SoL #OLW reflection 12.30.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

Remember way back at the beginning of 2014, when many people posted about their One Little Word?  My word was encourage.  Somehow between January and now, I had forgotten what I meant by that word.  Somehow, 11 months passed, and I'm looking back on what I wrote, and I'm astounded by how much my one little word happened.  

Encourage.

Almost 12 months ago I wrote:

And somewhere, in all of this, we forgot what we're doing.  Loving reading.  It's our job to do that.  To show kids how to love reading.  To help them understand what type of reader they are.  To share books.  To love books. 

Reflections:

* I know my love of reading increased ten-fold this past year with the help of my Twitter friends.  I read the books that were good, great and amazing.  And every time I fell in love with a book I talked about it.  With friends, with colleagues and most importantly, with students. 
* I encouraged everyone at school by making reading visible.  I posted what I was reading and helped make students more aware of awards, like the Geisel Award and reading them to the kids. We hosted a book party where staff got to interact with new books and had time to go through them. 
* We skyped with authors. 
* Every grade level at our school had the opportunity to participate in Mock Awards:  Geisel, Newbery and Caldecott.
* We talked about Lines That Stick to Me and staff and students collected them.
* I brought in stacks and stacks of my personal books to school.  Some were donated to my school library but most went into the hands of my reading students.  Most of my students don't know who they are as a reader.  Most don't have a place to go to find books.  Most don't know what they want to read.  Our reading team has worked really hard at helping our students find books, read and finish them, be excited about them and want to come back for more.  I don't want to be their only source, but I'm happy to help them on their way.
* We have talked a lot as a staff about reading.  We know it is important to have our students be readers, but so many of our teachers have lost their reading life.  It's really easy to do that when life gets in the way.  I've worked on encouraging them to regain some of that life back.  Not everyone is willing to try.  Not everyone is able to get back into it.  I continue to encourage all to become readers and I'm always happy to give a recommendation.  I love the conversations I've had with colleagues about what they've read.  I'm encouraged by our progress.
* I've taken a lot of steps this year to learn all that I can and think about what I need to do to encourage the readers I work with.  This past year I went to Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfast, NerdCamp in Michigan and NCTE.  I have daily conversations with my PLN and learn from them everyday.  I thank them for the energy and renewal they give my reading life.

As 2014 went on, I began to think encourage meant working with others.  Encouraging them.  I learned a huge lesson there.  It's not about encouraging others to be where I want them to be or to be where I think they should be.  It means meeting people where they are at.  Moving forward together.  This is a lesson that is hard for me.  I'll encourage myself to work on it in 2015.

2014 has been a transformative year for me.  Looking back, it has been enlightening to see how far not only I've come, but the people around me, have journeyed. It was a good year.  I'm encouraged for what's to come in 2015.

SoLSC Christmas Traditions 12.09.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

Traditions.  Christmas time for me means so many traditions.  

Tradition #1 It starts right after Thanksgiving.  Our daughter stays the night at my parents and my husband and I do some Black Friday shopping, usually with my brother and sister-in-law.  I liked it more when it started at 4am on Friday.  I'd rather start early than stay up late.  I don't like this new start at 6pm on Thanksgiving.  I'm eating with family at that time.  But once Thanksgiving is officially over, we start our shopping.  I like that it gives me time to shop with my husband.  It's so rare that's it's just the two of us.  Friday morning we sleep in and then start wrapping while my daughter is still out of the house!

Tradition #2 All of the Christmas decorations come out the day after Thanksgiving.  That weekend the trees come out, the lights are put up outside, the garland is on the banister, and the various other knick knacks and decorations are put up.  We're a little late with our trees this year.  We bought a new tree and there were decisions to be made.  One tree is full of our Disney ornaments.  The second tree is everything non-Disney.  It ranges from commercial favorites to ornaments I made when I was in school.

