We are the Creators of our own Joy

WRITING PROMPT RESPONSE 7/15/20

It’s funny that my mom mind went straight to maintaining my family’s mental health and solidarity when the prompt asked about SELF care. I feel that I will be content with being able to stay home with my family as only a mom–not a teacher, coordinator, facilitator, tutor, coach–that I won’t want for anything. My brain won’t be stretched in a million directions, breaking into particles and tunneling through various blackholes, losing energies that I could not possibly hope to replenish.

I’ll get to do one thing well: be a mother.

For me, that means taking care of my family as a collective and the individuals. With the extremely joyous occasion of welcoming a newborn human into our family, I feel that I want to be able to look forward to things as a family. The birth of the baby and birthdays are our big ones right now, but the birthdays are done in October. Then what? Holidays? Ehh, certainly not as they are.

Self-care for me and for my family means that we will need to look forward to something. We love being part of a big family and creating one now, so how do we continue that big family vibe during a pandemic?

Similar to Kelsey’s form of self-care, we create a routine. While infants and toddlers force a daily one on you (that’s fine with me!). What I would l like to instate is something like our movie/game night. We always look forward to Fridays because we have Mexican food and pick a movie. I’m not saying that we need something every night of the week, but picking 3-4 mornings/nights per week might be achievable.

Some ideas:

• Marsh walks
• Hiking at Oakwoods Metropark ( we are so blessed to be near so many metroparks and preserves)
• Fires for s’mores and roasted apples
• Board games
• Cardboard Cutouts (we get lots of boxes, so we can make things out of them and then pretend)
• Racing games (balloons, cardboard cards, tissue boxes)
• Spooky story telling (they love scary things)
• Themed parties (costume/dress-up, food, games)
• Bring a book to life (play, movie making, story telling with a character)
• Planting seeds
• Painting various objects or their bodies (in the tub or basement

I am by no means a Pinterest mom, (never have been, never will be), but I do like to play and I’m not afraid of a mess. I recognize that my kids are not going to be able to explore through or with relationships with many people. What we can do is enjoy our time together: the little moments and the reserved ones. We’ve been enjoying making things for other people and then sending it to them or videochatting with them. It’s been fun to spend time together as a family and then share that happiness with others who can use some sunshine.

I’ve been trying to teach my kids that we are the creators of our own joy, and to then share that joy when your cup is full.

Dark Moon: A Character

Dark Moon and Runicron, her superhero dog.

When I went upstairs for Sacred Writing time, my partner let the kids watch She-Ra. Is it super age appropriate, meh, but it allows us to have so many conversations with them (“bad guys,” morality, who you are as a person, word choice, etc.) and the messaging is pretty darn fantastic.

Anyways, I sat down to start pre-writing my character for NaNoWriMo and realized I was 100% stuck. So, I asked Ivah about her superhero persona (lunchtime has been spent saving the world during the institute): Dark Moon. She was Dark Unicorn Shadow, but she’s loving Dark Moon now. That’s who she is and who she will be for Halloween (HUGE deal at our house).

Here are the results of interviewing a four-year-old about her superhero persona, Dark Moon.

• Dark Moon AKA Ivah
• Red and yellow eyes. Red in darkness and yellow during daylight
• Favorite outfit: black cape, sparkly flats, gems and sparkles on her sleeves with thumbholes, sparkly unicorn bracelet, pink skirt, black leggings, tie-dye shirt, blue sparkly lipstick
• Hair is long red/blue/purple pigtails
• Has a unicorn that has rainbow beams coming out of it. Her hands have this power too. Bad guys can’t handle the beams, and Dark Moon can use the rainbow beams like kits to help people fall out of the sky safely
• She is also an archer (like Bow)
• She does not like buses or trains
• She likes archery, Spider-Man (her friend), her super hero dog, candy, superhero music, fighting bad guys, climbing buildings
• Her favorite book is Mary Poppins
• Her favorite show is She-Ra
• She lives in the woods full of wolves. Her house is faraway, close to Disney World
• Superhero dog: Runicron is his name. He brown and red striped eyes. He runs super fast because of his rainbow wings. He has to catch the Joker
• Dark Moon is scary and likes to be alone. She just wants to help people.

