Wednesday, March 6, 2013

SOL #3: Let's Celebrate


Yesterday was a rough day in many ways. It jump started cold when I left a before school meeting just as the first bell rang, raced across the building to find that someone had unlocked my door for my class then left them unsupervised- mayhem!  Both adults and students posed challenges throughout the day. And I feel like I'm buried under a mountain of tasks this week.

But instead of focusing on any of that, I want to take a moment to celebrate. Yesterday we introduced a new unit of study. We'll be doing a research unit on "authors of substance" asking ourselves the question: 
"Will we still be reading, insert any author you want here, in 2050?" 

And the conversations started almost immediately.
Tolkien- obviously!
Meyers- a unanimous probably not.
Rowling- we're pretty sure.

The energy of intellectual curiosity filled the room. Students quickly got themselves paired up with an author that they either already know and love, or a new author that they get to experience for the first time. When one of the small minority of students who admit to not reading complained that they've "NEVER liked ANY book" others in the class took it as a challenge, tossing out title after title for the curmudgeon to look for.  

So, I could have let my day be ruined by outside forces. but instead, I spent my day matching kids to books, and it was wonderful. This is by far the best part of my job, and one that I want to celebrate this morning. 

8 comments:

  1. I love that you're keeping a positive attitude despite the problems that are being caused in your life! And what a great idea for a unit of study! I just may have to borrow this... :)

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  2. Love, love, love the author study question! Can't wait to share it with teachers and kids at my school! And love that you turned a day that could have been icky into something wonderful!

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  3. Deb Day, who also is in this challenge (for a number of years), is someone you need to check out. Sounds so much like her group and her kind of lesson!
    http://deb-day.blogspot.com
    Check out some of her posts if you get a chance. I'll let her know you may stop by!

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  4. I love connecting kids and books! I take it as a personal challenge when a kid says they hate to read and have never read a whole book or have never read a book they liked. By goal every year is to find each kid one book to read that they can say, "That one didn't suck"

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  5. I'm glad Donna connected you with Deb's blog, because that's just what came to mind as I was reading your post! Connecting kids to books they will love is the best part of my work as a teacher.

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  6. What a cool idea for a unit of study. Congrats to you on focusing on the positives, instead of everything that went wrong. It's quite the challenge!

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  7. Great question for the students to ponder. What makes something timeless? Classic? I wonder how looking at music, art and even clothing would extend this study?

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  8. Wow - we were on the same wavelength today. This post mirrors MINE - check it out! Glad you picked celebration!

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