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Posts by Amanda Potts

Kindness #SOLC26 31/31 I’ve written about my “chaos class” several times this month. First, when faced with my exasperated declaration, “fine, you choose what we study!” they shocked me by choosing Romeo & Juliet. Then, there were several incidents of bullying which led to me giving them a very serious dressing down. Then we had March Break (and let me tell you, we needed it). When we returned from break, I knew I had to have my “strict teacher” persona firmly at the fore for a little while so that the students didn’t think their appalling pre-break behaviour was acceptable.

I'm letting my darling chaos class and a kindness activity end this month of close observation and kind words.

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Vocabulary #SOLC26 30/31 A “graduated” from our reading class last semester after our screeners consistently showed that he was now reading at least at a grade 7 level - probably closer to grade 8. Given that he is in grade 9 and that he had been placed in our reading class because he wasn’t reading well, this was good news.  One of his favourite things in class was watching and discussing the daily news. Each class started with CNN10, and each day he took a contrarian point of view and challenged our thinking. He loved being pushed to think beyond his own perspective, and he loved learning new “fancy” vocabulary words. 

A quick interaction in the hallway last week reminded me that sometimes what we teach really sticks.

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Community Curriculum Building #SOLC26 29/31 My mind keeps going back to Sherri’s post from earlier this month. In it, she quotes abolitionist organizer Mariame Kaba who says, “Knowing who to be mad at truly is praxis.” Sherri follows this quote with a number of questions we might consider when we think about our anger. In my comment I suggested that I should put them on a poster and have them next to my desk. After venting my spleen yesterday about the frustrations of teaching with no textbooks and little content guidance, I started thinking about Kaba’s statement again: who should I be mad at truly?

Yesterday's post, an earlier post from a friend and comments from many people have given me an idea...

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Is the textbook dead? #SOLC26 28/31 The first I hear of his plan is when he pops in to pick up something he has printed for a class, and I ask how his classes are going. I haven’t seen him in a few days, but that’s not surprising: he’s a new teacher with a full load of courses, and I know that’s tough. Still, he cheerily tells me all is well, then, in passing says, “So, about Hamlet: I think I’m just going to sort of, you know, touch on the main points and cover it in two weeks.

The Toronto Star recently ran a story asking "Is the textbook dead?" I have thoughts about this question.

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Birthday Cows #SOLC26 27/31 Ok, hear me out on this: when I started participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge years ago, I didn’t think things through to their inevitable end. I just started writing. But I’ve been at this for 8 years now, and every year March 27 arrives - and every year that day is my spouse’s birthday - which means that every year I have to decide if I’m going to write about him. He’s pretty wonderful, so the issue is never if he’s worth writing about (he is!); the issue is if I’ll embarrass him by writing about him (I will).

Birthday Cows #SOLC26 27/31

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Birthday Cows #SOLC26 27/31 Ok, hear me out on this: years ago, when I started participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge years ago, I didn’t think things through to their inevitable end. I just started writing. But I’ve been at this for 8 years now, and every year, March 27 arrives - and every year that day is my spouse’s birthday - which means that every year I have to decide if I’m going to write about him.  He’s pretty wonderful, so the issue is never if he’s worth writing about (he is!); the issue is if I’ll embarrass him by writing about him (I will).

Happy birthday to my spouse - who still makes me laugh - and sometimes moo - after all these years.

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Truth-telling #SOLC26 26/31 The older I get, the more I enjoy meeting caregivers at conference night. (We used to call them parent-teacher conferences, but “caregiver” makes more sense - tonight I met a host parent/ guardian, several parents and an uncle - and also a very cute younger brother, but he was not a caregiver.) I especially enjoy when students come with their caregivers and we can chat together about how things are going. I love opening with compliments and watching people’s faces light up. I love asking the students to talk about what they’ve learned.

I usually love conferences with caregivers, but I knew tonight I would have one that was tougher than usual. In the end, I think I did ok, but sometimes it's hard to tell the truth.

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Drivel #SOLC26 25/31 I need to write. Yesterday I only posted a picture. I mean, it was a good picture, but a picture nonetheless, which is only sort of a slice of life - though now that I’m thinking about it, a daily picture as a slice of life would be interesting, too. But that’s not this challenge, so today I have to write. It’s March 25. Only six days left in this challenge. I’m not going to stop now. It’s just that last night I was so tired that I fell asleep right after work and slept for 12 hours - even though March Break just ended two days ago, so technically I should be refreshed.

