It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 11/25/13

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is an opportunity for everyone to share their book journeys: where we've been for the week and where we plan to go next. To learn more about It's Monday! What Are You Reading? with a kidlit focus, jump over to Jen Vincent's blog, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee Moye's blog, Unleashing Readers.

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Confession: I crawled into bed with my daughter last night instead of updating my blog. I made a commitment to myself, though, that I would stick to posting about the following blog posts that feed my soul:

 

So, here I am a day late, posting about my book journeys a day late. Better late than never, right?

 

I decided this week to post two book pics every night: one of my book pick and one of Maddie's book pick, even if Maddie's pic was a reread. Here's where we traveled with picture books this week:

 

Here's my audiobook journey:

 

Here's my book journey:

 

 

Here's where I plan to travel:

 

 What are reading this week?

 

CELEBRATE! 11/23/13

 

Ruth Ayres has invited everyone to share a celebration each Saturday. What an amazing opportunity to reflect on all the good that is in life. The celebration can be about anything and in any format. I hope you'll join in!

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Celebrate #1: I'm sitting in front of my computer adding to my blog! Life has been just a bit on the crazy side as I worked through some work transitions. I found myself in a place where I couldn't keep up on being a mother, a wife, or a mentor teacher much less blogging. Today, though, my sister is visiting and my daughter is cuddled up with her for a nap and so I find myself with some quiet time cuddled up in a blanket with my laptop. I so appreciate the time to just sit and reflect and look at the things from my week worth celebrating. 

Celebrate #2: I mentioned above that my sister is visiting. My sister is my friend, my heart. We have not had quality time together for a VERY long time-months, in fact. I appreciate that our schedules were such that we could be together, if only for a couple of days. Sister time is definitely time worth celebrating.

Celebrate #3: I stumbled into some work related "roadblocks" earlier in the week. Things were not such that I wanted to duck and run, but I did find myself missing my life as a full time mentor. I spent quite a bit of time reflecting on what I needed to be doing or saying differently with an administrative team that I report to. But, I did have this nagging thought in my head, "how am I going to keep the projects moving forward under these circumstances?". On Thursday, a team of six of us attending a statewide meeting for districts who had received the same grant funding. My grant administrator carpooled with me and with a two hour drive time, one way, the opportunity presented itself to have a conversation about what had taken place. I had not realized until my conversation with her how much of a weight the "roadblocks" had become to me until my conversation with her - she validated my concerns and in an instant I knew that I had her full support. The weight was suddenly lifted. I celebrate all administrators who listen, coach through conversation, and then do what it takes to support teacher leaders moving forward. 

Celebrate #4: The statewide meeting I attended put me in touch with other districts with the same Collaboration Grant that my district has. I came away from the day with a better sense of my role as the grant manager but, more importantly, I came away with some ideas of how I can support the team leaders of our grant with their teams in moving our grant implementation forward. I left with a sense of excitement for work the next day. Friday, I arrived ready to attack a few projects and left with a sense of accomplishment. I celebrate and appreciate my state's efforts to foster communities of practice - I left Thursday's meeting rejuvenated.

Celebrate #5: My friend sent me a text message at 6:50 a.m. this morning to share the news that she is a National Board Certified Teacher. I could not be more excited or proud of her. Having gone through the NBCT process in 2004 and then the renewal process in 2013, I can attest to the rigor, excitement, anxiety, and thrill of the whole process. Teachers that commit to the NBC process, whether they are certified on the first, second, or third attempt, should be proud of their effort and accomplishment. I found it to be one of things that had the greatest impact on my work as an educator. My friend's National Board news is well worth celebrating! I'm proud of you EI!!!!

As I look at my week ahead of me, I am excited at what is to come: Monday will be spent in Year 2 Mentor PD and Thursday will be spent with family celebrating Thanksgiving. And those are just the events I know about. :o)

What are do you celebrate from this past week?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 11/18/13

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is an opportunity for everyone to share their book journeys: where we've been for the week and where we plan to go next. To learn more about It's Monday! What Are You Reading? with a kidlit focus, jump over to Jen Vincent's blog, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee Moye's blog, Unleashing Readers.

 

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I haven't been so good lately about tracking the book journeys that I Maddie and I are on. I've had a lot on my plate between coursework and work so I'm toying with the idea of a reading journal for us as well as book pics that I post on Twitter of what she is choosing and what I am choosing for our nightly bedtime reads. Stay tuned next week for double the fun with the return of book pics here.

This last week was not a good independent reading week for me. However, I bought one of Paul Tough's books after listening to him at the OSBA (Oregon School Boards Association) Conference I was required to attend as part of my course.