Mind mapping Dark Moon.

I CANNOT WAIT TO START WRITING WITH DARK MOON.

Here is the NaNoWriMo resource we used to write Dark Moon.

Pregnancy During a Pandemic

Thank God this is my third kid and not my first.

With all the worries and excitement that should come with creating and introducing a new human into the world, a pandemic should not be amplifying the former and nullifying the latter. Any baby should bring excitement and joy. This one definitely does–we went through a lot to have this one–but I wonder if that makes having baby so much more worrisome.

I’m a worrier by trade: I’m the eldest child and grandchild, I’m type A, and I’m a teacher. Of course I’ll worry about my own children when I worry about everything. So far during the pandemic, I honestly have not been *too* worried about my immediate family. I can control where my toddler and preschooler go, my womb is pretty darn safe, and my husband and I work from home. There have been no worries there.

But like all mothers wonder, how will I keep my newborn safe after they leave the enfolding sanctuary of my body? I have wondered how I would keep my other two babies safe from emotional harm when they’re older, kiss and overcome those skinned knees, and XXXX. What I have never had to wonder is if they (or even we) will survive a pandemic.

I second guess myself if I am being overdramatic. It’s not in my nature to be dramatic despite my being a worrier–I’m pretty logical and level-headed. I just can’t help but be scared. I read widely over a variety of credible sources at the local, state, national, and global levels. Then I take all of that information and try to inform my choices as a parent. But holy shit, how do you do that with still so many unknowns?

This fall, my eldest will be entering kindergarten, or is at least old enough to begin kindergarten. We’re still up in the air about letting her go. Because of my degree in science (biology), I have a pretty decent understanding of how communicable diseases work and know where I can go to learn more. I also know how schools and children operate, and the limits of what the schools can do for our kiddos. I am terrified that my daughter will bring home COVID-19 to our newborn.

What’s a mom to do? Do I trust in the system that the school will be able to do what is best for my eldest daughter? Do I keep her home despite the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to sending kids to school? What do they say about newborns and school-aged kids? Or do we stay close to caution and just keep everyone home for the sake of our infant?

My head and my heart hurt, but I never thought I would be making choices like this as a parent.

Links to revisit:

https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/faqs-management-of-infants-born-to-covid-19-mothers/

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2020/06/30/peds.2020-000786

https://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/en/

https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1

Autoethnography Reflection #1

I started my first week as a college lecturer, and I feel like an imposter and that I do not deserve to be in this place. I keep thinking of Chiron and Erin because of their experiences and conversations with them.

How I’ve been feeling:

-I only taught for five years formally, so does that count “enough” to teach the Writing for Writing Teachers class? It’s funny because I was not this conflicted with teaching the graduate class over the summer. I think it’s because I felt that I knew much more about teacher research than the participants…and that’s true. I don’t have to know more than a teacher in their content area in order to know more about teacher research. However, I have to remember that these students are not teachers yet either! I am still working through professional texts myself so that I may continue to learn to be a better writing teacher.

-I found myself planning this class much more like how I planned for high school. I have three strands that I am working towards (they’re similar to the SI), and then I wanted to focus on the assessments. But I got stuck.

-I was terrified because I knew that there was NCATE, and I cared about this one because it was going to affect the students directly with their graduation requirements and the school. I don’t feel like how I did with the SAT. Maybe because the university has chosen this requirement to add to their accolades?

-I feel like I don’t deserve to be in an office, let alone in an English department hallway office. There are lecturers who have been there for years, and they are in the small hallway. I get concerned because I don’t want there to be any bad blood immediately. Otherwise, it is AWESOME that people are looking out for me! I hope to be able to pay it forward in the future, or at least to my students in 408W.

-I am planning for week two now on a Smonday (still doing it this way). This time, I get away from my house. It is easier for me to focus for two hours rather than spend the entire day working around the kids. Plus, they are bigger and more demanding now. I am dividing my time between working on assessments and tomorrow’s work.

