Feeling Grateful and HAPPY!

Ever been so happy with everything in your life that you're afraid something bad is bound to happen? Kinda like in the Sex and the City movie when Charlotte was so worried about running after she got pregnant and so she tells Carrie that she's worried that something bad is going to happen? And Carrie replies, "You shit yourself this year. I think you're done."


Well, things are that good for me right now. Here's why.

Chicago is fiiiiiiiiiinaly feeling like home. I have a handful of friends around town who I LOVE to hang out with. Happy hour on Friday with meetup girls? Yes, please!! (shout out to Julie, Claire, and Katie!) Bulls game at Joe's on Weed street with Jon and Courtney who are SOOOO fun and I have so much fun with - excellent. And, can't forget one of my very best friends, Anita, I love you and have so much fun with you - no matter what we're doing...but you know I prefer to dress up with fascinators and go to new places!


While I have great new friends in Chicago, I also have best friends all around this country who enrich my life to amazing degrees. Katie Cartier - you are hilarious and such an amazing writer and a fabulous teacher and well, if I had it my way, you'd just live here. But, since you can't, three chats a day on the phone will do just fine. Holls! I can't wait for your wedding next week! and I get to see Kentucky. I'm sure your family down there is going to be exhausted after spending time with the fast-moving people of the big city! I love that we have been such long friends and that your family is like my family too. Heather - I know we don't talk as much as we used to, but you are one of the best, BEST people I know. I can't wait until June when we get to spend some time together, and share a pizza! Promise to make it to Gino's East. Dunk - some of my funniest and happiest memories include you. I can't wait for the day to come again where we have some milk and cookies and I drink your milk so you have to go get more. I can't wait to spend time with you and meet baby Chase and see how big Alexa and Cole are.  Liz....we hardly talk but when we do it's like we pick right back up from where we were. I hope that sometime soon we are able to meet up for some bonding time. and can't forget Briese - you're hilarious and I miss you so much! Thanks for making facebook fun in the mean time, but try not to take it too far, like you usually do (although, not so much recently...good job!)



Of course, I wouldn't be where I am without family. My mom and Rob, Dad and Stepmonster, Sister and family, two neices - all of you have made me be the person I have come to be. I appreciate all your support in all my endeavors, your concern for my well-being and safety (Michelle, head on a swivel!) and all of our inside jokes. Mom, I love our morning chats on the way to work! and sister, I'm glad you got Draw Something (please, do a better job with your drawings...really? IKEA? YT!) Anyways, family. So good.

Next - I love my job. Seriously, LOVE. I love that I get to be silly with kids all day (yes, and also be a mega bitch when they don't do what they're supposed to). In what other job can you (every 45 minutes during passing period) pop and lock it in the hallway and pass the moves along from teacher to teacher? In what other job can you confiscate notes from children and read them and laugh? Or, as a joke, empty a kid's locker on April Fools Day? Or celebrate your work friends birthdays with gifts and lunches or get flowers from them for finishing a food challenge? Or get a call from a former student who wanted to tell you she had sex for the first time, and know she's calling because she wants you to hit the fan with 100 questions and show you're worried for her? (True story.) Just the tip of the iceburg....and doesn't even include the fact that for the first time in 9 years, I've solidly taught kids how to write five paragraph essays, intros and conclusions included. My job rocks.


Moving on - Chicago in general is an amazing place to be. There's so much to do. Tomorrow I'm going to go painting at Bottle and Bottega with friends. Found out today a friend got $25 bulls tickets at the last minute on stubhub. Definitely trying that out on Tuesday. You want rollercoasters? Just go 40 minutes north. Want to see your cousins? Take an hour drive to the suburbs. Want to see any sporting event and be surrounded by tons of people who LOVE their city? Pick a park. New restaurant? Beach? Festival? New bar? Bowling? Play softball at Grant Park with the Buckingham Fountain as your backdrop? It's all here.


And yes, I can't forget the Boyfriend. He's pretty amazing. I'll spare you the details, but I can't wait for all my family and best friends to meet him. He's hilarious and kind and he'll be here soon, so I'll keep it brief. He's just such good people. You'll all see soon enough.