Tradition #3 Countdown to Christmas.  I bought from a parent a beautiful quilt wall hanging that has an evergreen on it.  Everyday in December we add a Christmas pin.  It looks like ornaments on the tree.  My daughter usually has an advent calendar, too.  This year it's Lego Friends.  

Tradition #4 It kind of goes along with #3.  Every year we give our daughter a Christmas book.  This year I gave it to her early - Santa Clauses: Short Poems From the North Pole by Bob Raczka.  There's a haiku for everyday in December.  We're reading one each night.

Tradition #5 Christmas movies.  Each weekend we watch a Christmas movie or two.  We watched Polar Express last weekend and the new Toy Story short this weekend.  Some other favorites are Elf, Charlie Brown, Rudolph, Frosty, Phineas and Ferb (they always make me laugh) and my husband and I will enjoy National Lampoon.  There's more in the collection.  We'll see what comes out this year!

Tradition #6 Baking!  I haven't started it yet, but that will begin soon.  I'm trying to make just a few things.  No need to have much around the house.

Tradition #7 Christmas music!  It's the only music I listen to this time of year.  I eventually get a little tired of it, but December 26 it's off and I don't pull it out again until next year (usually on Nov. 1, but who's counting?)  This year I'm enjoying Idina Menzel, Darius Rucker, Pentatonix and Kelly Clarkson.

Although not a tradition, in a couple of weeks, we are going to Chicago for a couple of days.  We'll visit Navy Pier's Winterfest, see the windows on State Street and take in a musical, Disney's Newsies!  I'd like to visit the Christmas market downtown, too.  

As you can see, a lot of family time during the holidays.  What are your holiday traditions?

SoLSC Trying our hand at the Mocks this year! 11.18.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

When you talk to the students at our school, there is a vague understanding of book awards.  They all know by the shiny sticker that the book won an award.  Knowing the different awards, what they stand for, the idea, much less the criteria, behind them remains an unknown.
I watched my first ALA Book Awards webcast live last year.  I was so excited, it felt like I was watching the Emmy's.  I want that excitement to be felt by students.
I've read and seen Mock Awards happen at other schools and bookstores.  This year we are going to dip our feet into the Mock arena!  Since this is new, not only for our school, but also our teachers, we're starting small.  My hope is teachers see the value in this and the kids have an understanding of the awards and will have been exposed to some amazing books that were published that year.
I work with another fantastic reading specialist, and she was quickly on board to try the Mock craziness!
We started with our 4th graders, which are the oldest kids at school.  Traditionally, Newbery Awards are given to more "lengthier" books, and we knew we needed to allow time for the kids to read the books.
In October, we announced to the 4th graders that they would have the opportunity to participate in the Mock Newbery.  We told them we would choose 4 books.  They would read 1 each month and then meet to discuss the book the following month.  The chosen books all have some Newbery "buzz" about them and are appropriate for 4th grade readers.  Here's our list:
October - Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
November - The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
December - The 14th Goldfish by Jennifer Holms
January - El Deafo by Cece Bell
The students who chose to read the first book, ordered their copies (or got them on their own) last month, and had the month to finish the book on their own.  It was exciting to see the kids start to get excited about the book and talk to each other about it.  
We met this past week for lunch to discuss the book.  I posted the Newbery Award criteria and after talking about the book, we went through the criteria and talked about how it was important and what Graff did in the story to develop that area.  The kids really wanted to talk about the characters and what was right/wrong.  We determined this book was really driven by the characters - they moved the story forward.  We had around 30 kids participate and I loved seeing the kids talk, discuss, argue and agree about so many discussion points.
We've passed out the order forms for our next book, The Night Gardener, and it's interesting to see who is ordering the book - there are some changes from the first go round.  Is it the fact that it's such a different story or is it they saw their peers reading and talking about a book and they want to join in?  Whatever it may be, we have had a great start and I can't wait to see where this goes!
I will post again in February to sum up our journey and the kids' reactions when the awards are handed out.
Our Kg-3rd graders are also participating in Mock rounds.  But I'll save that for another post!
I know there are many ways to run Mock awards, and this is just a start for us.  After we've completed year 1, it will be interesting to see what we change for the next year.  I'll keep reading what other people are doing and tweak ours where and when it's needed. I'm excited for our journey!

