SoLC 7/31

The usher passed the plate of communion wafers and the little guy sitting in front of us with his parents snagged a piece without hesitation and ate it right away. The usher and his father smiled down at the boy. When the usher came back a few minutes later with the little cups of juice, the boy, now sitting between his parents, watched them each take a cup and exclaimed, "I want that!"
His parents gave him the little plastic cup of grape juice and gently explained that he couldn't drink it yet. He carefully held the cup in anticipation until the pastor directed the congregation to celebrate Jesus' sacrifice by drinking the cup. Angel's mother quietly told him, "Now you can drink it." And he did, then piped, "I need more!"

How profound, I thought.

SoLC 6/31 The Promise of Spring

The thermometer reads in the 5os. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. Lady bugs cluster on my window. I'm chained to my desk and a sea of red ink (okay, so I'm actually using orange and purple). Heaving a sigh I cling to the promise of spring and freedom from stacks of essays and quizzes. I long for the time when I can spend a warm afternoon in the backyard lost in a fictional world brought to life in paper and ink.

I am restive. I alternate marking quizzes with surfing the internet for grad schools and teaching jobs that might pay more and allow for more time to work on a masters degree. The stack of "easily" graded papers dwindles with the setting sun, but the stack of essays and short stories continues to loom.

SoLC 5/31

"Are you going to be tied up all night?" My husband asked, placing a kiss on my temple as I sat at my computer.

"Nope! I just need to post my Slice of Life."

"Really. So," he asked, "What do you want to do tonight?"

"Watch West Wing."

"I love you!" He gleefully hugged me. "I mean, I love you and I love your idea of watching West Wing."

Yes, we have our priorities straight in this house!

...off to watch West Wing and eat popcorn...

SoLC 4/31

Today was a LOOONNNGGG day. It was open house night. When it is my turn to represent my team for open house I usually stay through after school because there really isn't much point in driving home then driving back down again. I always hope to get all kinds of work done and it never happens. The time flies by so quickly. I didn't get a whole lot done after school. I picked up dinner from the grocery store and chatted with some of my fellow teachers.

There was a good turn out for the open house; I even gave a tour. Usually most of the attendees are for pre-school and kindergarten but tonight I gave a tour to a potential 8th grade boy.

I've grown so accustomed to commuting with my husband and spending the evening home with him. It was weird to drive separately and not see him right after work. What ever are we going to do when we get different jobs and no longer get to commute together? I've become spoiled.

Turkeys! SoLC 3/31

There is a rather large flock of wild turkeys in our area. Actually, there are a couple of flocks. There is a small group that we see on the mountain in the spring and summer months as we commute to work, and a larger flock that we often see in particular corn fields closer to town where we work. Then there is the small family that hung out around our yard all last summer, dust bathing in our garden and jumping up to eat the blueberries off the bushes in our backyard. They are really fun to watch.

Most mornings we watch for them on our way to work and I often find myself disappointed when we don't see them. This time of year they are out as much as they are in the warmer months (where do wild turkeys hang out in the winter?) so it's always exciting to spot them.

This morning was just one of those mornings-the kind where you want to just crawl back into bed and skip the entire day. We were late getting out of the house. I forgot my work keys so we had to turn around and go back. Then John forgot the checkbook, but it was too late to turn around again. He was planning to buy a couple of antique hand tools this morning and wasn't sure he could get enough cash. Neither of us really wanted to go to work and deal with the stress and craziness, and John was just plan grumpy and had been since the day before.

I was disappointed as we past the fields where we've been seeing the turkeys this winter and there was no sign of them. For some reason seeing them just brightens my day. I can't really explain it. We went on to work and on with our day, the turkeys forgotten.

Driving home, both of us in a much better mood, I glanced into one of the fields as we drove by and joyfully cried, "Turkeys! Turkey's! Turkeys!" There was the flock of 20-30 turkeys, hanging out in the corn field. It made our day.

SoLC 2/31

The phone rings. It's after 8pm. My beloved has been moaning and groaning all afternoon and evening and has just gone to lay down on couch to relax. So I rinse the soap off my hands, leave the dishes and grab the phone.
"Hi. May I speak to John, please."
"I'm sorry, he can't come to the phone right now, may I take a message?" I really should have hung up when the person didn't answer immediately at my "hello", that is the number one indicator that it's a telemarketer.
"Maybe you can help me. I'm have a survey and I'm calling from some marketing firm in Wisconsin..."
"I'm not interested, have a good evening."

I realize that they have to make a living and I repeatedly realize that it could be me, but by the grace of God. But between the surveys and charities looking for donations and the alarm company at John's work, we're both ready to take out the phone.

SoLC # 1

"Mrs. Stotz, I need a new book. Can you help me find a new book to read?"
Music to my ears this morning as two of my 8th grade boys made this request.

What one thing do you hope to accomplish in life? Is there something that, after you accomplished it you were truly proud, not so much of yourself, but of what you accomplished?
As a teacher trying to live and teach intentionally and reflectively, I've spent some time thinking about my mission as a middle school teacher. Why do I teach? What do I hope to accomplish? I love reading. I love books. Spend any amount of time with me or in my home and you quickly learn this. I have books everywhere, I'm reading several books at a time, and I'm trying to get you to read the amazing book I just finished. So one aspect of my mission as a middle school English teacher is to expose kids to books and introduce them to the joy of reading. I hope to create life-long readers.

JP is one of my new readers. This morning I pointed out to him the books he had read since December, counting 5.
"Wow!" He said, "I think I might have read one book all of last year. Wait! I also read Persepolis and One More River! I've read 7 books!"

This prompted the other boys to start counting how many they've read. It was several more then they used to. Some of them will still say they don't like reading, but they are reading, by their own choice!



If I do nothing else this school year, I will still be happy because I have accomplished turning several reluctant readers into avid readers.