Oh, and one last thing - good things do come out of bad things. The condo foreclosed and I survived my taxes. I actually got a pretty huge tax return and was able to get myself out of some credit card debt. It's going to be the first summer I don't work....ever. I feel like I went on a financial detox. I need to keep the money situation (and eating situation) going in that same direction.


So there you have it. Life is good over here. The thing is, even when there is stress, there's so much to be thankful for. I know this good streak I have going on won't be the case forever, but it helps to keep all of this in the sunshine file for when I need a little pick-me-up. And, even then, there's always something to be thankful for.

Next Goal

So I'm thinking about taking a creative writing class this summer...anyone out there in blogging land ever take one? I'm really not sure where to go - find a workshop? Go through a university?


One of my best friends is writing a book right now and I'm so jealous (Yay you, BFF!) because I want a great idea and I want to write a great book (too). It's always been one of my goals, and I guess if I'm going to make it happen, I've got to do something about it. This blog has been a great start, and I'm really enjoying writing on it, but it would be even better to do something for the sake of accomplishing it AND earning some extra income!


So far my best find is this place --> Story Studio Chicago
Seems like they have lots of different sessions, from novice to experienced and from one-night sessions to eight-week sessions. Is $400 too much for an 8 week session? Compared to taking it at a university, seems reasonable. (and even better - no deadlines and grades and homework to do!) There's a class on picture book writing, too!  Upon further rever (found them on Yelp) it seems that their ratings are pretty high...there I was looking for a reviewer to tell me straight up what they thought of the place, but instead, since they are all writers, it's like a plot line with a lead and a twist in the tension. Sheesh! 


Looked around a little more and didn't really see anything else. Perhaps I'll start with a one day session and go from there.


Now, what to write about? I definitely know the most about teaching. Katie and I have talked for years about writing a book about teaching. Perhaps the time has come!

Who else writes? I want to follow your blog if you have one, so leave a link here!


Until next time....

Fell off the wagon

Bacardio....not Whole 30 compliant

The Whole 30 hasn't even been over for a week and I've done myself in drinking last night.


Good news:
1. I didn't drink on Friday night - or any other day since I finished the Whole 30.
2. Food choices haven't been totally ridiculous.
3. I went running yesterday, and am planning on going again today.
4. I'm up at 8:30 am stressing about how much I drank, so the Whole 30 definitely is putting things on my radar.
5. I only drank Vodka and water last night. At least I saved myself the calories of sugary mixers.


Bad News:
1. All the hard work I did for the past 30 days is going to be shot to shit if I don't get myself together!


My biggest problem: Going out with friends and not having one or two drinks turn into eight.

Alright, so back at it. No drinking next weekend and back on the wagon.

Gettin' tech-y wit it!

Do you use writing workshop as a structure for your writing classes? Do your students take their writing through the writing process? Here's a great idea for helping students be more effective at editing!


Many times we have a hard time with our kids when they edit. They take two minutes to read the paper, add a period or fix the spelling of a word, and then say they're done. Below, find a suggestion for editing and a new idea to help students become better editors.


First thing, you have to model with kids. EVERY time. You'd think that after showing them five times they will remember what to do, but they forget how much attention they have to pay to the task at hand. When I start an editing session with kids, I always put a sample on the document camera and we do a paragraph or two as a whole group - reading aloud - sentence by sentence. This seems to help kids feel how it's supposed to be. They can see the pace I'm going, they can hear my thoughts as I "think aloud," and they can practice - with a partner - finding errors like capitalization, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Now...for the new stuff!
This time, I used our 1:1 computers in a new way. The night prior to editing, I asked the kids to go home and record themselves reading their piece into Photo Booth. If you are unfamiliar with Photo Booth, it's an app that the kids use to take still photos and videos.


They were then asked to return to class with their video and a pair of headphones. At their desks, they set up their laptop with the video open and the most recent copy of their piece (I believe we were on draft 4). They then went to a peer's computer and listened to the story being read AS they edited. 

As you can see in the video, kids are listening to their peers' stories while editing the author's paper. I gave them an exit pass on their way out and here's some of the feedback I got from them:


Did using the video recording help you edit your draft better?