SoLSC Talking with Celebrities - Authors! 11.04.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

I know many of us have had the opportunity to Skype with authors.  We've just begun this journey at our school but I know it's one we are going to continue.

We all have people we admire.  Different celebrities, sports figures - some people have done amazing things, some have unbelievable talents, some have qualities we admire.  So often, we see kids idolizing someone we wish they didn't.

Reading can be easy or hard.  It can come naturally or be something that is labored over.  Reading can be loved or ignored.

I find that Skype visits put everything together for a student.  Authors are celebrities.  They did something that most kids have never done - published a book.  I mean, people pay money for their books, right?  That's a big accomplishment.  For students to be able to interact with an author, they think it's a really big moment.  So do their teachers.  For some kids, this can be the key to get them reading.  All of a sudden, that book or series, becomes personal.  They now have a connection to it.  Having a student finish a book and then be able to talk to the author about it?  Well, now it's all real!  I hope authors understand this connection they have with their readers.

Last week, our 4th graders had the opportunity to Skype with Edith Cohn, author of Spirit's Key.  Edith really made an impact on the kids - they loved hearing some of the inside information about the book, but she talked to them as writers.  Such great advice - using quotes for inspiration, coming up with themes and rising conflict points first and building the story from there.  She talked to them about revisions and how a story can change.  We loved hearing how she comes up with some names - she has a book of baby names that she can refer to!  That would be a fun resource I know kids would love using!  Teachers had great conversations with their classes after the visit and I know they will keep referring to Edith's ideas as the year goes on.

Yesterday, our 3rd graders got to Skype with Erin Soderberg, author of The Quirks series.  Erin was so gracious, answering all of the kids questions, even asking some of her own.  At the end of the visit, she even asked the kids about what they were reading and asked for titles - the kids loved it!  She also talked to them about revisions and how many times she's gone back to edit her books.  I loved that Erin talked about ideas, and how so many of them came from her own life.  I find coming up with ideas can be the toughest part of writing for so many students (me too!), I loved that she shared her creative process.  We were so excited to hear about a new series she is writing that will debut this summer, we even got a sneak peak at the covers!  Seeing her connect with our young readers was magical and I could see the excitement in the kids' faces!

I thank Edith Cohn and Erin Soderberg for sharing their time with us.  I thank the many authors out there who offer their time to Skype.  I hope they understand how this little part means so much to some little readers!

SoLSC Books My Reluctant Readers are Raving About! 10.21.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

It's October, which happens to be one of my favorite months in the school year?  Why?  Because routines and procedures are established and now we can get into teaching and learning.  I know my students, I've matched them up with books and now I'm seeing them grow.  
It is always very exciting to see students find a series or books that they love.  They return to them over and over, they talk about them with other kids, and they want to share them - with other kids and with family at home.  
I love introducing them to some of these characters.  I feel like the characters are old friends who I can't wait to have them meet my new students.  When they "hit it off", it's such a great feeling, to stand back and see everyone get along!
The best part about this is I work with students who find reading difficult; for whatever reason, reading can be hard.  To see their eyes light up when I read to them, and see their desire to return to that book, is very rewarding.  Kids who never thought reading was for them, are now willingly reading.  
I'm sure you've read these series before, but for my students, they are new and exciting.  I'm grateful for these books.  So without further ado:

The Top 10 Books or Series in My Students' Lives Right Now

Top Picture Books:

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds
It's a timely book since Halloween is around the corner, but those carrots can be creepy, and tricky, any time of year!

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great! by Bob Shea
I will never forget what a cloven hoof is again!