Here's where I plan to travel this week:

 

My favorite journey each month with the #SharpSchu Book Club on Twitter features:

 

Here's where I was and where I plan on going with audiobooks:

Finished this Saturday

Started this on Sunday

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 10/28/13

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is an opportunity for everyone to share their book journeys: where we've been for the week and where we plan to go next. To learn more about It's Monday! What Are You Reading? with a kidlit focus, jump over to Jen Vincent's blog, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee Moye's blog, Unleashing Readers.

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Here's where Maddie and I traveled this week:

 Here's where I journeyed this week:

 

#audiobook

Here's where I will continue to travel this week:

#audiobook

What are you reading this week?

 

CELEBRATE! 10/26/23

 

Ruth Ayres has invited everyone to share a celebration each Saturday. What an amazing opportunity to reflect on all the good that is in life. The celebration can be about anything and in any format. I hope you'll join in!

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Celebrate #1 With parent/teacher/student conference on Wednesday and Thursday, the beginning teachers I mentor needed time to finish preparing for conferences and then meet with families. Conferences gave me an opportunity to take care of a bit of business with my job that involves being the project manager for my district's Collaboration Grant. I have at least another week of mentoring full time while managing the grant. This week I interview a candidate for the project secretary. Without going into the nitty gritty, I see light at the end of the tunnel. Things are starting to pull together and for that I am appreciative. 

Celebrate #2  Two of the teachers I mentor scheduled time with me during breaks in their conference schedules-both for very different reasons. One teacher wants to talk through an idea she has for a grade level PLC. The district we work in is spread out over an area the size of Rhode Island. In most of our schools, there are one or two teachers that make up the team at each school. Pulling teachers together from throughout the district to collaborate is not always easy so I am proud of and appreciative of this beginning teacher's leadership. Another teacher wanted to have me double score some of her math problem solving tasks using our state scoring guide. We used it as an opportunity to calibrate but more important was the conversation about her students' learning needs. I am so proud of these two teachers. They are both talented teachers but I cannot help but be excited that I get to be a part of their development as teachers. 

Celebrate #3  Maddie wants to be Dashi, a character from her favorite Disney show, the Octonauts, for Halloween. There are no Dashi costumes for purchase and Maddie has a mom who does not have a stitch of sewing ability. However, I am skilled when it comes to searching Amazon for various pieces of clothing and we have managed to slowly pull a costume of sorts together. Most of the items arrived Friday so as she put them all on her comments to me were, "I love it!" and "I am so excited!" I love the sweetness of her sincere appreciation - I looked at her and just saw a t-shirt, short skirt, tights...typical pieces of clothing. She saw it all as her Dashi costume. Maddie is amazing.

Celebrate #4  I made time to write this week. It wasn't much, but it was still time spent writing. I've been struggling to write stories about my dad to develop into a book for Madeline. I think part of my problem has been that I've been trying to write as if it's the actual book to be published instead of just getting ideas down on paper. For some reason, I randomly remembered a comment that I had heard or read from Donalyn Miller about just writing what you know: your work, your day, your child, whatever. I also had this recollection from my Teachers Write! experience where I did some of my best writing this past summer when I had something visual, tangible to look at. Put the two together and I had this epiphany that my dad stories could come from pictures. I pasted several photos in my journal and started writing. I wouldn't say that this week's writing is publish worthy but it felt good to be writing. 

Celebrate #5  Maddie and I both had good book weeks. I finished Al Capone Does My Homework as part of #virtualbookclub and Creepy Carrots and Z is for Moose for #SharpSchu bookclub. All three of these books were not on my book radar (crazy, right?!) and so I'm appreciative of these Twitter book clubs that keep me motivated to read books that I'm otherwise oblivious to. Our schools do not have librarians, rather media assistants who keep the school libraries open and assist with checking out books and managing computer labs), so Twitter book clubs are my lifeline. These book clubs become a lifeline for Maddie, too. Each month, the books that are the featured books for #SharpSchu become the books that she wants read to her repeatedly. Let's just say I can almost quote Creepy Carrots verbatim. :o) Maddie has an affinity for the book bags at the library with the book and CD in them. We've begun checking them out from the library. Kids these days know how to work the electronics with little instruction on how to use. Nothing surprised me more yet made me so happy to hear the sounds of a book on CD playing from her room - when I peeked into her room she was sitting on her bed following along in the book as the CD played. 

The events may be small, but for me are reasons to CELEBRATE!

Have a great week!

