Kindness Matters

Have you ever been in a bad mood? Had a bad day? Sometimes when I have a bad day, I find a friend and complain about it. That usually doesn’t make me feel better though so today I decided to try something different. I was feeling left out and grumpy. The very first thing I did was to write in my notebook for a couple of minutes. That ALWAYS makes me feel better.

After that I decided to share some kindness. My class was going to come in soon, so I grabbed a few sticky notes and I jotted down some kind words. I put the sticky notes on some desks. And then I watched. I saw students look around to see if everyone got them. I saw some students quietly put the note away in a safe place. One student came right up to me and asked me about it. Their reactions were confused, surprised, and in the end I’d like to think they were all happy. Guess what?!?! My mood improved…A LOT!!!

Later on that day, I was sitting and listening to some people complain. We all complain. I know I do, but I felt those grumpy feelings trying to return. I decided that I wouldn’t let them in, so I decided to retaliate. Instead of complaining more, I grabbed my notebook and looked around. I started writing a list of things that made me happy about the people there. It made me giggle a little bit too.

After school, that kindness that I shared came back. I received TWO emails saying thank you for sharing kindness. How do you share kindness?

Category: kindness, slice of life | 11 Comments

October 13 2015

Feeling Nostalgic

Slice of Life

Music was different when I was a kid. Not music. Access to music was different…how we listened to music was different. Listening to music has always been a big part of my life. We listened to the radio in the car. We sang along!

I had a record player in my bedroom. I remember desperately wanting to see the movie “Grease” but I was too young. I begged and begged until I got the record to listen to in my room. I listened to it over and over and over again. As I grew older, my music delivery system became more and more sophisticated. That record player turned into a stereo. This is the one I had…

Stereo with record player and double cassette deck

I’d sit for hours and listen to the radio…lots of time the waiting was purposeful. I was waiting for a specific song to come on the radio so I could tape it. I would have to get it right as it started and hope that the deejay wouldn’t talk over the song too much. Finding just the right song could take hours, but it was so worth it when I captured it on my tape!

The double cassette deck was the best because once I taped a song (or many songs) from the radio, I could copy them onto another tape and make a mix tape for a friend. I was addicted to creating the best mix tapes! Friends would make them for each other. It was a way to share a part of yourself, by making a mix tape. Pick the songs. Copy them onto the tape and then we had to make the list on the cover of the tape, so our friends knew what songs were on the tape.

Mix tape list of songs

Music needed to get mobile. We needed an easier way to move around and be able to listen to our tunes. Boom boxes were the first step. The Walkman came shortly after that. We needed to be thoughtful about which tape we’d bring with us because we could only have one in the walkman or the boom box. I owned boom boxes like these in high school…

Cool yellow sport boom box!

Cute mini-boombox. Brought one like this to college with me.

When the walkman came out, I couldn’t believe how amazing it was!

Walkman!

Being able to carry around music while I ran or mowed the lawn was the best thing ever! I have vivid memories of mowing the lawn in listening to Rod Stewart’s album, Downtown Train, over and over again. I loved my walkman and it came everywhere with me.

With the dawn of the internet, music has taken a backseat in my life. I miss it. It’s time for me to turn off the internet and the television and turn on the tunes! Making a new playlist filled with Rod Stewart, Duran Duran, Cyndi Lauper, Eagles, Billy Joel, and many more of my childhood favorites.

Category: music, slice of life | 63 Comments

May 26 2015

What Kind of Writer Am I?

Last week, Stacey wrote a powerful post about herself as a writer. She was inspired by Terje’s post. Today I’m going to begin my answer to this question…

What kind of a writer am I?

I am the kind of writer who needs words and sentences to make sense out of life.
I am the kind of writer who feels her way through writing.
I am the kind of writer who writes daily, many times a day, for herself.
I am the kind of writer who has filled sixty-three notebooks.
I am the kind of writer who has a story to tell, but isn’t sure exactly what that story is.
I am the kind of writer who has discovered this secret…so much about writing is having faith.
I am the kind of writer who must write, even if no one else reads.
I am the kind of writer who writes too much and takes out lots during revision.
I am the kind of writer who enjoys repetition and symmetry.
I am the kind of writer who is afraid of failing as a writer.
I am the kind of writer who wants to use words to make the world a better place.
I am the kind of writer who needs just the right pen, and just the right color, and just the right font to help my writing come alive.
I am the kind of writer who loves to read mentor texts and then worries that everything has already been said.
I am the kind of writer who uses ellipses…
the interrobang?!?!
and overuses exclamation points (and doesn’t care)!!!!!!
I am the kind of writer who returns to my writing weeks, months, years later and doesn’t remember writing those words…and finds that often that’s my best writing.
I am the kind of writer who has had to work to compose digitally and appreciates the different styles of writing it creates.
I am the kind of writer who needs silence to write.
I am the kind of writer who always has my notebook with me.
I am the kind of writer who wants readers. I am the kind of writer who will continue to search for the answer to this question.
I am the kind of writer who writes to untangle my life.