Top Graphic Novel series:

Lunch Lady by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
I think these are the most clever graphic novels on the market right now.  The stories about school and justice go together so well!  This really is a great time for graphic novel series, so many great series out there, but this one really does storytelling justice!

Bird and Squirrel series by James Burks
I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud so many times when reading!  I love Squirrel's neurotic side and Bird's happy-go-lucky attitude, even if he is flying into the side of a mountain!  

Top Series being checked out right now:

Fly Guy series by Tedd Arnold
Fly Guy has a market all to its own.  Arnold has done a fantastic job of bringing humor and a well written story to a level of readers that spans not only grade levels, but reading levels, too.  We need more series like Fly Guy!

Ricky Ricotta series by Dav Pilkey
This series has a new revival with the full-color illustrations by Dan Santat.  A great series for a variety of students, this is a popular series for many kids!

Pigeon series by Mo Willems
With the newest in the series The Pigeon Needs a Bath, this series came back from a little lull with a bang.  All books are funny, but this one is a goofy hit for sure!

Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo
Mercy, the porcine wonder, is a great series for kids who are ready for chapter books, but need a little help on the way.  While it doesn't hold back from some challenging vocabulary, it also provides familiar characters, similar plot lines and gorgeous full color illustrations.

Bink and Gollie series by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
The brilliant Kate knows kids.  I love that she can write for a variety of audiences and do it so well.  Just like in Mercy Watson, Bink and Gollie don't shy away from vocabulary (bonanza), but they have such voice in their conversation that pulls kids in for more!  I really hope we have not see the last of these two friends!

Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems.
Mo knows kids.  You can't lose with Pigeon or Elephant and Piggie.  Such a simple concept, and told with a minimal amount of conversation.  But the voice... the expressions... the hilarious concepts (a bird on your head??).  Always a hit with kids!

Try any of these books with kids - reluctant readers to those with a voracious appetite.  I'm so happy I have these books to share with kids.

SoLSC Why is the best PD in your PJs? 9.23.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

This past weekend I sat down to participate in The Educator Collaborative Gathering.  Completely free for educators, as a gift from The Ed Collab, it was a day promising to be "PD in your PJ's"!  

What an amazing morning!  How often, in one day, can you say you learned from so many fantastic educators?  Some highlights:

• reminders from Donalyn Miller about using nonfiction literature.  Not only the importance of it, but how to make it fun and engaging, how to find the right kind of literature that kids want to read.  It reminded me of titles I want to pull out and use with students.
• Learning from Kathy Collins about how to challenge our youngest readers.  Just because they are learning to read doesn't mean they can't be asked higher level questions and push their thinking!  I love the idea of the talk and think bubbles - perfect for wordless picture books and making illustrations match the text!
• Two ideas that have been floating around in my head - kidblogs and wonderopolis.  Kristin Ziemke mentioned both of them and reminded me to start using them now!
• Jennifer Serravallo pushed my thinking about getting kids thinking and assessing them when using whole novels.  So often we see kids who are not able to carry thoughts from the start of a novel to the end and their thinking gets lost.  She discussed 4 fiction strands that you want to make sure kids have a grasp on and can use when reading novels.  Definitely something I want to think further about and figure out how I can implement it at school!

Did you miss this day?  Want to see the sessions?  Visit this link and see the great presentations from all of the sessions.  I know there are more sessions I'm going to watch and revisit the ones I already saw - so many great ideas, need to watch them all again!

Did you watch some sessions?  What did you learn?

SoLSC Survey Says.... What do you ask in a reading survey? 9.16.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about making reading visible.

Then I read a couple of blog posts about classroom libraries here (by Katie @ The Logonauts) and here (Michael @ The Thinker Builder).

This made me think about what we have in our classroom libraries.  Are there book gaps?  Are there books missing that we need?  Will every reader find books to read in the classroom library all year long?  How will we know?  

