along side the students, share my love of literacy, and listen the students share their thoughts and love of reading and writing. That is what I absolutely loved last year when I taught fourth grade students. Even though I worked my finger to the bone last year as a teacher in the classroom, I loved it. It was a lot of work, but I didn't view as drudgery. Hard work is not a bad thing, rather when you get to do what you love, it isn't "work". It is a vocation. I now know that I must be involved in the mix. I desire to be working with students and my colleagues. Working with my colleagues is great. I get to share some my many years of experience and get to work with some wonderful minds in the process. Finally, after a brief stint in the higher echelons, I am back to where I should have been. The only difference is that I am in a different campus working daily with more fourth and fifth grade students from different classes. I feel  at home here too.

Home

I haven't written much lately. I will, however, make it my personal goal to get back to blogging. One thing that I know that will inspire me will be my return to the campus level. I can't wait to get back to working on a campus with students. I can't wait to share my love of teaching with others. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things again. I miss working on a campus and getting to know the my fellow colleagues and kids. I am thrilled to come back to what I love to do. It has been around three months since I left the campus life. I enjoyed working with the people in my office and the literacy coaches, but I longed for being on a campus daily. There's just something that draws me. I know that it is my love of teaching and feeling extremely connected. On Monday, I will experience that again. What I learned through this experience is that I need to follow my heart and my immediate goals which are to work with students and colleagues. There is so much more that I want to do and try out. I will be overjoyed to see the students and hear their stories. I know that I miss my students from last year. I miss seeing them at the door every day and hearing about what is happening in their lives. I miss the silly things that they say and the faces that they make. I miss the joy in their eyes and their laughter. I miss my classroom. I am beyond blessed to be back. I guess I can say to myself, "Welcome back!"  I know my heart will say it a thousand times over.

Awe

I read an article from QuietRev today about The Science of Awe and Why It Matters. I thought about how busy I can get and how far away from awe my life and work has taken me. I need more awe in my life. I need to enjoy the aesthetics, so I can be inspired to create. That is where I get my energy. I love to create and be inspired by people, ideas, and experiences that allow me to fly on the wings of awe. As I read, I began to search my inner thoughts which have been jumbled up for a while.  Why can't I remember what I did yesterday or what I ate for lunch?  Why can't I remember names and concepts for more than five minutes? It is because I have been feasting on high doses of the mundane and have not consumed enough awe and quietness. Life is a total blur. Time to put on the brakes!

As I read the article, I found a few websites that brought me back to insight and tranquility. Jason Silva has a website that you might find invigorating and thought provoking. It is called Shots of Awe. The video called Awe is nothing short of inspirational. I leave his Awe video with you today, so that you might get away from the ordinary to renew and rejuvenate your soul. For the introvert, this is essential.

There is another website that can bring a sense of peace as well. It is called Sidetracked Magazine. There are beautiful photos of excursions to  natural wonders that I find breath-taking. When I need a break, I don't have to pay a zillion dollars on flights and hotels, but I can experience a mental minivacation vicariously. Take a field trip to the aesthetically pleasing parts of our world to engage the mind, if only for a 5-10 minutes a day. Free the mundane and journey to the marvelous.

Thesis Statement-Tape Has Adhesive Properties That Makes Life Easier

Alana Morris asked to me write a blog post about the adhesive properties of tape. Here it is:



You have your scotch tape. You have double-sided tape. You have your duct tape that now comes in all colors and designs. There is masking tape. This all sounds like lines from Forest Gump, but that might be too sticky of a topic. There's one thing that is true. Tape has adhesive properties that simplify lives. Why else would you use them?

I love the new duct tape. I am not talking about the boring gray types. Now there are designs like moustaches, hamburger and fries, and even macaroni and cheese. I use them to decorate and cover my composition notebooks. They have such great adhesive properties that they can be used to join notebooks together. Staples are too dangerous. They tend to protrude and cut human flesh. Tape? NEVER!

I used double-sided tape a lot last year in my classroom. Double sided tape is enormously adhesive. It sticks just about to anything on the wall, door, or windows of the classroom. Posters and anchor charts would never even think of falling down. I could have stuck an elephant to my wall without even a second thought. Unfortunately, there wasn't any available, and it would have taken up a little too much space.

