I'm Only Looking At The Pictures

As the proud daughter of a Librarian and teacher, I have been exposed to my fair share of wonderful picture books in my time. If Julie Andrews sung a song about my favorite things, a picture book would be there right alongside sweet tea, magazines, Cody Bears, and Pumpkins.

Here are a few that have touched my pericardium and made me laugh, cry, or think when I finished reading them. These are, in my opinion, must reads for every Mom, Dad, BFF, Pops, Auntie, teacher who is looking for a great story time at the carpet, or any person just needing a kind reminder of the simple joys of sitting with a book and "looking at the pictures." Here are a few of my favorites.

Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak: Ask yourself, why does this book still thrive and excite 50 years after it was published? Our answers will all probably be very different, but my opinion is that we might want to be King for a little while, but at the end of the day it sure is good to know that Momma made dinner and it is waiting for us "still...hot" back at the crib.  Max is a wild boy to be sure, but he learns that if he stares a beast in the eye without blinking once that his bravery may earn him a minion or two. Smart kiddo, and way to reel in the servants and all, but still this King knows he needs his Mother!  This book makes me think of the days of being wild, and young, and somewhat free and knowing that home was the place where my wildness could just rest for a spell before I threw my shoes back off and went outside to live feral. Comforting, right?

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen: This book is the one to sit down with on the first really cold day of the year (Floridians, you will only have the one day). You know it. The one where you make tea from the kettle not the microwave, light the "first fire", and wear warm socks all day. The first "Winter Snuggle Day". This book is really written like a poem, and the figurative language used in it is none other than masterful. Reading it aloud makes the whole world quieter, and the sound of owl's wings can be heard with every breath. The little girl out on her first owl moon with her grandfather is so full of longing and the reader waits just as she does to hear the first "Whooo Whooo" of the Great Horned Owl. That little girl is really in all of us who have ever waited for and wanted something then received it unexpectedly. That child is fa-rezzing but the cold doesn't matter to her and she makes her own heat and almost smiles in the end. That almost smile is my very favorite part. 

Edwina,  The Dinosaur That Didn't Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems: I love Mo Willems. I love everything he has ever written, but I chose this one because in this book a Tyrannosaurs Rex who does not know she is extinct, goes around town with her purse in hand helping old ladies cross the street, and makes chocolate chip cookies for everyone! As a reader, I am entranced! Of course a dinosaur is baking chocolate chip cookies, but then we meet Reginald Vonhoobiedoobie, and he does not believe she can be here doing all these wonderful things because she is extinct for crying out loud. This book deftly touches on how our perceptions of the way that we think things should be get in the way of us just accepting things for the way they are and how that can really stop us from being happy about it. Edwina, despite being targeted mercilessly by this boy the whole book, is kind to him anyway and in the end he doesn't care she is extinct. She has listened to him, and he loves her for it. Mo Willems is only second to the Good Doctor in my opinion and I have taught from his books since the first Pigeon wanted...something and Piggie and Elephant became BFF. If you cannot stand one more Dr. Seuss book, pick up one of his. They are the bee's knees. 

No, David! by David Shannon: There are days when I want to be young again, don't you? Well, not if you are David. That poor boy, I know wherever he is, has been in trouble all day with his Mother for EVERYTHING. I am a parent, and there are some days when I feel like "No" is all that I say. The first time I read this book I cried the ugly cry on the very last page. After a whole day of unintentionally breaking every valuable thing in the house just because he was imagining himself as a professional baseball player or swaggering pirate, his Mother pulled him close and said, "Yes, David. I love you". If those words do not stop you in your tracks and make you think of every stupid thing you have ever done but your Momma forgave you for because she loves you, you may need to check for your soul, because...heartbreak! That day was a day where an intentional decision was made by me to temper what I say to my children with my love for them even if I am about to blow the proverbial gasket.  I've read many a "parenting book" and not come away with that strong a realization. 

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein: This book is so inspired and wonderful that I won't even be able to write about it without tears. From the illustrations with M.E. and T. carved into the trunk of this tree who loves a boy, to the pictures of her being brought to nothing but a tall stump, every part of this book...matters. The boy is really a metaphor for us all.  We grow up and away. We want money. We want a house. We want to marry a hot guy, wait...just me? Well, then somehow we circle back around at the end of our lives to just needing a place to rest and someone who is willing, even after all we have done to them,  to be that rest. I have read this book to every class I have ever taught on the first and last day of school and asked them, "Do you want to be the boy or the tree?" I ask myself it, too. All the time. The boy and his selfishness sticks with me.  We are all the boy inherently, but should work to be more like the tree in the book. The world would be changed if people were trees, people! Can we really give of ourselves, selflessly to those we love and not expect anything in return but the other person's happiness? That is hard, and it is real. There are people who are gone from this world that I really wish I could have spoken to or just smiled at, and they can be listed on one hand. Shel Silverstein would be one of them. 