This thinking made me think about reading surveys.  The last time I used a reading survey was back in my masters program so probably 13-15 years ago!  Through recent professional reading, I've found some more "updated" surveys.  I've even heard that teachers are using technology, such as google surveys, to administer reading surveys. 

But what I want to know, what are you asking on the surveys?  What questions are most helpful to you?  How do you find out about your reader's interests?  What does a reading survey look like in 1st grade?  In 4th grade?

If you have any answers to these questions, please leave a response in the comments section.  Have an example and don't mind sharing?  Leave a link or an email.  Can't wait to share the learning!

SoLSC Reflections on whole class novels 9.02.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

Over the summer I read Linda Rief's professional book Read Write Teach.  It is full of information about the reading-writing workshop, with a lot of information about writing.  Written with the middle grade class in mind, I was still able to think of ways it pertained to grades 1-4.

One chapter was devoted to whole class novels.  I know there seems to be some controversy about this topic.  Coming from a 100% guided reading focus school, last year was our first year using whole class novels.  The reason why we even started using whole group novels is because in the PARCC frameworks, it recommends using 3-4 each year, 1 per trimester.  We only ended up averaging 2 per grade level.  I was surprised at the outcomes.  We found:

• classrooms formed amazing reading communities
• students who were often pulled for reading support services such as reading resource, ELL and students with IEP's were able to participate in whole group discussions, and often had some of the most profound thoughts to add
• students talked, discussed, argued and learned from the conversations they had with each other
• this gave a grade level a common language, they were all reading the same book and could all talk about it
• students who were not always excited about the book and/or genre found they often enjoyed the experience, especially when reading and discussing together as a group

I participated in an online reading group this summer where we read Read Write Teach and shared thoughts.  Tara Smith pulled these quotes from the author, Linda Rief.  I think they sum up our school's experience with whole class novels quite well:

• “It’s because of the struggling readers, who don’t really read on their own when given the choice, that I must find time to read the stories together aloud.” (p.160)

• “For the sake of all our students, I am suggesting we read at least two novels and/or a play a year as a whole class, so we can engage all of our kids in the process of real reading - thinking about the meaning of those words on the page, even as we are teaching some of them how to pronounce the words.”(161)

• “In addition, by reading aloud in class, we can help kids take apart the layers of meaning through class discussion and questions that kids often miss when reading a book on their own.” (p. 162)

There are many ways classrooms can build reading communities, have shared book reading opportunities, and be able to share books with each other.  This is just one way, once each trimester, that we will read together.  The outcome was surprising and we learned from it.  I'm sure we'll continue to tweak things as we go but so far, the learning is good!

SoLSC Feeding My Soul 8.26.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

I read a blog post by Donalyn Miller the other day and something really stuck out to me.  The post was called Why I'm Not Answering Your Email Today and while it wasn't the subject or topic of the post that stuck out to me, it was some of the smaller points in the text that did.

She says, "I need to read for both my sanity and my soul."  After reading that, my brain was saying 'yes'.  My heart said 'YES'.  I need to read for my soul.  For me, that's when you finish that good book, and there is something inside you that has just filled up.  You don't want to put that book down, you want to talk about it, and you want to go back and read it again.  I feel sad for anyone who doesn't know what that feels like.  It's one of the most complete feelings you can feel.  It moves the inside of you, the thinking and connecting part of you, like nothing else. It feeds your soul.
Donalyn continues on in her post talking about reading children's literature.  She talks about reading in order to talk about books to students, both past and present.  Books connect her to them.  I'm lucky that as a reading specialist, I get to work with many students K-4th grade.  I get to read a wide variety of books that allows me to connect with them and share with them.  However, I see former students all the time.  I love that I have other books I can tell them to read - upper middle grade, young adult.  I can stay connected.
Donalyn also talks about adult books vs. children's literature.  I've read a lot of books for adults.  This past year I've read more children's literature than I ever have before.  The more I read, the more I prefer kid's books.  I still have my favorite books written for adults.  There are still authors that I will continue to read every book they publish.  But you know what I've found?  Adult books are long so they are more drawn out.  They take chapters and chapters to say something that ends up being so long, I've lost interest.  The characters aren't as developed even though they've had 200+ more pages to do so!  Not all of them, but I see it the more and more I read.  Children's literature is shorter, so they have a smaller amount of pages to work with.  Authors of kid's books seem to understand they have a shorter story to work with and therefore they make everything that much more sharp.  The characters are sharp.  The details are sharp.  Not all of them, but the books I pay attention to, the ones I hear buzz about, those are the good ones.  Those are the books I want to get lost in.
I'm looking forward to my soul having its fill of books today.  What a lucky book birthday it is.  Quest, Sisters, The 14th Goldfish, Leroy Ninker, 365 Days of Wonder and in two days Brown Girl Dreaming.  Soul filled.  Happy reading.