Electric tape is so wonderful for those exposed electrical cords that I refuse to replace. I use it on my old phone chargers. They never need to be replaced because of electric tape's great stick factor.

I love to use scotch tape for my notebooks. I tape everything but my kitchen sink in my notebook. I tape business cards, schedules, tickets, emails, photos, and little Crunch candy bars (a tasty artifact). It isn't messy and nothing will fall out. Again, great stick factor.

No matter how you slice or tape it, the adhesive qualities of  tape makes my life easier. My notebooks, presents, elephants, and chargers thank me for using so much tape. I adore tape!

25,000 Club

My first blog called Just Write Baby! had 54,000 page views before it was cancelled. It was cancelled when I switched jobs because the email that I used to create the blog was attached to my job. Anything that I had connected to the previous job's email, was wiped away. I am so glad that I decided to move most of my posts over to this blog about two years ago. I actually didn't know, but I could have saved the posts by importing all of them. I, instead, took weeks copying and pasting.  I did lose a few posts though.

I wondered how this blog would do and how long it would take to have 54,000 page views. Well, I have reached a personal milestone. I am almost half way there. Now, that I have made it to 25,000 page views, I have to keep it going. There are times when I am too busy to post. I have a zillion things going on in my new job that I sometimes don't have time to write. I need to correct that because writing is my way of making sense of my world. It is a way of expressing myself, getting those ruminating thoughts out, and is a way to relax and create. That is what  I loved about my year back in the classroom. I was able to create and try some things out. I was able to chronicle my journey. But why should it end? Well, it is not going to end. I plan to continue posting and to be more consistent. Why? Because I am a writer. I need to write just as I need to breathe. It is a part of me. I need to create.

Soon there should be more poetry popping and ideas flowing. My new job has my brain spinning a a thousand miles an hour. I need to slow it down by reflecting, and writing is a way to make my world seems less blurry. I need to do this. Having said that, see you soon!

Escaleras

I dedicate this poem to Noemi Leon-Garcia and Omaly Sandoval Isaacura.

Escaleras

by Maureen Ucles

Sometimes

I need

time out

time away

time to think

Escaleras

Sometimes

I need

a little break

5 minutes or so

tiny break

a veces...

Escaleras

A veces

me quedo inmovil

no puedo respirar

necesito escapar

resucitar

ESCALERAS

Que bueno

Hay escaleras

para mi

for my san-ity

When I 

wanna get away

ESCALERAS!

Escaleras

I dedicate this poem to Noemi Leon-Garcia and Omaly Sandoval Isaacura.

Escaleras

by Maureen Ucles

Sometimes

I need

time out

time away

time to think

Escaleras

Sometimes

I need

a little break

5 minutes or so

tiny break

a veces...

Escaleras

A veces

me quedo inmovil

no puedo respirar

necesito escapar

resucitar

ESCALERAS

Que bueno

Hay escaleras

para mi

for my san-ity

When I 

wanna get away

ESCALERAS!

Truisms-Thematic Connections

I am a true believer in teaching students about theme through the use of truisms. I learned about the use of truisms or aphorisms from Barry Lane, Gretchen Bernabei, and Alana Morris about 8 years ago. Alana and I worked on using truisms in a writing framework that we put together. I believe that this practice must be revisited and utilized.
Today in my Face Book newsfeed, I found someone refer to Michael Phelps's new Under Armor commercial. Riveting and moving it was. I immediately saw a connection to reading and writing. This commercial also connects to the use of media and media literacy.
Since I haven't had much time to post, I decided to put everything I was doing to the side, including watching the Texans play the 49ers, and post. I have told my students and many teacher colleagues many a time  to never let an idea get away.  Today, I am going to take my own advice.

There are great commercials that we can use in our classrooms to analyze. We can analyze them for theme and the use of media. What did the producer want us to learn about life? What did he/she use to convey that?  What images and parts of the video go along with the truism?  What details support the theme?  It all goes together.  I want to include some really neat videos that we could use in our classrooms to support the use of theme/truisms.

