Plot Twist!

When I was a kid I wanted to be a famous actress, a writer, or a teacher.  The problem with the famous actress goal was that I was pretty shy.  I've never earned a living from it, but I have actually always been a writer.  My third grade teacher, Mrs. Otopaul helped me to develop that. I remember she had these folders with pictures from magazines.  Our job was to choose a picture and write a story about it.  Then at some point we would read our story to the class.  From there, I started to write my own books.  No one else ever saw those books, but I remember working on them.  Mrs. Otopaul was my favorite teacher ever, and I know it was her influence and creativity that made me want to be a teacher. The great thing about being a teacher is you do get to be an actor, writer, artist, nurse, counselor and so many other jobs all rolled into one.

As a teacher I have always loved teaching reading and writing.  I stressed with my students the important parts of good story structure.  You need interesting characters, a story setting, and then you develop your plot.  After you have introduced your characters, those characters will encounter problems.  To keep things interesting you will have plot twists that build interest and suspense, until there is a resolution and closing to your story.

Real life tends to be that way too, and recently we have had a lot of unexpected plot twists. Last fall I was struggling with getting back into school routine after working at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden during the summer.  I wanted to keep my hand in at the Botanical Garden by working on weekends there, at the same time as I was doing my AmeriCorps Reading tutoring four days a week.  I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.  I told myself that if I continued to feel this way, I gave myself permission to change what I was doing after the beginning of the year.

Plot Twist!  I have been having more problems with my asthma.  I was telling my doctor this when I had my annual physical in October.  She was concerned and referred me to a pulmonologist, who then referred me to a cardiologist.  Lots of lung and heart tests followed. As all this was going on, and the anxiety increased, I had increased breathing problems. I began to wonder if issues with my health were going to determine how I spent my time.  The good news, none of the tests showed heart damage.

Plot Twist!  I did get referred for a sleep study.  It turns out I have sleep apnea, and I am now adjusting to using a CPAP machine.

Things settled back into a routine, and I learned how to better balance my work at Phillips and my work at the botanical garden.  As an AmeriCorp Tutor, I knew this would be my last year.  AmeriCorps operates on a grant, and you are only allowed to have four contracts.  This is my fourth, so now is the time to think about how I want to spend my time in the future.  What things are most important to me?  What makes me happy?  Would I be happy spending all my time at home, as some people do in retirement?

Plot Twist!  The Coronavirus began to make it's way around the world.  After hitting China, Italy, Spain and other countries hard, it made it's way to the United States. Schools are closed, restaurants and stores are closed.  The Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden is closed.  Instead of enjoying our usual spring break activities, we are practicing social distancing and self quarantine.  In less than a week's time life has changed drastically.

My son lives in Madrid, Spain, which has been hard hit by this pandemic.  This virus is just taking hold in the United States.  Here is where people have to confront and resolve the problems, and hopefully gain some self realization.

We don't yet know what the outcome to this story is.  How many people will become ill?  How many will die?   Could it happen to me or someone I love?  What kind of economic impact will this have?

While we don't know the final outcome to this story, as the main characters, we can decide how we are going to approach these problems.  Do we deny the reality of things that are happening?  Do we let terror and fear take over?  Do we just keep going?  My goal is to learn what I can from this situation. It is a terrible situation, but I want to find the positives where ever I can.

 I am already watching as family and friends are finding creative ways to reach out and connect with each other.  Teachers are finding ways to connect with students and provide instructional opportunities.  Coworkers are working to get food into the hands and stomachs of kids who need it. People are meeting using apps like Zoom,Skype, or Microsoft Teams. It makes me proud to be connected to these people.

I am going to use this as an opportunity to work on things here at home, set priorities, and find constructive ways to use my time. I want to find some joy in each day.  It is an opportunity to practice being more retired.  I get scared, but I don't want to let fear take over.

I'm sure there will be more plot twists, but I am looking for a happy ending and new insights about those things that are most important to us all.

Morning Time

Gratitude Day #7

This has been a very different week.  It was a week of testing at school.  In order to help out, I started work an hour earlier each day.  I usually start work at nine, whereas the rest of the staff begins by seven.  I have only been officially retired for four years (this June) but I have gotten spoiled. 

I am an early riser.  I rarely sleep later than 5:30.  Getting up is not the issue, getting out of the house is.  Most days I get up, and am showered and dressed before 6:00.  Then I make a pot of tea, and settle into the den with my little dogs.  I use this time to journal, plan my day, pet my pups or just stare into the fireplace.  It's fake fire, but it's still very comforting.  It is a great time to sort out emotions, think about events going on in my life, and set my priorities.  It helps me begin my day more centered and calm.  I am extremely grateful to have that time in the morning.

I first got into writing my "Morning Pages" when I read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.  I have probably been doing it for the past twenty years, not every day, but most days.  It really helps me.  If you have never read her work, I highly recommend it.  I also enjoy her poetry. 

Tomorrow is Friday.  I don't work on Fridays, so I can even stay in my pajamas to enjoy my morning time and write my Morning Pages.  Another benefit of working part time.

1. I am grateful for the flexibility of having quiet morning time at home.
2. I am grateful for my comfortable home.
3. I am grateful for the gift of writing.  and
4. I am grateful for my fake fireplace.

Heart Maps

We made Heart Maps in order to inspire us in our writing.

A Class of Cartoonists

We are working on functional writing. That's the everyday writing we all do, like writing directions, recipes, persuasive paragraphs, and cartooning.  The kids are loving the cartooning part.  We read part of the book 1-2-3 Draw Cartoon People.  The kids are turning those ideas into great cartoon characters.

Photo #293/365: iPad Writers

We had to take a school district writing assessment this week.  While most kids in the school did theirs the traditional way with pencil and paper, we did ours on-line.  I set up a Google Document for each person.  I borrowed iPads from other classrooms, so we would have enough for everyone.  We had a few problems, getting all the documents to load, but once we got going, it worked out well.  Between iPads and laptops, we did a lot of writing.

Photo #117/365: Making a Glog

My class is making Glogs. A Glog is an on-line poster that you create on the website, Glogster EDU. As part of our writing program, Being a Writer, we are researching and writing about countries around the world. I decided to give it a new twist and have them do their final draft as a Glog. We are learning how to do this together. I created this poster and checklist to guide our project as we get ready to publish.

Photo #159: Author, Author!

My students have done lots of writing this year, much of it through the use of technology. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I have become a techie teacher this year. We have tried lots of new things. The kids have their own blogs, they've written on wikis and Wallwisher, and they have created digital books on Storybird and StoryJumper. During the past three weeks they have been writing books on a website called StoryJumper. They wrote the stories, and created the illustrations by choosing backgrounds and other details. There was a lot of talking going on when they were at the computers, so I wasn't really sure what we were going to end up with.

Today was the last full day of school, so this afternoon each child presented and read their digital book to the class. This was one of those very gratifying moments for a teacher. I was so proud of what they had achieved. They have come so far as writers, and as you can see from the photo, they had the full attention of their classmates. And this is why I do it. This is the thrill of teaching, those moments when you are rewarded by seeing that your students have truly grown. That makes for a great way to end the school year.