Day 31: Final Slice

Today is the final day of the 2016 Slice of Life Challenge. Once again, I met my goal of posting every day. I did have one day posting after the midnight deadline, but it was more important to me that I wrote and not necessarily that I was able to make it before 12:00 am.

I realized that I wrote mostly about my family. They are the most prominent and important aspect of my life. I realized that it is sometimes hard to come up with a topic for a post. I love receiving comments on my posts, but in the end I write it because I am trying to get better at writing and see writing from my students' perspective.

I have enjoyed reading the posts of other slicers. I wish I could read them all but there are just too many of them. I wish my iPad would be a little more cooperative when posting from it, especially close to midnight. I'm hoping that my voice comes across in my writing the way it sounds in my head.

I'm going to try to write on my blog more frequently through the year and not just dust it off for the SOL challenge each year. But, I think I still suffer from the thought of "What do I have to say that other people would actually have interest in or feel was valuable?"

I hope you all have enjoyed the Sloce of Life challenge as much as I did. Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for hosting again. I look forward to meeting up with you again next year.

Day 30: Reading the Signs of Life

I've never been one of those people who look for "signs" in order to live their lives or help them make decisions. I've often thought that people see signs where they want to see signs or are looking for an excuse to justify the decisions they make.

In this case, I would be more than happy to ignore the signs I've been seeing. In the last several days I have been seeing signs all over that are telling me I need to get back to the gym and work on getting fit. I really enjoy working out and seeing the benefits of it. I also feel better when I am eating healthier, getting more sleep and exercise, and generally taking care of myself.

I know that I feel better when I start my day with a workout. I feel better about myself when I look in the mirror and my clothes fit and I don't have bags under my eyes.

Sometimes things happen for a reason and we are given signs to remind us of what we already know, not to lead us to something new.

Day 29: That One Kid

I think we have all had that one kid...the one that drives us crazy but we just love to death in spite of it. I have one of those kids this year. This little boy has been a challenge since day one. His go-to response for anything is a physical response. If he thinks he has been wronged, he has been known to hit and kick as his immediate reaction. This comes from having two very physical older brothers. We've worked incredibly hard to show him other ways of handling anger and frustration.

I have worked really hard with him to let him know that I WANT to hear his side of things. He is so used to people immediately assuming the worst and jumping to a punishment, that it took some time to get him to trust me and know that I am not going to believe everyone else before hearing from him. Now he does. He and I have built a special relationship this year. He comes to me and asks me questions and holds onto my hand to receive a reassuring squeeze that yes, I am listening and I value what he has to say. I have given him an individual behavior plan to help him see his daily progress and his biggest goal is to get all smiley faces so that he can have lunch with me. Who would have thought that lunch with me would be his biggest motivator?

In recent weeks, I have even seen him start to finally put effort into his work. For the first time, he is taking pride in his writing and asked three or four times today when he would be able to share his writing. This is one of those cases where progress cannot be measured in reading levels or test scores. We have laid so much foundation this year it's going to be really hard to give him up to a second grade teacher next year. If anyone had told me in September that I would be saying that about this boy in particular, I would have said they were nuts. But he is just one of those kids who has wormed his way into a special place in my heart.