Thank you, Terje and Stacey, for the inspiration!

What kind of writer are you?!?!

Category: reflection, slice of life | 3 Comments

February 25 2015

Who is Up for the Challenge?

The few. The strong. The chosen…or the volunteers. We are slicers. We are bloggers. We are writers. I am so proud of my students who are up for the challenge! The challenge is simple. Write a slice of life blog post. Every. Day. In. March. Yes, that’s right. I said every day! It’s hard. It’s stretching ourselves. It’s being writers. We will meet today and discuss our fears and our excitement. We will make plans and prepare for the month of March! We will go in writers and leave WRITERS! It’s an honor to slice with you!

Category: slice of life | LEAVE A COMMENT

February 3 2015

Spoilers…Yay or Nay?!?!

Today (written Monday, after school) we were having a discussion about how to talk about books. We started with making a list of DOs and DON’Ts when Discussing Books. As I anticipated, “Don’t spoil the ending!” was top of the DON’Ts list…but then the conversation took a surprising twist. One student blurted out, “Unless they want to know how it ends.”

I asked the class, “Who wants to know how a book ends before you start reading it?” Hands slowly started going up. They laughed. I’m sure my expression was incredulous, to say the least. You know when your eyebrows descend so far you feel like they are touching your nose?!?! I froze and everyone continued the discussion without me,

“I read the first couple of chapters and then I read the last chapter.””Yeah, I read the last page first to see if it’s worth it.” “I read the first and last page and then decide.”

WHAT?!?! I was flabberghasted! Why do so many of you want to know how a book ends before you begin reading it? One of them said, “Ms. Haseltine, it’s the same way I watch tv. I watch the season finale before I decide to watch any episodes.” And that’s when it hit me. You live in a world where everything is at your fingertips.

When I was a kid (in the olden days of the 70s) and I wanted to know the lyrics to the song, I had to listen and catch the song on the radio so I could tape it. Then I had to listen to it over and over and over again while transcribing the words. (Come on…who remembers doing this?!?!) It was tedious, but I felt like I accomplished something. Now when I want the lyrics I google them and print them out. You are living in a world where the information is readily accessible.

It’s at this moment where many of us “old” teachers lament the good old days and regret the fact that, “Kids today have it too easy.” But I think that’s a cop-out. I don’t still copy the lyrics, I google them. I love that information is constantly at my fingertips. My challenge is to meet you in this new and amazing world, listen to you, and figure out how I can help you steer your way through it.

I’m off to start a new book…and I will NOT be reading the last page until I’m finished.

Category: slice of life | 1 Comment

January 28 2015

Day at Home

Snow day. Was that #5 or #6? I’ve lost count. Yesterday was a very productive day. I spent time playing with Bella too because it was her birthday.

Happy Birthday Bella! Do you like the flower on her new collar?

She loves the snow, so we played outside. I love watching her jump and leap into the snow. She has so much fun! My house needed some cleaning and organizing, so I started in the kitchen. Washed all the dishes and organized the pantry.

Newly organized journaling supplies on my night stand.

I cleaned my bedroom.

Bella sitting on the bed with my new orange blanket. (Mess behind her is now gone.)

Laundry is done and I rearranged books on my book shelves.

Love having writing books and favorite books near me.

Next, I organized my office.

My office is also my guest room. The bed was covered with books and papers and markers. I love seeing it cleaned off!

Sparkly lights and a clean work space makes me happy!

It feels great to be organized! I made that snow day count.

Category: Haseltine, organize, slice of life | 1 Comment

January 20 2015

Four O’Clock in the Morning

I woke up at four AM with my mind whirring.

This week. Busy. So busy. Don’t want to forget anything. Grades close on Friday. Two projects due. Formal observation on Friday. First grad class meets Wednesday. Syllabus is ready. I have to gather books to bring with me to school. Blog. My OLW blog post for Thursday. Birthday Dinner on Thursday. Dinner out Friday. Snow?!?! There could be SNOW?!?! Don’t think about it. Snacks for Wednesday? Should I get more? Formal lesson plan written for Friday? I should wait and see if there’s a snow day between now and then. I can’t think of what to write for Thursday!!! Did I pick the wrong OLW? What should I say?!?! (I love the interrobang!) Nothing’s coming to me. Everything I start sounds silly and dumb and just plain bad. And blogging…the SOLC is coming soon. Can I do it? Can I blog everyday for a month AND teach a graduate class AND teach 100 sixth graders AND…breathe. Stop! Yes. Day by day. I can do it. I will do it.

