Friday Favs

I'm learning loads and buckets and basins every day.  About everything.  And I'm beginning to put feet to many of my life lessons.  And it feels good. 

Latest lesson:  it rarely pays off to return sass with sass.  Regardless of how much I want to sass my students when they sass me, I've found that all that does is promote more sass.  Instead, giving an unexpected response of grace has proven to pay off.  And the times when I feel totally unable to offer grace (more often than I'd like to admit), I just say, "Stop being sassy."  That typically catches them off-guard enough to bring a smile and an attitude change. 

I enjoy Justin Bieber.  Enough that I used one of his music videos to teach plot structure.  The kids hated it...or so they say.  But it worked, and that's all that matters.  Unfortunately, now I must put up with the stigma of "Bieber Fever" for the rest of the year.  Totally worth it. 

Correction:  My high school teacher was Mrs. Heintz not Heinze.  My cooperating teacher was Mrs. Heinze.  So much confusion.

And because I saw the sweetest thing today (a little girl learning to read), I must end with a quote from the most perfect movie ever made:  "When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does." (from You've Got Mail, of course)

Happy weekend! And as I say to my students on Friday afternoon, "Make wise decisions."