"Yes because they helped to know where to put the stanzas and if I should change punctuation. It also helped me to fix some of the syllables."

"Yes it helped me because I made some mistakes I didn't know about!"

"Yes because I could hear the person reading it instead of reading it in my head."

When we finished up the Photo Booth, students were given the rubric to make any last changes that they needed to. They will have published copies turned in on Monday and then we will be able to start planning our Author's Chair. This event is held in the evening. All class stories are compiled into a book and each student reads their work to the class and their parents. They LOVE this event....the current kiddos have no idea what they're in for!

So, just a little change that you could try if you have the technology available to you! I also plan on having the kids prepare for their Author's Chair by reading their final copies into the Photo Booth a few times.

Happy weekend teaching friends!

Homeroom : )

Whole 30 Results

Results are in....I now look like Gisele Bundchen!! Haha...no, not so much, but I am happy with the turnout. Here are some lessons learned:

1. Stay off the scale.
I weighed myself this morning and I'm down six pounds. (!!) Here's the thing with the Whole 30 - if I would have weighed myself earlier in the 30 days, I may have been discouraged by the number I got. I'm not going to lie - I was hoping for like 10 pounds and was a little disappointed when I first saw the number. But, the more I think about it, the more I realize that six pounds is a healthy number for a month's worth of effort. A pound and a half a week? That's with just a clear focus on the food I was putting into my body, and randomly exercising along the way. Down six pounds is down six pounds, so I'll take it. And, I'll probably continue with weighing myself less frequently - either every other week or once a month. Better idea is to base it off of how I feel...


2. Read ingredients lists.
My mom and I kept debating this thing about the calories - yes, losing weight really is about calories in vs. calories out. So if you're using Weight Watchers, and you can eat anything you want as long as you don't exceed your calories, that's all well and fine, but you're still putting stuff in your body that it has a hard time breaking down. Rather than using my calories on some sugared candy that has all kinds of chemicals and high fructose corn syrup, I'd rather eat something that is more nutritionally sound. Here's a simple switch - use the organic ketchup instead of the regular one. Yes, it costs more, but the ingredients are better for your body and it tastes pretty much the same. After doing the Whole 30, I'm more more inclined to see what is in something and put whole foods into my body rather than a bunch of chemicals. Not only that, you will feel fuller longer if you're putting super nutritious food into your system.


btw - when I was in Florida, my mom and I were looking at getting some tilapia in the freezer section. I looked at the ingredients and one ingredient was carbon monoxide. CARBON MONOXIDE! (LeeAnn - I was about to call you and ask when I thought to myself, "Really, Michelle? You need to ask her?") Instead of purchasing that, we got some fresh flounder and cod, and even though it's more expensive, I felt better about putting that into my body.


which leads me to the next lesson...
3. It's okay to spend more money on food if it means taking better care of yourself.
Hektor and I were at the grocery store the other day and I spent over $30 on just one dinner. I needed a lot of spices, which was the bulk of the purchase, but I also had fresh veggies, guacamole,  and organic canned tomatoes. Yes, it costs more to put the whole thing together, but I'd rather spend more money on food...especially when I think about going out and having drinks and how much money I waste being out at the bars! Am I only going to buy grass-fed beef and free-range chicken? No, probably not. But will I more often than in the past? Absolutely.


4. When you eat crap, you feel like crap.
Are you wondering what I ate today? Well, started off really well - egg whites and some bacon like I've eaten every day for the last month. At lunch, I had some roast beef and turkey on a whole wheat bagel thin (first non-compliant item) and an apple with peanut butter (second). Stopped at the store, came home, and tried a small bowl of the Kashi Go Lean Crunch (Third noncompliant, but tastes good!) but then I was hungry shortly after. Day 31 and I was making the Mint Chocolate Chip Truffles for our Honors night tomorrow, and I'm not going to lie - I ate probably four cookies (Fourth noncompliant) and a bunch of mint chocolate chips (fifth). Of course I'm not full...since I wasn't putting nutritious food into my body, so I made some organic whole wheat pasta (sixth) and finished off the spaghetti sauce I had left over.