A picture book might seem like child's play to some people. But to those people I would only say, what is wrong with that? Playtime is fun. Play teaches us things. Play makes us happy.

What picture books have stuck with you and made a deep, lasting impression? I would love for you to tell me about them! Happy reading, and "goodnight moon."

A Word Fitly Spoken with Ryan Gosling

"Duality: the quantum-mechanical property of being regarded as both a wave and a particle." I have no idea what that means,ya'll,  but wave is part of it so I know it applies to me somehow. I have accepted my duality as an educator because, well...I just don't know any other way to be.

The inspiration for his blog came in a person walking into my room last week and looking at a very nice plaque (you know the kind where it says really something beautiful and poetic that makes you think about your life...those ones) next to a picture of a very nice cross-stitched picture of Ryan Gosling, and they mentioned that they were struck by those two things being placed side by side on my desk. They said, "Well, that says something about you." I hadn't thought of it until she'd said it, but it does. I love beautiful writing and believe wholeheartedly in the power of "a word fitly spoken" being "like apples of gold in settings of silver"...really, I do! I hardly even know what it is saying, but I love it so much I can barely stand that I didn't come up with it! It speaks to me and it makes me choose my words carefully, but I also love a good Ryan Gosling meme in the morning to give me a chuckle, especially the ones about education. I know I am biased, but they are the most hilarious. It is my duality on a desk, folks.  This encounter was someone else commenting on what a lot of people have said to me in the course of my career about my personality extremes at work in the classroom.

"Hey Girl, I know you love inspirational messages on plaques. 

So I wrote you a few myself and called it "The Notebook". 

For instance, I am a documenter. It's sort of like a dementor, but I only really torture myself. I save EVERYTHING from the (death by) Power Point slides I show students, to examples of student work. My binder that has EVERYTHING in it is a huge 4 inch that I have to wear an ace bandage to open because it is so full and it is January, so I will need two this year. My documenting can really only be rivaled by my Classroom DJ skills as I have play lists saved on my computer for EVERYTHING from Luau music to songs about St. Augustine, Florida. People are struck by the depth of both of these collections, shall I say, but they are glimpses into the two very different parts of my personality that speak to who I am as an educator. The documentation is there to prove that I am doing my job and making every attempt to be "highly effective" at it, but the music is there so that my students know that Mrs. Walker knows how to get her groove on, and will do so if Bon Jovi comes on to teach us about metaphorical language through song. "Tommy used to work on the docks!" Let's talk about theme, kids!

Last year, at the end of the school year I had the kids fill out report cards on me. I was not particularly scared about what some kids would say, but a child that I felt like I had just not been able to get through to like I wanted to, filled out her report card about the most memorable thing that she had learned that year, and she wrote, "I learned that my teacher will dress up and embarrass herself to make money." Pause, hold on... wait, don't go there....in the words of Inigo Montoya, "Let me s'plain...there is not time...let me sum up..."a team of kids I was an Odyssey of the Mind Coach for, was headed to a Florida competition, and we were trying to raise funds to go so I participated in "Teacher Torture" where students would put money in a jar for a teacher to get tortured for the day. Yes, I was chosen for this esteemed honor and my torture was to dress as a baby for the day, and that I was only allowed to use "baby words" all day long. Now, my kids thought this was torture, but nay, how wrong they were! That day I wore jammies to school, passed random students all day long and said "HI,HI,HI,HI" repeatedly to freak them out, and I even got to throw a tantrum on the morning announcements. It. was. beautiful. I called this student over and asked her why that was so memorable and her answer was simple. "That you'd do that for us."  I ugly cried the ugly cry because as a teacher we do a lot in private that we know is for our students, but it is not always evident to them, or their parents, or the legislature, or anyone else that we are doing it. For whatever reason, the day I was a baby for money is what got through to that girl that I'd do pretty much anything to be the very best teacher she ever had. There again is my duality. I spent that whole week coming up with highly integrated, high level of complexity, differentiated  instruction, but it was my willingness to wear a onesie in public (and to the grocery store, but that is another story) that meant something to a child. There is something wonderful and simple about that. That was a day where being both a wave and a particle made an unexpected difference to a kid.

Best. Day. Ever. 