This may not be my best slice of life, but it's written and published - that has to count for something on day 25.

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Blue #SOLC26 24/31 Two days post-break: I miss the ocean.

Blue

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Planner Love #SOLC26 23/31 I honestly don’t know how anyone teaches without a planner of some sort. Schools function in a series of intermeshing cycles - like gears of different sizes that each need to keep moving in order for the whole system to function. School days must sync with the weeks and the months and the rhythm of a semester and school year and calendar year. Then there’s the cycles within the class itself and, in high school, the four year cycle from entry to graduation. It gets complex. On top of that, I teach four classes on a schedule that alternates daily between AB CD/ BA DC.

Do you use an analog planner? I do, and I can't imagine teaching without it!

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Packing #SOLC26 22/31 As I packed my bag yesterday, I followed my personal rituals, tailored to this particular carry-on: stashed socks in various corners, used t-shirts to fill the gap between the bottom bars, placed my toiletries bag on top of the clothes on the wheel end of the bag, made sure that underwear were not the top layer, in case the bag got searched, splayed open in front of passengers everywhere. When I realized I was reveling in my lack of actual shoes - sandals only for this trip! - and thus lack of decisions about stuffing socks in them, I remembered a long-ago argument with my sister.

Packing a suitcase brings up a memory of a fight with my sister. It was a big deal then, but makes me smile now. How do you pack your carry-on?

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Packing Lists #SOLC26 21/31 Things that never made it out of my suitcase: 4 pairs of socks the “nice” shorts 1 “decent” t-shirt my least comfortable swimsuit top airpods 2 bras mascara student writing that needs to be graded by Monday my second & third books Things I found exactly where I dropped them the day we arrived one pair of lightweight pants one sweatshirt shoes with laces compression socks Things to put in my backpack book #2 a few scavenged seashells and three small pieces of sea glass water bottle journal - the seats are too small for a laptop sand, whether I want it or not Things I will not bring home sunscreen a half-full bottle of moisturizer, now empty travel razor regrets

It's time for us to go home & I've been making packing lists.

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Flying, or something like it #SOLC26 20/31 I take my foot off the bottom rung and sink softly down, surrounded suddenly by a school of yellow grunt. Their bodies undulate all around me and, though their large eyes are right next to mine, they seem unperturbed by my presence. I watch their gills work, amazed. A few blue tang join us, cutting crossways through the motion of the school of grunt, not unlike the way the boys I’m with now join me. We are giants compared to them - each grunt is the size of my outstretched hand, the tang maybe the size of a small dinnerplate - but we are flying through their world, and they are unconcerned.

No matter how hard I try, I can never *quite* describe what it feels like when I'm snorkeling - here, I try again.

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A day with the boys #SOLC26 19/31 Some days these boys just chill, but other days they cram in as much as they can. Today - to my surprise - was the latter when I was expecting the former -which is why I'm writing (again) after 10 pm. Ridiculous. Context: I am with my son and four of his buddies on their March Break trip. Four of the five of them graduate at the end of this year, so this is their grade 12 grad trip. They are delightful & I am really enjoying them; I am also the only one who can drive here - which is why I am here.

It's late, but I'm writing. The boys wore me out today. They're still going strong, but I'm going to bed!

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Quiet #SOLC26 18/31 Part of the magic of writing a daily slice of life is that I’m forced to notice small moments every day, and - somewhat less obviously - allowed to reflect. The noticing is clear: whether I’m writing about something that happened that day or stumbling across a memory that has sudden relevance, I pause to collect the moment and then provide structure via words. In this way, writing is an attempt to capture and share an impression. Writing also shapes the moment, insisting on a start and an end, a form, the importance of some details over others, and an expected or desired effect.

I set out to write an auditory post - something like what Amy over at Writing with Abandon did in her post Birdsong - but one thing led to another and I ended up writing about writing. (There's still some birdsong.)