It's now 8:05. My energy levels have plummeted and I barely have enough energy to type this blog. (Totally serious.) Compared to yesterday, when I ate clean all day, and Hektor and I went on a 30 minute run around 7:30, came home, cooked dinner, and I was just starting to get sleepy around 10 pm.


I don't have any crazy sugar headaches and my stomach isn't going nuts, but I defintely feel SOOOO lethargic. That's what sugar (and probably those carbs) will do to you.


5. Don't: use food (and/or drinks) as rewards, eat because you're bored or because something bad happened...etc.
Think about how often people use food for celebrations - all the time! Birthdays, holidays, promotions, social events...the list goes on and on! Also, how often do we eat because we had a bad day or didn't get what we wanted or because we got in a fight with a friend? Or we eat because we're bored? Over the past 30 days I have found how much I am really an emotional eater, and that is something I really want to change.


I did my Whole 30 and had Easter, a vacation, and a baby shower during my 30 days. I made it through all of those and didn't really feel deprived - I still got to visit with all of my family and friends and do fun things, just minus the food. Was in inconvenient at times? Yep. Was it undoable? No.


Going forward, I plan on paying better attention to why I'm eating and what I'm eating. If I'm really not hungry, I better just get out of the house and do something.


6. Don't take anything to such extremes - variety is the spice of life.
This one I learned from Hektor. Am I going to just give up everything that is not a fruit, veggie, meat, or nut? Never drink again? Never eat a cupcake? No. I just need to keep everything in moderation. My body told me when I went off the deep end when I started this whole thing, but I'm not going to the other extreme, either. Sometimes it is okay to celebrate with food, or go to a cook out and drink 5 beers. It just takes a little planning and thought to even it out (read: go running five days that week you're planning to not think about what you're eating and drinking).


and one last lesson, related to the fitness/running....
7. Practice makes perfect...especially in running!
Yesterday we went running - 5 minutes of walking warmup, 20 minutes of straight running, and 5 minutes to cool down. I was wondering if I was going to be able to do it again, since I hadn't run that long in like a week, but I totally finished, easily. Throughout the run, I was even able to carry light conversation and I sprinted the whole last minute of the 20 minute run. Every time you run you get better. I've NEVER called myself a runner until now. If you don't think you can, you're so wrong. Download Couch to 5K, be consistent with it, and watch the progress. Anyone can do it!




Thank you!
Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout the last 30 days. My mom and sister, Katie and LeeAnn, my team of teachers at school (they sent me those flowers today to say congrats!), Hektor, everyone who asked questions and opened a dialog about this - all of you encouraged me in different ways. If any of you are ready for this challenge, I will be there for you just the same - but you HAVE to do the blog. I'm telling you, it's what will keep you accountable!


The blogging has been really fun - and I plan on continuing! It's become a great new hobby and a way to archive my stories...and open up conversation with friends. Please stop by often!


Until next time....
Michelle


PS - 6 lbs down and I forgot to mention I lost an inch around my hips! (Gained an inch in my bust...not sure why that happened!)

Cheater!

Alright, if I'm being honest, I have to let you know that I've cheated during the Whole 30. And, since all of you who read this are the ones who keep me accountable, I figure that I owe it to you to fess up. So here you go:


Random Sunday probably 2 weeks ago...
Had three sips of the bf's coffee - which was all sweet and sugared with a peppermint patty creamer. Then I went back to drinking my black coffee. Yes, I drank it black!


Easter
I had some salad dressing on an Asian Sesame Chicken Salad. Picked out all the wontons, but definitely ate the salad with that great dressing.

Last Friday
I tried Hektor's Peruvian Inca Kola - he usually never tries to get me to cheat, but insisted I try it since it came "from his ancestors." Tasted like cream soda! Then he told me about how he was going to invent a new drink with it and call it Atahualpa's Revenge. I told him the drunk people would probably have a hard time remembering what it's called, so the new name is still in the works. But it's the Inca Kola + Vodka. And not just any vodka, Heritage Vodka. (You don't recognize this vodka cause it sucks!)


