The J-Factor

I know I can (I know I can)
Be what I wanna be (Be what I wanna be)
If I work hard at it (If I work hard at it)
I'll be where I wanna be (I'll be where I wanna be)

Returned from Flagstaff this morning, where I have been the last two days at a TFA conference called Southwest Summit. SW Summit brings together the Phoenix and New Mexico Corps for a day of workshops and training. It's a great time to get more professional development (I don't think I can ever get enough of that as a teacher), reconnect with friends, and enjoy another part of Arizona. Sometimes I feel I get stuck here in Phoenix because life is so busy; rarely do I see any other towns or places here.

Blessedly, all three of the workshops I attended were incredible! I learned some amazing techniques for increasing the J-Factor (Joy) in my classroom, how to help struggling readers (of which I have quite a few) through explicit phonics instruction and comprehension strategies, and how to stealthily teach problem solving, the scientific method, and other academic concepts through cooperative learning games. The last workshop especially helped me broaden my view of myself as a teacher to include the role of facilitator; I walked away from that session with a more concrete understanding of how to facilitate and why facilitation is so important.

Admittedly, I squeezed in some time for F-U-N with the phenomenal TFA teachers I also call friends! We had a blast out in Flagstaff last night; I take for granted sometimes how blessed it is to just be silly sometimes. I try my hardest not to take myself too seriously while also knowing that I need to take my actions and life choices seriously. At times, it is good to just let go and have fun without taking anything seriously.

Blessing #51: TFA Friends
I am so blessed... to be battling on the front lines towards the goal of ending education inequity alongside some pretty awesome people! I find so much encouragement and inspiration in their stories. The kinds of conversations we have about education and our roles as teachers are motivating. Plus, they are really fun people to hang out with; I can't think of a single TFA social event at which I felt anything but joy.

Blessing #52: SW Summit
I am so blessed... and I think I've already said enough about how great SW Summit was! Although, let me add: I saw snow. And I love snow. It was refreshing to be out of Phoenix for the weekend, but still feel productive.

Blessing #53: Ice Cream Sundaes
I am so blessed... to have had the opportunity to give some of my students their first experience building their own ice cream sundaes. This week in writing the students went through the process of writing step-by-step directions in the form of a recipe. It gets better: they wrote recipes for how to make an ice cream sundae! Each student picked ice cream and toppings from a menu-style word bank (a super sneaky way to scaffold writing for students with limited background knowledge about the prompt), then we went through the stages of prewriting (drawing each step and writing the vivid verb to describe what we were doing), drafting (writing the steps), revising (chopping, trading or pushing words), editing (checking for periods, capital letters, and numbers at the beginning of each step), and finally publishing (printing up the recipes, illustrating them with the finished sundae, and signing our names). Then I asked each student to bring one of the items on the menu, I brought the ice cream, and we made ice cream sundaes! It was ch-ch-ch fanTAStic!

Blessing #54: New Moon
I am so blessed... T-minus 5 days until the second movie in the Twilight series comes out in theaters! I am only slightly obsessed with this series of books and the protagonists. The second book is very different from the first; I am excited to see how it translates to the screen. Plus, I get to see it with two of my favorite people in the world!

Blessing #55: Coffee
I am so blessed... that coffee exists. It gets me going in the morning and I love the taste. Definitely needed it yesterday and today.

Blessing #56: Paychecks
I am so blessed... every other Thursday, my paycheck gets automatically deposited into my account. While sometimes many times I find myself complaining about the ratio of monetary compensation to actual time and effort expended, really I am very grateful to have a paycheck at all, especially in times like these.

Two blessings each for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: I think I'm caught up. Oh! Excellent article here.

♥