Pardon my brain dump. When I wake up at 4AM with thoughts spinning faster than a roller coaster, I need to write. I call this kind of writing a brain dump. The process of writing it makes me feel calmer.

How do you calm down in the midst of panic?

Category: brain dump, slice of life | 3 Comments

January 13 2015

On the News…Slice of Life!

Snow day number three today…my phone rang about noon. It was my assistant principal asking me if my students were getting any work done during the snow days. We chatted and I told him that I have a bunch of students blogging and working on their independent writing projects and even more are reading! I asked why he wanted to know. It turns out the public information officer had contacted him and with my permission, he would be contacting me. Sure!! I love when my students get authentic audience beyond me. I emailed links to a bunch of blogs and waited for the next call.

Fifteen minutes later the phone rang again but this time it was a television news reporter from the ABC station in Washington DC, Suzanne Kennedy. Huh? She wanted to interview one of my students. After getting all of the permissions in place, I passed along a name and phone number and then I waited.

Five o’clock arrived. The story was supposed to lead off the news…except there was a mysterious smoke problem with the Metro. I worried that our story got bumped off tonight’s news…until 5:19, when I heard the reporter start talking about our county.

Then I saw Minahil! There she was…on the screen…

What was on the screen?!?! What was she typing?!?! Take a look…

Writing her slice of life, while living it! I love that her blogging got her on the news tonight! It makes me so happy that during the filming, she showed the reporter her slice of life! Slicing has become part of their writing lives…even on snow days! Way to go, Minahil!

Category: Haseltine, news, slice of life, snow days | 2 Comments

January 6 2015

Flying in 2015

As 2015 approached, so did my seventh word of the year…or One Little Word. Previous words include: METTLE, ENGAGE, BUILD, EMBRACE, AUTHOR, and RISK.

In my seventh year choosing a word I realized that I don’t choose the word, the word really chooses me. My pondering for the OLW2015 began in October and I had really wanted INVITATION as my word. It seemed right…but alas, it didn’t stick. The days leading up to the new year, I’d settled on OPEN for my word. That was it. It felt right…until the day before. It wasn’t settling anymore. I was uneasy that I was making the wrong choice. A friend had been looking for her word and while glancing at a list I have, she mentioned FLY. As she said it I thought, “No. That’s not a good word.” The next day I was driving around town running errands and the word FLY appeared and grabbed my attention again. It felt like that was supposed to be my word.

Why FLY? I’m not entirely sure. That is both scary and exciting. I’m not sure where FLY will take me or why it picked me. In complete honesty, I am terrified of things that fly. I have been for as long as I can remember. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. Am I still afraid or is that a story that I’m telling myself? One goal of FLY is to face my fears. Find my love for birds and butterflies and all of the FLYing creatures.

Synonyms of FLY include soar and take off. I’m hoping that those words will impact my life this year.

FLY is not a word that appears as often as I thought it would. When I settle on a OLW, I pay closer attention for it. FLY has been harder to find, but it’s sweeter when I do find it.

During independent reading yesterday, both of my books addressed FLYing. (I swear I didn’t pick them for this reason.)

It feels like FLY is revealing itself to me…trying to tell me something. I’m listening…

Category: OLW, slice of life | 4 Comments

December 9 2014

Slow Down!

I need my brain to slow down. It’s on auto-pilot during the day. Teaching, meeting, making decisions, conferencing, listening. All of these things are happening in my classroom. When I sit down to write, to read, to grade, I can’t. The neurons in my brain continue to zoom around there like a hummingbird and I can’t concentrate. I can’t focus. This is a problem.

Today during my final block of the day, we wrote brain dumps. A brain dump is a free write, but brain dump is more fun to say. This is where you keep your hand moving for the entire writing time…seven minutes today…and you write continuously. Brain dumps get the stuff out of your head that’s blocking the really good stuff. It gives you, the writer, a place to put all of the worries and concerns you have. This way you are able to write all of those interesting and creative ideas that are hiding in the back of your mind. No judgement during the brain dump. If you think it, you write it. No worrying about correctness. Write. Write. Write. Release your stream of consciousness.

Once we discussed the ins and outs of a brain dump, I set the timer for seven minutes, sat at an empty student desk to join them, and we were off. I wrote and wrote and wrote and so did the sixth graders.

After the timer sang our end, we discussed our feelings and thoughts about this process. Students answered thoughtfully about this experience.

“I started full. Emptied out. And now I’m full again.”

“When I started, I felt bad. Now I feel good.”

“I had no idea this is how I was feeling before I started writing.”

While I needed the writing time, it seemed the students did too. I’m impressed at their reflective statements. This short time of writing didn’t change the world, but it changed us. More brain dumps coming soon. You should try it!

Category: brain dump, slice of life | 2 Comments

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