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Interrupted #SOLC26 17/31 A few days ago on Ethical ELA’s monthly poetry Open Write, I read a prompt that suggested we play with the idea of interruptions. I immediately thought it was a great idea, so I have been catching up on the series Lincoln Lawyer which two of my friends from college recommended, and I find it so compelling that I often end up watching right into another episode because boy do those writers understand the power of a cliffhanger, and, while Cayman doesn’t have any cliffs, the boys I’m with hopped out of the car tonight to look “over the edge” of the ocean (behind the grocery store where we’d stopped for more eggs - even though they’ve managed to eat 3 ½ dozen in two days; I suppose that’s less shocking if I tell you there are five of them and they are all 17 or 18 years old, but it is still a lot of eggs, and let me tell you, eggs are not something I have a lot of anymore (thank you, menopause), but aside from the fact that I can’t seem to follow even my own train of thought anymore, it’s really not so bad) and what was I going to say - don’t go look at the ocean when obviously the ocean is what we’re here to look at or, more to the point, to go in, and we are all happy that we don’t have to go in to school this week so we really might as well take advantage - which I think we did today because we swam with turtles and walked on the white sand beach and spent time with family and every time I thought I might have a minute to write I was wrong - interruptions abounded so here I am, writing at 11:15pm but I am getting it done because that is part of the deal and since the boys are dealing cards downstairs I’m going to shut the bedroom door and go to sleep or, if menopause rears her head, maybe watch Lincoln Lawyer but just for one episode, I swear.

There's a reason I'm writing so late tonight - and I can almost tell you about it...

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Friday, Third Period #SOLC26 16/31 The door would not open. After spending most of lunch working to make the plans for this class just a bit more interactive - they were already fine, but I wanted better - I had nipped upstairs to the photocopier before the first bell. A few early birds were arriving as I left, so I called, “Be right back!” as they filed in and I rushed out. And I truly was right back - maybe three minutes had passed and the second bell hadn’t yet sounded when I found myself facing unexpected resistance from my own classroom door. 

Period 1 we walked, Period 2 we talked - Friday, Period 3 nearly broke me. Hopefully, together, these give a sense of the emotional complexity of teaching.

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Friday, Second Period #SOLC26 15/31 Some of the grade 12s have already found their seat before the students from period 1 have entirely cleared out, but somehow the bell still sneaks up on us. As the announcements play, I observe that a lot of students are wearing green and comment out loud before remembering that today is “fake” St. Patrick’s Day since the real one falls during March Break this year. One thing leads to another and soon we are looking up St. Patrick and why people celebrate St. Patrick’s day. Didn’t he drive something out of Ireland?

After I walked a lot during first period, second period brought a lot of talking - and not always about the things I anticipated.

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Friday, First Period #SOLC26 14/31 The bell has rung, but attendance is sparse on this last day before our March Break. The students who have made it to class on time occupy two ends of a spectrum: they either have their head down on the desk and appear to be asleep or they have a serious case of the sillies and are taking up a lot of space. This is more or less normal: First Period is Reading class, and not all of the students are entirely enthusiastic about starting their school day learning how to read - whether or not the next week is a holiday.

First period on Friday involved a lot of walking as a student and I moved towards better understanding.

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Six six-word reflections #SOLC26 13/31 Today was a really long day. In Reading Class no one read. Wonderfully thoughtful Socratic Seminar about Omelas. Skipped lunch to zhuzh up plans. Didn't matter: students needed kindness reminders. Friday night: book club with friends ** March Break has officially started & I swear I will write more and better again starting tomorrow.

Friday night & I. am. exhausted. Result? Six 6 word stories and then I head to bed!

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Countdown #SOLC26 12/31 Earth Date, March 2026Context: Ramadan, Lent, war in Iran, the week before March Break Monday, Break -5: Finally succumbing to whatever bug has been decimating attendance, I stay home sick; some students do some of the work I've left for them. Tuesday, B -4: Student walk out (to protest provincial changes to education) starts at lunch and continues into the afternoon; workers in the neighbourhood accidentally cut the power lines; things goes dark; school is dismissed early. Wednesday, B -3: Major ice storm predicted; buses cancelled; teachers must attend school but students do not; I have a total of two students attend class; in the end, the freezing rain mostly misses us.

The week before March Break this year has been unusually chaotic. We're just counting things down...