SoLSC I really had nothing to do with this reading challenge 8.19.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

"First day of school!  First day of school!"  I can't help but think of Nemo at the beginning of every year.  Nemo was so excited to go "get some knowledge".  I think I feel more like Marlin... "We go out.  Then back in.  Then back out.  Then back in."  I ease into it a bit more.  

At the end of last year, our principal challenged us to read over the summer and return to school with our reading lists.  I don't know where she got the idea from (No, really, it wasn't my idea.  Maybe I sparked something in a conversation, but it really wasn't my idea!) but the goal is to get everyone thinking about how they live a readerly life.  We need to be passionate about reading and make our reading visible to help kids understand that reading, well, it's what we do.

I didn't quite know what to expect.  I've seen little glimmers over the summer.  I can see what my reading teacher colleague and one of our ELL teachers have been reading over the summer since I follow them on goodreads.  But walking into school this past week, just for a few hours, was awesome.  I had many teachers come up to me to tell me some of the books they read this summer (see, they still think this challenge came from me.  I promise you, it really didn't!).  Some had read adult reads.  Others had read to their little ones.  Some read books past their grade levels and some had read books that they were ready to use for read alouds this year.  We had conversations about authors we want to Skype with this year.  Several teachers showed me how they are making reading visible in their classrooms this year.

I didn't come up with this challenge.  But I love the conversations that have popped up because of it.  I think it's going to be a good year.

"First day of school!  First day of school!"

Thanks, Nemo.