When thinking of theme, the reader must consider a few questions:

• What is the main message the author wants the reader to learn about life?
• Is the theme that you propose true for you and true for most?

One way to get the brain ready for truisms and theme is to study photographs and commercials. I find it helpful to use the word sometimes. (This idea comes from Gretchen Bernabei.)  Sometimes what is learned in the dark, becomes evident in the light. (Paraphrased version of Under Armour commercial.) Sometimes, you have to put in the work, to get the results that you desire. (That is my truism or theme.)  It is not enough, though, to include the sometimes alone. The reader must also go back to the video to provide textual evidence to support his/her thematic statement.

Below you will find a group of my favorite
videos that have truisms and thematic statements included or may  work really well for discussing theme:

Houston Weather

Someone seriously needs to do something about the grotesquely hot Houston weather. When I drive to work, before the Sun can do some damage, it is already in the 80s. When I come home from work it is in the 100s. I wonder how my poor car could be doing so well. I need NOVEMBER! My heart needs it. My lungs need it. (Cough! Wheeze!) My clothes need it! My sanity even needs it!  It is horrible. My hands burn to touch the steering wheel. My elbow ouches when it touches the arm rest.  I don't know how much more I can take!  I so dream of November, Come on, November! C'mon!

Write Much? Whirlwind

Yeah, I know that lately I haven't written much. You might ask, Much? I know, know, know. I haven't posted anything for a while. Maybe my blog should be Just Write Something Soon!  It is not as if I haven't been percolating and thinking of new things to write. I have had tons of things swirl in my brain. They ruminate on the way to work, during work, as I feed my dog, go to Starbucks, and then when I am just chilling.  The words are there locked in my conscious and subconscious, but why have they not made it from my mind to the page?  Do you really want to know?

I am caught in a veritable vortex called a new job. With this new job, I have to learn a zillion names, names, and more names. Remembering names is not my gift. I have my associations and my Spanish is helping me with remembering the names...at times. For example, there is a wonderful colleague whose name is Kanica. (I hope I spelled her name correctly.) I do remember her name from canicas. So when I hear her name, I associate it with children playing with marbles. I could also associate it with me losing my marbles!  That is what I feel like sometimes in my new job. There are so many people to remember. After 18 years with Spring Branch, I got to know lots of people and finally I learned all of their names. It wasn't only their names that I remember, but the life long relationships that I built.

With these names, I have to remember what these people do and how I will work and collaborate with them. This week, I have had the pleasure of being at an elementary school. I have spent two consecutive days with a great scientist colleague and a energetic and inspiring leader of an elementary school. It was nice having conversations about leadership and what makes a school great. I aso met another principal from an elementary. Our conversation centered on writing. I referenced my work with the great Vivian Pratts at Edgewood Elementary. I thought, "This is starting to feel like home."When it comes down to it, it feels natural because it is all about the relationships that I will build. It is about being around positive, like minded individuals who share my passion for education.

In addition to names and people in leadership, I got to spend some time conversing with the leaders of our students. I had some wonderful conversations with the hardest working people in the bunch. After returning to the classroom last year, I gained an even greater respect for all the work that goes into to teaching. I know the long, long hours we teachers spend making sure that all students learn and are engaged. We teachers spend a lot  of money buying supplies for our students to start the year. The spending doesn't stop there. There are books to buy, notebooks to give away, pretty duct tape to make the notebooks last forever, and colors of pens, pencils, markers, and crayons. Don't forget the tape, scissors,  pocket folders, library pockets, and whatever else floats their boats. We DO WHATEVER IT TAKES for our classroom family. I will miss mine profoundly. But then I think...maybe, just maybe, I will be able to serve these treasures of students, teachers, administrators and teammates in the new place that I call home. I must work extremely hard to help the teachers, coaches, principals.  I must work hard...and to never forget to build relationships and be human. One of my friends always says, It is not the final destination, it's the journey! I must keep this in mind as I move along and find a way out of this name game funk and into the fantastic.  When will I arrive?  It is the journey...but I need to remember...

Vamos a ver lo que pasa-we'll see what happens. I know there will be peaks and valleys. I just need to be patient.  Vamanos!  What's her name? What does he do?  Who do I talk to about? How do you...