Last Sunday
Bought a burger that I grilled, and then topped it with organic Ketchup. There was sugar in there, but no high fructose corn syrup. That's a definite switch I'm making - tastes just as good! And, if you know me, you know I love ketchup....it's the whole reason for eating french fries (which I shouldn't be eating...).


I also ate a tortilla chip last sunday for dinner. All the others were sweet potato chips, but one was a tortilla chip. I was good with one....can't wait to have more tortilla chips. They are definitely coming back!


Today
I tried to cheat today on some super garlic-y hummus, but the teachers on my team refused to let me. "BREZEK, NO! One more day! What are you crazy?" Turns out no one even liked that hummus because it was so garlic-y. Thanks team for thinking of me!


So there you have it. We'll see how it all turns tomorrow morning. Results will be coming on the blog tomorrow evening. Stay tuned!


Here's to no cheating for the rest of the evening.....

Good Eats & a Cool Treat

If you're trying to avoid carbs but are missing the spaghetti in your life, a spaghetti squash is a great alternative!

You'll need to pick up a spaghetti squash at the grocery store - they're pretty cheap and you can get them at any store, including target if they have a produce section.

When you get it home, pierce it a bunch of times with a knife. (I forgot to do this last time, and it exploded in the microwave, and I ate it raw.) You have to puncture it so the insides can steam thoroughly. After, put it in the microwave for 10-12 minutes on high. If you want to turn it over halfway through, you can do that, too. When it's done cooking, carefully take it out (super hot!) and let it sit for like five minutes.

Next, open it up longways. You'll need to remove all the seeds first and throw them away. 

Use a fork to pull the 'noodles' from the squash. The meat of the squash will shred and then you just need to transfer them to your pasta dish.

Top with some great sauce and you're good to go! Tomato sauce is one exception on the whole 30 - there's sugar in it, so technically you're not supposed to eat it, but you can. I put a ton of my dad's italian sausage in it, some onions, green peppers, and lots of spices.  Delish!

The sauce is the key to this dinner. I definitely can't use some random jar of sauce right off a store shelf (and I still read the labels on them to pick something that has the least amount of sugar). If you have a great sauce recipe, this will be a great dinner!


Cool Treat

I haven't had chocolate in ages, and tonight after dinner I was having some major chocolate cravings , so I made some Paleo Ice Cream! This is super easy as well - you need some chopped, frozen bananas, a heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder, and some milk of some sort (coconut milk, but I used almond milk because I'm lazy and have one day to go) to thin it out. Put it all in the bullet and wha-lah - chocolate ice cream!

Tomorrow is my last day of Whole 30! I can't believe it's come and gone so fast....time really does go sooo fast (Anita, are you picking up what I'm putting down here?) I will fill you in on the handful of times I cheated (no, really cheated) over the course of the last 30 days tomorrow, and then stats on Wednesday! Exciting, exciting!

What I'm Loving Sunday

iPhone 4s

I'm not sure how I made it without this phone for so long. It's pretty amazing. Everything I need is right at my fingertips. What? You want to go running? There's an app for that! The Couch to 5K app on this phone is waaay better than the one I was using on the android. Then I track it with Run Keeper as well which tracks my mileage for the month. My whole iTunes library is in it so I can listen to whatever music I want - or stream Pandora. My calendar syncs to my iCal so I can see what's going on when I wake up each morning. I need a system upgrade on my MacBook, and then iCloud will stream music and photos from each device to the other wirelessly over wifi. Life is good with the new phone! Oh, and Siri - haven't used her much, but I did ask her if Hektor should buy an iPhone for his upgrade. She said, "I have found 4 Apple Stores in your area." Love it.


