And Finally Back Up

It's been a while. I've been pretty busy with school, coaching, and life and have let my blog fall a bit to the side.

But I'm back.

And I'm back to talk about the post I made two months ago, about getting back up. I'm happy to say that I did it. I got back up. Even more important, I think it was worth it.

So let's backtrack. Two months ago I posted the beginning of my novel on two critique forums. At one place, it was really praised. At the second...well torn to shreds would be a good way to put it.

Saying it was a huge blow to my ego would be an understatement. I do believe there were some tears. And some second guessing about my choice to be a writer.

On Getting Back Up

When I first moved to Kuwait, 6 years ago, I started coaching soccer. In one season, I coached two different teams. Both of those teams went on to the finals. Both lost, but just barely. In one year, I'd established a reputation.

Not only with the other coaches, but with myself. After that first season, I expected to always be successful.

And then year two came around. I went to my first game of the season for my U-14 team. We were playing a weaker team, one we'd easily beaten the year before. I even sat some of my stronger players because I thought it wouldn't be a problem.

It was a problem. We got our butts kicked. Badly.

My Dream Classroom

Starting off with a reminder: I'm a writing teacher at a school in the Middle East. I teach writing full time, to about 200 students. (But only 20 at a time).

There's been some changes at my school recently. I could bore you with all the set up of what our (K-12) school is like, but I don't want to be boring :)

Some of our classrooms are becoming empty for next year-actually, almost a whole floor is emptying out. And I've been offered the chance to move into a new classroom. My current classroom is nice. I like it, but it is small.  Actually, it's too small to have my grade 7s in it because they take up too much space.

So I was offered a new room.

Not just any new room. The best room. I'm pretty sure it's the biggest room in the entire school. It has a Smart Board, a projector, and basically enough space for me to put all my students in one area, and still have another area to do something else with (I have no idea what though!)

I've also been told to order anything I want for the room.

I get to plan my dream classroom.

And that's where my problem starts.

Knowing the Process

Today we had PD.  PD is a day for teachers to be students and learn a little more about how to be teachers.  We do this 2-3 times a year.

I chose to go to a workshop that was about organization and avoiding procrastination.  I could use the avoiding procrastination help :)  We were also told to bring a major project, which was the main reason I went.  I was hoping for some book writing time.

I didn't get it, but I did get a bit of a funny story.

Part of the workshop was about setting goals.  So he put up a sentence starter "If time were not an issue, I would..."

He looks for answers and eventually asks "Who would write a book?"

I raise my hand (sidenote, before this year, I probably never would have admitted I was a writer--I was too afraid I'd fail).

So he starts asking questions.  And I think, from the start, that he expected this conversation to go a very different way.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Tomorrow it begins!

My favourite time of the year is finally here.  It's time for soccer!

I've been coaching soccer in Kuwait for the past five years. It takes over my life, but only because I love it so much.  I love teaching my kids all the things that all of my soccer coaches have taught me over the 15 years that I played (unfortunately, I haven't been able to join soccer in Kuwait and had to retire when I moved here six years ago).

It's an amazing feeling.  And I think I'm pretty good at it.  I've been lucky with the girls I've coached since I've been here.  They've all been amazing (even the ones I have to kick out of practice every once in a while).  I haven't been able to forget a single one.

I've had other coaches ask me why my girls work so hard for me.  Honestly, I have no idea.  I really don't.  I have high expectations and push them hard.  I make them run, I make them do push ups, I make them pass the ball until their feet fall off.  But they come back.

And I love them for it.

This is my favourite time of the year.  It's also the most stressful. It's not easy being a coach and feeling the pressure.  Each year it feels like there's a little bit more--part of it I put on myself, the rest comes from others.

But my girls are amazing. They are worth the stress and the early mornings and late nights and the weekends I give up.  So my writing might suffer for the next few weeks, my grading might not get done as fast.  But I don't care.  It's worth making sacrifices for my girls.

So that's my ramble about how excited I am for tryouts tomorrow (who knows who I'll get!)  Are any of you coaches?

Happy Weekend!

It's the weekend!  At least it is over here, in Kuwait. (We have a Friday/Saturday weekend).

And here are some of my favourite things from the past week.  All involve my students and no students were harmed in the making of these quotes--but sometimes just barely ;)


From a student's assignment:

I ran fast like there were monkeys shooting at me.

A conversation with a student:
On a Thursday: 
Student: Miss, your story about the witch.  Is it finished yet?
Me: Yes, but I'm revising.
Student: Ok, but let me read it when it's done.

On a Sunday
Student: Miss, are you done revising yet?  Can I read your story?
Me: Nope, still working on it.
Student: What?  How long does it take?
Me: Months.
Student: But I couldn't even wait a weekend!


Brainstorming with a Student

Student: Miss, I can't come up with something to write about.
Me: Well, you could try some realistic fiction.  Like what if the school burned down or...
Student: Yes!  Furiously types away.

And talking about a kid's story

Student: Miss, I have a character named Kelly in my story.
Me: Really?
Student: Yup, and she's poor. (and then she stuck her tongue out at me).


I love my job.

Still Learning

I think that there's going to be a phrase that becomes a regular part of my day job this year. 

"Show me how you did that!"

My school started a BYODevice program this year.  Which means, I now teach groups of kids whose heads are hidden behind big laptop screens.

If I could draw, I'd insert a picture here.  But I can't, so you'll have to imagine it. I'll just say it's very cool to have twenty heads buried behind laptops with their fingers tap, tap, tapping away.

But in so many ways, us teachers are now students.  These kids are so much better with technology than most of us teachers (we're old, give us a break!)  Today, I was walking around my room checking out progress and came across a student who had blacked out his entire screen so that all you could see was his word document.

No distractions. Just his writing.

So I said, "Show me how you did that!"

He said, "Ms, all I did was touch this button."

So I tried that out on my Mac.  Very distractions free.  My next thought, was too bad we couldn't do this with all word programs.

Apparently you can, which was the second thing I learned today.

I have a feeling my writing might become a lot more focused now. I can't wait to see what else they teach me that makes me a more focused writer!

Because I'm sure they know all the tricks.