Slice of Life Trying a Tri 8.12.14

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

Back in 2008 I was out running with a friend and we decided we needed to put our little working out to use, we wanted to train for something.  My idea was to train for a triathlon, after all my strength is actually in the swimming.  Her idea of a swim consisted of a margarita in one hand while the other drags in the pool while laying on a raft!  11 half-marathons and 3 full marathons later, I finally decided to try a tri!  I haven't been able to change my friend's mind, but I have found other friends that have done tri's and were willing to help me out.
This summer I got ready.  I trained.  I worked at all three events:  swimming, biking and running.  I had successes - joined a masters swim group and had several successful open water swims.  I had some lows - fell of my bike, had a flat tire.  This past Sunday, I was ready to put the training into use!
Leading up to the weekend, I didn't find myself that nervous about the race.  I knew no matter what my time was, it was going to be a PR (personal record) since I've never done this before!  I had friends to help prepare me with how to line things up, get everything ready, even give me things I needed for the race.  I actually got a good night's sleep and I had my husband and daughter there to cheer me on.
First part was swimming, my strength.  I had swam the course several times so I knew what to expect.  I knew I wanted to go out strong and try to get away from other swimmers.  I lined up in the first row and we took off.  At first, you had to claw your way past everyone, but soon enough I found space and just swam.  We were swimming into the sun and I have had trouble with spotting with the sun in my eyes.  I didn't have tinted goggles and that might be something I look for next year.  I passed several people in the wave ahead of me which made me feel good about my swim.  My husband told me I was within the top 5 of my wave which was exciting.
Went through transition (ouch walking on pavement without shoes), got ready and took off on the bike.  I pedaled pretty hard throughout the bike knowing the running was ahead.  I stink at running, so figured I'd get my best times in the swim and bike.  At the very end of the bike there was a couple of hills that took the wind out of me, but I still felt strong.  There were some people that passed me on the bike that were strong triathletes, but I passed my share of people too.  Felt good about that event.
The run was going to be my toughest and it was.  When I go for runs, I zone out to my music.  In preparation for this event I had a playlist ready to go.  Just to find out you could not use headphones.  Boo.  I won't say that killed my run time, but it really really didn't help.  In practice I had rode 14 miles and then ran 3 miles several times.  My tri run was the worst time I had gotten in all my practice runs.  I had worked harder on the bike than in practice, so being tired was a factor.  I had trouble getting any kind of rhythm down.  I felt like I was on mile 12 of a 1/2 marathon.  But, I got it done.
I'm a triathlete.
Then I looked at my times and I was not happy.  I knew the run would be bad and it was.  But I was really disappointed with my swim time.  I know, I should enjoy this experience.  I'm very hard on myself.  That's ok.  I have the off season to work on it.  I already told my swim coach she needs to get harder on me!  
I read one of my training friend's Facebook post today.  She talked about how a triathlon is so much more than a swim, a bike and a run.  It's about meeting new friends, training with them and racing with them.  It's about accomplishing a goal.  It's about seeing other's accomplish something they might not have thought possible before.
My coach reminded me in a text it's about having fun.  I can accomplish new goals by having fun with my training.
Right now, I'm a triathlete.  I have new friends and I've accomplished goals.  I'm going to keep smiling and next year, I'll be an even faster triathlete!

find my name on the t-shirt!

I'm off on the bike!

my least favorite part, but check out the gorgeous day!

SoL 7.29.14 I went ape-ing this weekend and dared greatly

 

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

My Twitter friend, Greg Armamentos (@dashthebook), likes to tell me "you must do the things you think you cannot do" (Eleanor Roosevelt).

That was put to the test this past weekend.

A few weeks ago I found out that for my future-sister-in-law's bachelorette party, one of the activities we would be doing is going to Indianapolis' "Go Ape".  Check out this video if you want a good visualization of what I was about to do:

Go Ape is a "Treetop adventure" in Indianapolis that includes zip lining, tarzan swinging and obstacle courses up in the trees.  Go Ape promises to "unleash your inner Tarzan."  I wasn't so sure my inner Tarzan wanted to come out...  The zip lining required me to hit the ground running or if I came in backwards (which I did every time), keep your legs loose, allow your heels to slow you down, and get a backside of wood chips.  Then there were 3-5 obstacles on each course (4 total, with one mini-get-you-ready-for-this course).  On several, you have to travel from one block to another, I ended up doing some small splits - imagine "Buddy" from the "Elf" movie when he does the splits going up the escalator.  

As my sister and I started calling it, we were all set to go "ape it up", but inside I was shaking.  I had to give myself a big pep talk.  I'm the "athlete", after all.  I've run marathons, I've done open water swims (ok, just one this past Thursday, this has really been a big outdoor adventure week for me!).  This is just one more adventure under my belt.  The zip lining part I was ready for, the obstacles, not so much.  I'm kind of a linear activity person.  My hips and knees are not the best, so I do well going on a straight plane.  These obstacles would have me moving in ways I wasn't so sure about.  

As it turned out, ape-ing, was quite fun.  For sure, the hardest workout I've ever had!  My neck muscles are still a little sore!  But I'm glad I went out of my comfort zone and tried something new.  

Not all new adventures turn out positively.  But, I'm glad that I tried it. I think it's good that I felt nervous about something but I did it.  I didn't know if I could do this.  I didn't know how it would turn out.  But I "dared greatly".  Now excuse me, I need to go ice down my body.

