Skip to main content

Dreams




Thanks Ruth Ayres for providing a space to make celebration a part of our weekly routines.

I celebrate dreams.

I don't have a long term dream that recently came true to talk about here like in Ruth's Dreaming Big post. (Congratulations, Ruth!). Instead, today I celebrate a multitude of dreams, past and present. My dreams have given me hope and kept me going even when they didn't come true or didn't turn out exactly the way I had envisioned them. To give up would have been the beginning of despair and the end of hope. I know this because I've been down that path before. Fortunately, I had the sense to turn around and start again. And again. And again.  

Without dreams, I wouldn't have moved my family from the US to Ecuador then to Canada and back to Ecuador again. Or be thinking of doing it again!

Without dreams, I wouldn't be pursuing my EdD, despite wanting to throw in the towel on more than one occasion. (Shoutout to my daughters, son and husband for believing in me and encouraging me not to give up.)

Without dreams, I wouldn't be contemplating a change in the direction of my professional career. What that will be has not yet been revealed.

Without dreams, my husband and I wouldn't have built our dream house. (Truly it is!) 

Without dreams, I wouldn't be able to walk into my classroom, on those days when I feel like the worst teacher on the planet, to give it another go. (My mantra: it's all about my students. Love them and enjoy them. It's the best balm for a weary heart!)

Without dreams, I wouldn't be able to set an example for my three children about what it means to live life with integrity and passion. (I am so proud of you!)

So, I am grateful for the having of dreams. 

Dreams that make life worth living. 

Dreams that may start out one way, but instead get us to places unforeseen and unimagined. 

I celebrate dreams, lots of them. Some accomplished and some still a little out of reach. 
I celebrate dreams. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Partner Reading and Content, Too Routine (PRC2)

I'm a hoarder. There, I've said it. I try to deny that I'm a hoarder but it comes back to haunt me every time I move houses, or pack up my classroom at the end of the school year. I have old articles, lesson plans, handouts, folders brimming with teaching ideas, past issues of profesional journals. I hardly throw anything out though I've learned to be more selective over the years. My one rule of thumb, and I really try to stick to this, is that if I haven't used or referred to something in a year, then it's time to toss it into the recycle bin. One exception to this rule (you knew this was coming, didn't you?) is past issues of journals from professional organizations. However, with the ability to locate articles online through my professional memberships, even this exception is becoming less and less useful, which brings me to the topic of this blog post. I am currently reading a copy of The Reading Teacher from 2010. I've clipped a cou

The Reading Strategies Book - Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension

The strategy lessons highlighted in Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension, in The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo are critical to students’ engagement and comprehension, as well as their ability to write literary essays, or even book reviews, summaries and reflective pieces about books. If students aren’t able to talk about books in a way that is invigorating and joyful, they will be less likely to develop an interest in growing ideas for writing about books. In her introduction to this chapter, Jennifer Serravallo, reminds us that when conversations go well, children are inspired by what they read and are motivated to keep reading. However, when conversations fall flat, then kids get bored and tune out. How do we avoid this situation and teach kids to  have  focused conversations about books?  The answer is easy: teach kids  strategies to help them develop effective conversational skills .  As in

Are we listening?

A child sits alone with a ripped worksheet packet on his desk. He appears to be singing or subvocalizing something though no one hears him. Or, perhaps they're ignoring him. The teacher stands at the front of the room teaching on the SmartBoard. The children follow along in their worksheets. Except the child sitting alone. He is in his own world. No one engages him and he engages no one. My heart aches for this child. He is physically and emotionally removed from the class. I ask him why his paper is ripped. (It's not an accidental rip.) He says he did that on a different day. When he had been frustrated about the work. He tells me that he sometimes sits by himself because the work is too hard for him. He later tells me that he sits by himself because the teacher thinks he talks too much during the lesson.  He says he does that because he wants to find out about the "lives of the other children". My first impulse is to rescue him from the wrongheade