Back to my desk decor. More children have asked me why Ryan Gosling is on my desk then have asked me why a Justin Beiber song is in the middle of their Writing Music (all classical, calming, beautiful) play list, but the answer is, "To get your attention and give you a non-verbal signal to stop and proofread right then what you have already written." It works, and to this day kids still think about checking their writing when they hear "Baby, baby, baby, ohhhhhhhhh...." I cannot say if this is a good or bad thing, but at least they remember something from this classroom.

Whatever works, right?

I Might Be Bad At This - but Michael Jackson "Bad" - so It Might Be Good

Hello, World. I'm Amanda.  What's your name?

Ahhh.....writing mistakes. Yikes! Who would know I teach this stuff for a living, eh?

Well, World. Why am I here (there goes another writing mistake - this is hard...I'm no good at this...) you may ask? There are a lot of teaching blogs out there and many I have followed and just thought, "I could add something to that", or "I've had the same experience", or "PUT THAT DOWN!"...oh, wait that was what I just had to say in a completely calm town of voice, not at all raised, to my two children ages 6 and 4 and 11/12. Sorry, about that and onward.

I guess at the core of this little venture is that I am at a precipice of sorts. At a crossroad, a fork in the road, a place of newness, a jaunty space, a not at all having to do with a New Year's resolution to change education by writing about it spot of, well...why not? I have a lot to say. I'm good at typing. I have a Mac.

In all fairness I should say that what you can expect from this blog will first and foremost have to be honesty about what I am doing in the classroom "fo reals". All joking aside the educational system in America right now is hurting in many ways. Don't worry, I am not going to go into it right now, but can we talk about one thing? The acronyms! The acronyms! They sound like they came off the back of a chemists t-shirt (IEP, QUAR, IPDP, SLD, HE< HE< HE,  MY FACE HURTS!) They mostly have to do with teachers being evaluated on a business model's scale in my state. Sounds legit, right? What could possibly go wrong, right?  In a moment of "fo reals" honesty, I only truly know the initials that have to do with my actual student's names <shocking> and must look the rest up on the down low before meetings so I look super smart, professional, and on top of my game.  I am a little preoccupied with a million other little things during the day: favorite colors, untied shoes, did they eat breakfast, will they be happy, productive people, WHY DID THEY JUST SAY THAT...NO, NO, NO, and oh, my "celestial body" - they understand this! 

On here, you can also be sure to expect my sense of humor (some call it humor, some call it...other) here starting with me explaining quickly why I never started a blog before. It begins with my complete and utter disdain for the word "blog" (eh...it makes me twi-itch). It's horrible really, and sounds to me like a bodily function. That may seem silly, but my love for words just got in the way of me writing all the words.  You know what word I love? Chubs. The word "chubs" cannot be said without smiling. Go ahead, try and say "chubs" without smiling. It's hard, right?  Listen, I'm not trying to be funny when I say that if I did not find a happy, go lucky, it will all be okay, have fun - their kids - after all way of looking at this profession. I. Would. Quit. We all would quit....hard!

I also promise I am not going to get all gushy about my love for children on this blog, though I do read those blogs while I weep softly into my teacher bag pockets, by the way. I DO love children, but I also love glitter and did not choose to work at a glitter factory. I actually love the act of teaching. Perhaps it's the creation of something that moves close to fruition every day, but never actually is finished...like, never...it's never finished...we don't ever finish....or that I get to be creative (follow my Creative Classroom board on Pinterest, ya'll - pluggity plug), and I have always been a creative person - whatever that even means - or maybe it is that I will actually inspire a kid to love learning and keep doing it. I like to teach, and probably always have in some way, so that is why I do it and challenge myself to do it in an authentic way that doesn't leave me wanting to chew the edge of my desk to relieve tension in my jaw. True story.

I am not going to be the "This-is-how-you-make-super-high-scores-on-standardized-tests", girl. I don't like that girl.  She gets on my nerves because I am like that ugly meme character screaming out "You're Doing It Wrong"!  I'm much more of the "Let's-make-fireworks-kids-and-shoot-'em-off inside-the-classroom-with-the-windows-shut-so-people-don't hear-us", girl. Aside: that would be awesome wouldn't it? It would put mentos in cola to shame. Shame, I say! In my defense, this can all be linked to State Standards, by the way, and categorized under "completely mind blowing, impactful education".

So that is what this will be mostly about. I cannot tell you how it will meander about yet because I don't know. I just hope it meanders to a happy place, filled with crashing waves, and open books. That would be the spot for a fine meander, I think.

If that is the kind of place you would also like to be, follow me, and let's make some waves.