-I expect homework to be done outside of class for 408, but I rarely had it for HS students other than reading minutes outside of class. I still feel guilty about asking them to do some work. I am trying to reframe because they are professionals or are going to be soon. They need to be able to engage with a professional text outside of a meeting place and then come prepared.

 

But after my first class, I felt freaking awesome. I walked away with a sense of who my students are, what undergraduates are wondering about teaching, and the mood of the classroom. I am good at reading the mood of the room, and I think I needed to see what that looked like in college. I knew what it looked like in high school because I’ve been doing it for a while, what it looked like in SI because I have participated lately and I am a teacher, but I have been out of touch with undergrads, so I was nervous. I want the class to be useful to them, and I feel like we will be able to get them feeling stabilized as we continue on. I feel confident that we can learn together–me on who I am as a lecturer and how I teach, and them on basically the same things. Funny how that comes to be, that we are pretty much in the same spot.

Reflection for 2/18/19

Mackenzie and Eionna,

You are to reflect on your experiences on the week regarding your writing and learning. After you write your post during class, you are to comment on each other’s and Avery’s blog posts, providing feedback where you can.

You are welcome to provide links to your work!

M.S. Novel Writing Goals

-Done March 28th

-36 days

-1, 029/day

-Two words sprints per day. One during SR.

Research Writing for the Week of 2/19/19

Monday-no school

Tuesday-

Practice all quotes below on a sheet of paper. Some have answers

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UTXx-85h5DVXwUicFiWWBof4p2GRMVtL17-p9VbJNjM/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B9cGl8C8lXEfbHlMQ3lHV0l4UDQ

Click to access Embedding%20Quotations.pdf

Start drafting a post on what you learned or worked on today.

Wednesday-

Click to access Embedded-Quotes-Handout.pdf

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1et1IpbQG_OTpeWYm0FqnmQsgwzUbH-DF6n5TUeE9TB0

Thursday-

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H2sLW_OAunS74Eopts0jXrbO-U7QTAeh4JfPnap5rw0/edit?usp=sharing

Friday-

Blog post

Final Exam Reflection Questions (Fall 2018)

These do not need to be answer in any particular order. Reflections should be at least three pages.

• How has having this independent study helped you to grow as a __________? (Writer? Student? Person? Fill in the blank)
• What have you gained through this independent study, and through which assignments or tasks specifically?
• What are some mistakes that you made, and how do you look at them now?

Poetry Pairings from The Literary Maven

I’ve had this blog post PRINTED and sitting on my desk since last fall. It’s time I finally organize it in a place where I can readily access it. (Printed blog post. Seriously. That’s how badly I wanted to remember it)

• Extended metaphor: “Sympathy” by Laurence Dunbar and “Hope is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson. Both use a bird in it but for different means
• Looking at one’s image in mirrors: “Same Song” by Pat Mora and “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath. S.S. looks at body image from both genders
• “How to Eat a Poem” is a fun poem to read!
• “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes and “Women” by Alice Walker: struggle of African American women.

Here is where you can go to see the complete list.

CommonLit is another great place to find texts! The beauty of this website is that it is searchable by literary terms, genre, topic, and age level. It’s like an ice cream shop full of flavors, but just for English teachers.

WAC Conference Day Three 2017

Day Three Slides

Handout

Recommended scholars to look into regarding feedback to students:

• Kathleen Blake Yancey
• Peter Elbow
• Pat Belanoff (when connected to Elbow)

Recommended scholars to look into regarding rubrics specifically:

• Troy Hicks

Other resources

• Engaging Ideas ebook
  • Selected chapters:
    • Types of writing assignments (p. 89-145)
    • “Designing Tasks to Promote Active Thinking and Learning” (p. 151-60)
    • “Using Rubrics to Develop and Apply Grading Criteria” (p. 267-289)
• RubiStar
• Two-Tiered rubrics (quantity and quality)
• How to Create and Use Rubrics (ebook)
• “Looking Back as We Look Forward: Historicizing Writing Assessment” by Kathleen Blake Yancey