Unsweetened Iced Green Tea

I'm sure you've all had this at some point or another. I was thinking that I wouldn't like it when I was on my way to meet friends today (since I can't have any sweetener), but it was really good - tastes kinda minty. I guess it's because I haven't really had any sweetener anytime in the past month, but if I keep my sugar in check, this will be a refreshing beverage for the summer!

www.meetup.com

Anyone familiar with meetup? I was kinda nervous going to my first event last summer, but everyone I've met in the group I most frequent is so great. Here's how it works: you go to meetup.com and surf around looking for a group that suits your interests. There's groups for everything - knitting - movies - dinners - bars - sporting events - you name it, it's there! (and if your interest isn't, you can create your own group!) When you find a group you like, you request membership with them. Then, events are posted and you RSVP to attend. In the one I use the most, we have monthly dinners at new restaurants, a book club group that meets monthly,  events to go out dancing, see theater shows, bike riding, dance and yoga classes, craft stuff....anything is game! (So excited to find friends who love The Bachelor - we're going to watch them together starting next month!) This has been a great way to meet new friends in my area and make Chicago finally feel like home.

Inspiring colleagues to use authentic literacy practices

As you know if you've been reading my blog, my kids have been participating in book clubs for the past two weeks and I've been loving their progress. One of the teachers on my team - the Social Studies teacher, Mr. Smith - came in to see them the other day and is now going to do some literature circles with a historical fiction novel. I'm so excited and can't wait for him to get a taste of some great learning in his classroom centered around literacy!

Draw Something

Draw something is an app for the phone (not sure if it goes Android or not) but you get a word, have to draw it, and then whomever you're playing with (friends or random opponents) guesses what it is. Now, my drawings are definitely not as good as this Elvis drawing, but I'm pretty good. It's a nice addition to Words with Friends which I play before I go to sleep sometimes. 

and....what I'm hating:
Dumb Shits on Draw Something

I have this one random opponent who never draws - she writes the words. Every time she just writes it. We've done X Games, Tin Tin...a buch others that slip my mind. The thing is, there's no way to chat with the other player - like on some scrabble apps you can also text the opponent - and I don't know how to end the game with her, so I pass every time she writes the word, and when I get a chance to draw, I write things like, "don't write words" or "draw pictures only." Doesn't matter - she still replies with a word on the DRAW Something app. So. Dumb.

and so I leave you on a positive note, one more thing I'm loving:

Inside Jokes

One of my favorite things about my relationships is the inside jokes I have with each of my friends...

with Katie, there's tons, but a few are YT, GTA (shortened from GTABOD) and IHTP in the SB. Stupid acronyms that mean stuff to only us that we can laugh about.

with Anita, it's when she gets all hyped up about...well, anything really, and I look at her, smile, and say, "Whoa now, you okay?" to which she replies with a laugh and chills out. She's never mad, but just gets super animated and needs to take it down a notch.

and with the bf, so many little things, like calling each other Dud from a stupid story I told him months ago. Little things like this make me super happy.

Have a great week! My last free moments before work belong to some overdue reading.....

It's working.

Over the past few days, I've gotten such great feedback about my Whole 30 progress! Here's what people have been saying:


From Katie via Skype - Just look at your face! I can totally tell!


From Brian, who I haven't seen in a couple months - You're losing weight, Shel!


From coworkers, after I asked them if I could live vicariously through them by "smelling" the bag of candy - You don't need this Michelle! Keep doing what you're doing - we can see the difference!


From cousins today - You look so good! How much have you lost? (Me - can't weigh myself till Wed.) Oh, well, I'll definitely read your blog to find out!


I can tell, too. I've been buying some bathing suits online (plural, because I keep getting sizes that don't fit) and they look better on me today than they did a few weeks ago.


I'm really looking forward to checking the stats - I get to weigh myself first thing on Wednesday morning. I'll be sure to fill you all in on Wednesday night. Anyone feeling inspired to try a Whole 30? Yes, it's kind of annoying, but you learn so much about yourself by doing one.

First of all, I don't really have any cravings for anything sugared anymore. Eating an orange in the evening or drinking some orange juice is a perfect sugar fix for me. The hardest part is when you're at a party, or, like today, at a baby shower and there's cake, and chocolate covered strawberries, and cake pops, and lemon bars, and you have to see it all and not partake. It's not impossible (I didn't have any of it!) but I'll be better off when I can just have one of something. (But I'm worried that if I have one, I'll want like 5!) Or at work and there's sweets. There's actually sweets everywhere, so there's no way around it. You just gotta have willpower! I always just tell myself, "It will all be gone in an hour, and then I'll be feeling so good about good choices and my body will be feeling good, too."