SoL "It's hard being a parent" 7.22.14

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

It's hard being a parent.

It's hard watching your child try but not succeed.

It's hard when you know they can do it, but didn't get it right.

Sometimes you can't help but get upset.

Sometimes words come out that shouldn't.

It's hard having to say you are sorry.

That you handled the situation wrong.

It's hard being a parent.

But it's good when you do the right thing.

Falling off my bike and learning from it SoL 7.15.14

Slice of Life is a weekly event hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

"It's like falling off a bike", nope, wait, I think the saying is something about "it's like riding a bike".  But this story is different.  It's about falling off a bike and getting back on.  It's about reading being hard, but keep trying.

So... as I mentioned in this post I fell off my bike last week.  Let me first back up a little and give you some background.  Back in 2008 I was a "recreational" working out type of person.  I went to some aerobic classes, did some running and swimming, went to spinning and lifted (raised?) weights (small ones).  But the people at my gym were hard-core fitness people - marathoners, Iron Men... and they were all very nice people.  I decided to be like them.  I originally wanted to try a tri, after all, my strength is the swim.  My friend, who I had coerced to join me on this endeavor, said no swimming.  We decided on a half marathon and if you're going big like that, might as well do it right and do your first 1/2 at Disney!  Well, 3 marathons, 11 half-marathons and I don't know how many 10ks and 5ks, my legs hurt.  I don't want to not train for something, after all, that's where I get my goals from, so I decided to go back to that originally idea and try a tri!  As I said, swimming is my strongest of the 3, so I feel confident there.  Biking, well, I'm good at spinning so I should be ok, right?  Then I went to the bike shop and saw the bikes with their little hard seats and their little tires (seriously, have you seen how skinny road bike tires are??).  My first thought was I would get pedals that have the cages so I can slip my shoes in and out, but all of my tri friends convinced me clipping in is smarter and more efficient.

Fast forward to now.  I've gone out on my bike 3 times.  Not much.  But I've learned I'm scared to death of traffic and I'm really scared of the clipping in and out part.  I can get my shoes in and out of the clips, it's the timing that is hard.  It's easier to clip out when your foot is on the down pedal cycle than up.  I've learned that I like to coast with my right foot down, but when it's time to stop, I like to put my left foot down on the ground first.  All of this takes coordination that I haven't mastered just yet.

Last Wednesday I went out on the road for the first time.  I focused so hard when we came up to traffic stops, but I was still not coordinating everything just right.  As we approached my house at the end of the ride, I decided I was going to focus really hard at getting my left foot unclipped first and putting it down on the ground.  The funny thing is when you concentrate on one side, you tend to forget the other side.  Which is what I did.  I did everything right on the left side, but when I tried to put my right foot down it was still clipped in.  And you know what happens when you have just the slightest bit of momentum going and one of your feet gets tripped up.  You go down.  It was the proverbial slow motion - I could see it happen before it did.  There was that "noooooo" moment and then I was on the ground. The good thing is, I'm fine.  Bumps, bruises and a sore ego.  I have a ginormous purple bruise with a nice circle in the middle - figured out that's where the bottom of the handlebar hit me!!  Some road rash on the knee, bruise on my hand, sore tricep.  It's all healing now.  But I always learn from my mistakes.  

1.  With biking - you can't just concentrate on one side.  You have two sides and they both matter.  With reading - you can't just concentrate on figuring out the words or just paying attention to what the story is about.  They work hand in hand.  You need them both to understand the story.

2.  With biking - I'll get better at this.  I need consistent practice.  I know after I do it enough times, it will be muscle memory and become something I can do without thinking about it.  With reading - a reader needs to read.  The more you read, the easier it gets and the better you become.

3.  With biking - sometimes you fall.  But get up, do it again, don't give up.  With reading - reading can be hard and it can try your spirit.  But you try again, don't give up.

I'm going back on my bike tomorrow.  I will encourage all readers, whether it's hard or easy, to do the same!