Thursday, January 30, 2014

Time to Reflect on Writer's Workshop

I'm serving a two week sentence...in bed. 
Here's the short version of the story. 
On Monday, I had surgery to remove my ovaries and tubes for cancer prevention. My family has an alarming cancer history and turning 40 in November meant that it was time for me to make some big decisions. My mom is an ovarian cancer survivor. She's brave. She's also the oldest living woman on her side of the family (and she's only 61). I made a brave decision about my health. And...I am confident that this was the right decision for me. I'm also grateful that my mom is here to help me make these big decisions.

Why post about it? Because, I'm not Angelina Jolie. I am grateful for her willingness to share her story. I'm just a plain 40 year old mom/teacher living on a two teacher income. Turns out normal people have to make big decisions about their health too.  It's not easy, but sometimes it's necessary.
 And now, this Type A teacher/mom is stuck in "resting" mode.

 Here's my view every time I open my eyes.
Meet Daisy, goldendoodle #1 in our family.
She likes to be very close to my face while I'm resting. 


My guard dog/foot warmer is not far away either.
Meet Kalli, goldendoodle #2 in our family.

I have big plans to try something that I don't normally do...watch movies.
I thought it would be a good idea to watch all the girlie movies that my husband would hate.
They are all wrapped in plastic, never opened.
So, I stacked them all up in my "things to do while I'm resting" basket.
I might try to watch some...one day soon.


Luckily, my husband and children are fabulous caregivers.
My own parents are super supportive and came to help on surgery day.
Our friends are delivering food, checking in and taxiing the kids
 while I'm out of commission.

My son even made a business card to highlight his helpfulness.
(excuse the punctuation error 
and I'm sure Martha Stewart would forgive his table setting placement 
since he is 7)

This time at home is giving me lots of time to look through
 the photos of my daughter at her recent dance recital.
Oh, how I love my little dancer!


And, I am sitting around doing the best I can to rest.

Today, I discovered a fabulous blog post that  helped me do some reflecting 
on writer's workshop time in my classroom.

The post is by Kari Yates on her blog, Simply Inspired Teaching.


I love that Kari starts off by reminding us that writer's workshop is not a program or a package. It is a framework for teaching writing.  Kari suggests that there are 7 signs of an effective writing workshop.  Since, I have time (oy...) I decided to use these 7 characteristics to help me reflect on my own writing workshop time.  You can click on the image below to read my reflections.


I made the sheet below, just in case you'd like to use it to help you with your own reflections.  Focusing on the 7 Signs of Effective Writing Workshop by Kari Yates was really helpful for me.




I'm linking this post up with TBA's Freebie Friday!
Freebie Fridays
Off to take a nap...again.  

   

4 comments:

  1. I hope you feel better soon. Take the time to truly heal! I love that you are watching all your girlie movies! Your puppies are just too cute!



    NotJustChild'sPlay

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hope you have a speedy recovery! Take care and watch all of those "girlie" movies! Thanks for sharing your story.

    Karen
    An Apple a Day in First Grade

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are an inspiration! I hope that you feel better quickly. Remember that it takes time to heal. Even though it's hard make yourself the focus right now.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have a golden doodle named Hildy! She loves my 3 kiddos to pieces! Best dogs ever. I hope you recover quickly and are able to relax (I know that's hard).
    Sincerely,
    Valerie Nikolaus
    Chandler, AZ

    ReplyDelete