Okay, next, my portions have totally shrunk. I seriously don't eat half of what I used to, and it's all because I'm putting quality food into my system. I don't need to eat as much when what I do eat is nutrient dense - it keeps me fuller, longer. Honestly, sometimes I don't even want to eat - like tonight, but I knew if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to sleep and then pissed at myself for not eating in the first place. If you do a Whole 30, you will eat less...and that will be just fine with you!

I guess I've always known this, but it was made SUPER clear to me from Katie, who, over the course of her whole 30 and 2/3 of a second one has lost 25 pounds. YES - TWENTY-FIVE. (Sorry for spilling that, KC!) She had been working out all the time prior to the Whole 30, but it was the eating that did her body good. I have been running during this challenge, but not consistently. It's the food choices all day long that are making the difference.


So three more days to go and then we get the results. I'm kind of scared for day 31....because I want to continue with all the success I'm having. After all, isn't the following so true?

Book Clubs - I love them!

I'm doing literature circles with my seventh graders for the first time since I've started at Heritage and they're going so well! On a survey I gave them the other day, one student told me he really looked forward to meeting with his book club each day. Lots of other kids noted that they were having fun and enjoying themselves!

When students arrive in class, they have all read the agreed upon amount of pages. In class, they have their discussions. I do not prompt them with anything for their discussions and they don't have those assigned roles like the connector and word wizard like some researchers suggest. Instead, I model my book clubs around the kitchen table - where people who enjoy one another's company get together to talk about things that are important to them. The following are comments that were recorded during the last two days of book club.

"What power would you guys want?" (from Witch and Wizard)

"I wish James Patterson would have told us more about where they lived in the beginning. I couldn't really picture the setting that good until now, and we're almost done with the book!" (from Witch and Wizard) 

"I figured out that they must be taking Angel's blood to make the others stronger." (from Maximum Ride)

"You can tell she totally trusts Gale or else she wouldn't ask him to take care of Prim." (from The Hunger Games)

Student 1: "Maybe Stargirl is at home each night crying. We don't know."
Student 2: "Yeah, I wish she was the narrator instead of Leo."
Teacher: "Don't you see how having a first person narrator limits what we know? Wouldn't an omniscient narrator make this story better?" (from Stargirl)

Student 1: "Stargirl keeps changing her name."
Student 2: "Yeah, it's cool how her parents are cool with it."
Student 3: "I think she changes her name according to her age - Mud Pie, and then Hully Gully, and Stargirl."
Student 2: "Well, what do you think her name will be when she's in college?" (from Stargirl)

"What's the deal with the roses? Do they have some other meaning?" (from Beastly)

"Oh, this lesson - this doesn't work anymore. We don't have enough evidence to support it. I think we should change it." (from The Name of this Book is Secret)

Student 1 - "Hey, I found this word I don't know. It's pre-juice. What's pre-juice?" (ELL)
Student 2 - "Let's use context clues. (I swear, they said that!) Where did you see it?" 
<all four kids in group look up word>
Student 3 - "That's prejudice!!!!" (from Scorpions)

Student 1 - "What's a hoverboard?"
Student 2 - "Oh, I'm guessing it's like a surfboard, that's how I pictured it anyways."
Student 1 - "Yeah, that makes sense." (from Uglies)

"I wanna read Pretties now!" (Student reading Uglies, and referring to the next book in the series.)

So, if you're thinking about doing some literature circles in your classroom, here are a few tips to prepare the kids for success:

1. You'll need to make sure the kids are ready for book clubs. Here's what I mean: All year long, my kids have been reading EVERY NIGHT for homework - 20 pages. It's meticulously monitored - each day I take "Status of the Class" where I call each child's name and ask what page they are on. When they finish a book, they write a blog, and then they check out a new book. So, because of status, I'm able to check in with their reading.

I also call this "fake-reading."

