Ruth Ayres hosts a weekly celebration on her blog. I appreciate this invitation to reflect on the positives of my week.
1. Book talks with real actual teenagers. I spent Wednesday morning visiting Maggie, a teacher intern who is currently student teaching. When I observe my pre-service teachers during their student teaching, I usually try to be inconspicuous, but I was pretty sure Maggie wouldn’t mind if I took a couple of minutes to book talk some new YA lit that I thought her students might like. Maggie is student teaching on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and I had a couple of books that I thought her students would especially like. (In addition to the books above, I also grabbed Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock and Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, a book that basically sells itself with the title.) I really love getting to push books with real actual teenagers. They’re darling. They so want to resist the weird stranger who’s doing a song-and-dance over some stupid books, but then THEY CAN’T. The power of the book talk is too strong. THEY WANT TO TAKE THE BOOKS. THEY HAVE TO TAKE THE BOOKS. It was awesome. And best of all, I’m visiting Maggie next Wednesday and I get to do it all over again! (With different books, of course.)
2. Getting out of my classroom. I know I should be able to find lots of teaching things to blog about in my own classes, but there’s something about the perspective shift of being in a different classroom that clarifies my thinking and brings new ideas into focus. I brainstormed a whole page of potential blog post topics after observing Maggie’s class and spending an hour with her afterwards talking shop. Thanks, Maggie!
3. Zentangle madness. My son and I are currently obsessed with Zentangles. I like to have an artsy, craftsy project going, but I’m not artsy or craftsy. Zentangles are perfect for me. You can print cool pattern charts online and find step-by-step instructions for more elaborate patterns. My son likes to trace letters or objects for me to fill with Zentangles, but I’m equally happy starting with some random overlapping circles. The neat thing about Zentangles is that no matter what you do, it looks cool when it’s finished–and I can’t usually say that about my art projects! We’ve spent a lot of quiet time together this week happily Zentangling. As with most obsessions, this one may be brief, but I’m enjoying it while it lasts.
4. My son’s fashion sense. He’s a fearless dresser. He likes as much color as possible. He used to be camera shy, but lately when I compliment his outfit, he asks if I’d like to take a picture. You bet I would!
5. Valentine’s Day. My son had a rough week, which means I had a rough week too. But, possibly fueled by Valentine’s sugar, we’re having a really good Saturday, and that is definitely cause for celebration. (He’s in rare black and white above, but when he went to the store with me later to run an errand, he changed into purple and yellow!)
Frances doesn’t like the White Chocolate Covered Wedding Cake Russell Stover’s hearts either.
the dirigible plum 
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