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Snow day? #SOLC26 11/31 By the time you read this, I will already know my fate. I might be at home, curled up in a blanket, marking essays or reading a book. I might be driving on an icy road, heading to a school likely to be all but empty - buses cancelled; schools open. And, though this is very unlikely, I might be preparing to teach a full class of students. Weather forecast: up to 20mm of ice accumulation (25 mm = 1 in) from freezing rain. Warning level: orange (No one really seems to know what an orange warning is - but it’s more dire than yellow and less dire than red, so that’s something.)

By the time you read this, I will already know my fate...

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Lights out The lights went out. The image projected on the board went black. Then I heard screams. Chaos ensued. Up and down the hallway, teachers threw open classroom doors to see what was happening. Student faces peeked out behind them. Soon, we learned that the power crew working down the street had accidentally cut the power lines in the neighbourhood. Luckily, my classroom has windows and, even better, I had just handed out new worksheets, so we were golden. Golden, that is, if you ignored the intermittent screaming from across the hall, often followed by hilarious laughter.

What do you do when the power goes out unexpectedly? Hint: if you're in a school, it involves some chaos.

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Walking the Dog in Springtime #SOLC26 9/31 Walking the Dog in Springtime(after Frank O’Hara’s poem “Having a Coke with You”) is even more ridiculous than walking home from daycare with a toddleror scouring the pavement for that one glove, lost in the last week of winterpartly because he has to smell every inch of newly-exposed mudpartly because of my desire to breathe in the rain-washed air, partly because of his desire to breathe in everythingpartly because of his enthusiasm for the disgusting remnants the melting snow has revealed on the edge of the sidewalks…

I stayed home sick today, but Max still needed a walk. Good thing the weather was nice!

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Should I go in tomorrow? #SOLC26 8/31 A conversation with myself Are you sick?Maybe. Well, I mean, yes, obviously - otherwise I wouldn’t be asking. How sick?Achy and headachy, but not sniffling and sneezing. So probably not contagious?Probably not If you go in, what's the likelihood that you'll lose your cool before the end of the school day?If I still feel like this: high How old are your emergency lesson plans?Very very old Not useful, then?Not even a little Will making sub plans be better or worse than going in?Hmm… 50/50…

I really hate missing work, so every time I get sick, I end up having a long (dumb) conversation with myself.

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Backwards Design: how to procrastinate weekend grading #SOLC26 7/31 Understanding by Design Template 2.0 Stage 1 Desired Results ESTABLISHED GOALS Mark the essays UNDERSTANDINGS Students will understand that…the teacher read their work ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Why? Why why why? Stage 2 - Evidence Evaluative Criteria Assessment Evidence The essays have a final mark OTHER EVIDENCE: Ideally with thoughtful comments All of them Stage 3 – Learning Plan Summary of Key Learning Events and Instruction End goal* - Finish the marking *those who finish early will be allowed to comment on other blog posts as a rewardStart marking

It's after 11am, and I might actually start marking essays soon-ish. This kind of procrastination takes high-level planning; here, I use backwards design to show how I manage so well.

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Thank you!

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Tuning in #SOLC26 6/31 After I broke my wrist in December, I took a few weeks off from walking the dog. In fact, I took a few weeks off from walking at all; I had no desire to find out what might happen if I slipped on another patch of ice. Can one break a currently-broken wrist? What if I slipped and broke my left wrist? What does one do with two broken wrists? I decided that I didn’t want to know the answers to these questions so, since Ottawa is definitely icy in the winter, I stayed home and “let” my partner and the kids walk the dog.

Lately I've had to pay a lot more attention on my daily walks - which means I've been listening to entirely different things.

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What to Wear on Wednesday #SOLC26 5/31 When I was in high school, friends of mine kept track of how many times our Chemistry teacher said a particular phrase. I think it was “um,” but surely that is too banal. Surely we had better things to do in Chemistry than tally the number of times our poor teacher hesitated every class period, day after day, right? Of course, we also kept track of at least one teacher’s outfits: ah, there’s Tuesday’s skirt! Right on cue, Thursday’s dress! And my sister’s class once united to torture a student teacher by tearing out their notes, day after day, then pretending she had not given the previous day’s lecture. 

Some days, even the most basic decisions seem harder because the students might be watching.

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Shoes have a place #SOLC26 4/31

Do the people who live in your house put items where they belong?

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