I also allocate one day a week for them to read in my classroom with me. I do this for a few reasons: from a teacher's point of view, I need to see who is learning to sustain their reading. Kids who are don't notice the door opening and closing or me conferring with the kids sitting around them. Kids who can't sustain reading are looking everywhere but their book and are asking to go to the bathroom or get a drink.


The other reason I do this is because I cannot expect my students to invest in reading unless I show them that I'm invested in their reading by giving them time, in class, to read. Yes, they only get one day a week with me in reading class, but they get 20 minutes a day in their homeroom at the end of the day as well. However, since they are divided up between five teachers in homeroom, I can't monitor all of them every day, so I have to see them at least once a week.

Also, there has to be a consequence for not reading. I'm lucky to work on an amazing team who will do what we call Prime Time - where kids who don't finish their homework have to stay at school until 4:00. More than they care about finishing their homework, they care whether or not they have to stay after school.  If reading is to be mandatory, there has to be a consequence -- which means by this time in the year, most kids are reading every night, no questions, no big deal. (Just like it should be...)

2. Make your book club groups of three or four people max. Most of my groups have this many kids but a couple of them have six or seven. That is WAAAY too many. When there are three or four, participation equals out and all the kids will discuss and get involved on a pretty equal basis. In my clubs of 6 or 7, there's at least one shy kid who never talks because of the big mouths that can't stop! And I say that lovingly, my big mouths are some of my best kids, but they still need to work on having the conversation go around fairly through the group.


3. Picking books - We luckily had a bunch of money at the end of last year and I got to select a bunch of books to be ordered for our clubs! I selected class sets that were organized by genre. I ordered four or five titles of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Cultures. I selected these books because I knew lots of my kids read Realistic Fiction and they needed good experiences with books of different genres. I also knew that although SciFi is hard, they would help each other along throughout the discussions.

It is also a good idea that there be a common thread through the books so that you can have a few whole group discussions - you could discuss samples from each book that make the book fit the genre it is. You don't have to do this, but one of Marzano's high yield strategies is identifying similarities and differences, so it's a way to do that!

So, are you thinking about trying book clubs with your class? If you need any ideas or help, please let me know! Also, if you have any suggestions for improving mine, please share!

Too funny to not share - apologies for the F bomb!

No food necessary....

So yesterday I mentioned on facebook that I had a great day, and I totally did. I didn't do anything amazing, really just every day stuff but with Hektor. There have been so many "Michelle and Katie's Day of Fun" that it was about time to have one with the bf. (Click link for video - it wouldn't let me embed it!)


All we really did was go to some appointments (I graded the writing drafts while I waited) and then just going here and there. Ikea, where I had some crusted whitefish. Hektor asked me, "Uummm.....can you eat that?" and me, thinking, "Oh, it's whitefish, yeah, but he will eat the mashed potatoes." Halfway through I realized that crusted = breadcrumbs and yeah, probably shouldn't have done that, but it was almost gone so I finished it anyways. An hour later my stomach was a mess, so that will teach me!


We also went to Verizon - I wanted to add my educator 18% discount (just take a pay stub there and they can apply!) but turns out it was already on my account. Perhaps Verizon is just really expensive, idk. But, I also asked about getting an upgrade and I'm due in August. However, they are doing this promotion where I can upgrade now for a $20 fee. So, I'm hoping to end my relationship with Android tomorrow, but I'm waiting until after I have my taxes done tomorrow to see what the damage is there. Nothing like waiting till the last minute!

After that, really nothing to report on Michelle and Hektor's Day of Fun - just making jokes and checking out target and returning some stuff.


And all along the way I ate compliant with Whole 30 (except that crust on the whitefish) and was perfectly happy!


Lesson learned - food is fuel. I don't need to eat sugared, carby crap - just eat what makes me feel good....and reward myself with....wait for it....shopping!

7 days to go on Whole 30...can't wait for the stats. Today we had birthday for Smith and I skipped pizza and crackers and dip and chocolate pie AND cupcakes. I had nothing. I did, however, buy myself a treat for day 31, and I'm so excited for it. Cereal! It's Kashi and super protein rich. My mouth was watering at the thought of it, but I will show some self control. Hey, if I can pass on all the stuff at lunch, I think I'll be good to go.