BE the Role Model - Slice of Life 2013

 

A Slice of Life is a weekly blog hosted by Two Writing Teachers, Ruth Ayers and Stacey Shubitz. Click on Two Writing Teachers to be taken to their website to learn more about this week's Slice of Life.

 

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Madeline Taylor Sachiko Becker, February 3, 2010

The best day of my life thus far was the day my daughter, Madeline a.k.a. Maddie, was born (sorry, babe...but, marrying you is a close second). Madeline was honestly named after Ludwig Bemelmans's book Madeline. I had actually wanted to name our daughter Abigail (meaning my father's joy) but Mark said to me, "I've always loved the cute, little girl on the book. You know, Madeline." Be still my beating heart! Name our daughter after an adorable children's book character? Why, yes! And so, our daughter was lovingly named Madeline.

The best day of my life also became the scariest. Nothing scary about her birth, per se, but scary in terms of the reality of becoming a parent. I was 39 when Madeline was born and my husband and I knew she'd be our only child- he's 8 years older than me so feels the age factor as much as I do when it comes to raising a child. We both knew we had one chance to do this parenting thing right.

I don't think that there is anything special about the way I raise my daughter. I believe that I want the same things for her that other parents want for their children - I want to raise a child who knows that she is loved. I want her to know that making mistakes are ok - you've got to take chances and do it wrong in order to learn and grow. I want her choose her own path; although, I'll be honest and suggest things like, "you know could be a marine biologist," as we walk through the Marine Science Center. I try hard not to push her in stereotypical "girl" activities-she wants the trucks instead of the dolls then that is what we get her. I actually think she is a good blend of the Mark and me - she can climb trees, dig in the dirt, and be rough and tumble with dad and then come join me for quieter time reading books and writing.

I would say that I am like other parents in that I want to raise an intelligent child. I never want to inundate Maddie with too many learning activities and not enough time to just explore. I tend to be really structured and rigid and only see certain ways to do things so it's been a real lesson for me to back off and just let Maddie BE. I try not to be the helicopter parent...I do catch myself in the act though. That was kind of a bird walk...anyway, one of the most important things that I've done with Maddie early on is reading with her. We read to her when she was in the womb. We have read to her every day since we brought her home. Books are an item that we do not skimp on - we have stacks everywhere. Maddie is friends with Library Linda at our local public library. I am proud of the exposure that she has and will continue to have to books.

In May of this year I had to come off of my high horse in terms of thinking I was such a great parent because I read to my child every day. I had this epiphany that Maddie never saw me reading. And, honestly, I wasn't reading for pleasure that often. I got out of the habit of reading and I'm not really sure how or why. After connecting with a few other educators on Twitter who were avid kid lit readers, my reading life has changed considerably. (Bird walk alert! If you are not on Twitter then you need to be. I've met some AH-MAZING people that have really nurtured and supported the reader and writer in me.) As a result, my daughter now sees me buying my own books and checking out books for mama from the library. She sees my book stacks are as big as hers. She has always loved being read to but now I observe her picking up books to read on her own. Honestly, I saw this behavior from her more, I believe, after began reading in front of her more.

When we travel, we travel with books. I used to just pack books for Maddie. Now, I pack books for me, too. I believe that in addition to reading to Maddie every day that I need to set the example for her about the importance of making time for personal reading - that reading is not always for an assignment and doesn't have to be only part of the night time routine. Reading is a special time to relax and enjoy the adventure on the pages. It's important for me to be Maddie's reading role model. 

My little reading buddy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 10/21/13

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is an opportunity for everyone to share their book journeys: where we've been for the week and where we plan to go next. To learn more about It's Monday! What Are You Reading? with a kidlit focus, jump over to Jen Vincent's blog, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee Moye's blog, Unleashing Readers.

 

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I have to say how appreciative I am of the comments from friends and colleagues that resemble this, "I like knowing what you are reading." All of you are the reason I woke up at 12:30 a.m. with the panicked feeling of "you were supposed to post your Monday reading!" It's been a busy month as I took on a new job half time-I'm still in a transition so am mentoring full time while trying to get my new job going thus the missing Monday posts. Thank you to all of you for motivating and inspiring to get back in the Monday habit. What you see posted today is several weeks in the making but will get you caught up on where our book travels are taking us.

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Here's where Maddie and I have been this past week:

My audio book travels:

Here's what's up on deck with audiobooks:

Here are my books in progress:

Twitter bookclubs I'm excited for this week:

#virtualbookclub on Monday 10/21

#sharpschu book club on Wednesday 10/23

#scharpschu book club on Wednesday 10/23

What are you books are you reading and listening to???