So I did it.
A 40-day journey of looking for the silver linings even when they’re pencil-thin. I’m pretty proud of myself, really. This was a pretty big commitment, and I wanted to go all in for sure.
So thank you to those of you who have been with me through this journey from beginning to end. Thank you also to those who may have just discovered this whole thing recently. Your involvement only pushes me to keep it up.
So here we go, for day number 40. Let’s see what we’ve got.
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. We tried some new things today in our reading block, and I feel like it was a really productive period. We worked independently, I worked with small groups, and the kids had writing conferences with each other all at one time. Pretty cool.
2. My kids are getting so much better at hallway behavior. I feel like I’m walking with a different group of students at times with how much they’ve improved.
3. We got to go outside today, and I really didn’t think we would. And toward the end of recess, the sky opened up and we saw sun and blue skies.
4. Praise the Lord; this week is only four days long.
5. Have you seen the new Harry Potter website? It’s incredible.
6. I had such an awesome phone conversation with one of my favorite people last night. It’s always nice to catch up with good friends.
7. I could be homeless, but I’m not.
8. I could be jobless, but I’m not.
(I know those seem like trivial things, but really, they’re a pretty big deal.)
9. On a less socially-conscious note, there’s a new Gossip Girl on tonight that I am all over.
10. It’s been an interesting Monday, but I’ve survived it (I think). And hopefully tomorrow will only be better, right?
So, starting tomorrow I’ll probably stop numbering my posts. Each day will probably have its own title. My goal will be to keep this up as often as I have been, so continue to look back each day.
If doing this has affected you in any way, I hope that it’s made you open your eyes a little wider. There’s a lot in life that’s broken. But that doesn’t diminish the beautiful things.
And believe me, there’s a lot of beauty to be seen.
This Tuesday is a bit of a tough one for reasons that aren’t completely clear to me…I’m just tired for the most part, I think. I kind of want to call in sick even though I’m already here and just spend a day in bed. Alas, not an option.
However, there have still been some good things about this day. Let’s get to them, shall we?
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. I did, miraculously, get here on time for a meeting at 7:45. That’s quite an event, especially considering how much I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning.
2. My kids are continuing to be helpful by filing things for me, which really makes getting papers home a lot easier.
3. I’ve had 2 parent emails asking about the science fair this week, which at least lets me know that a couple of my kids will participate. I’m really hoping that they surprise me and I have a lot of great ideas.
4. I pulled a small group during reading today and they really enjoyed the activity we did, even though it was really low-maintenance in terms of planning. I’m excited to continue the activity with my other students.
5. I’m heading to session two of my workshop on PBS strategies today…I get to skip out a little early because of that, but it makes the afternoon just a tad stressful. I’ll enjoy the workshop, though. I really liked last week’s session.
6. Tomorrow is Wednesday, and that means soup awaits!
7. My classroom library is looking pretty good, mostly because my kids are now addicted to organizing it.
8. My PB&J today was particularly yummy. Or maybe I was just really hungry.
9. He has silent lunch, which is frustrating, but I think this afternoon will be better than this morning. He started to get focused on his assignments towards the end of independent working time today, so that’s always a good sign.
10. Even though I know I’ll be ridiculously tired at the end of this day, I can take comfort in the fact that tomorrow can be even better. Also, I plan to get lots of sleep tonight.
Lots.
See you kids tomorrow! Happy Tuesday!
This has been a long day. I’ve felt my patience growing thin at very strange things today, and I’m not totally sure why. But here we are, and still, I’ll find some good things in this crazy day.
Let’s go!
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. I actually got props today. Not without some standing reservations, but still–props! (I’m sorry for the cryptic quality of that one, but I have to be careful, you know.)
2. I asked one of my boys at the end of the day today to tell me one good thing that had happened. He was on yellow today, so I knew it would be hard for him to think of, but after a while, he came over and told me that he was able to ignore him at lunch and do his silent lunch properly. He definitely earned a high five from me for that. I’ll check with him again tomorrow and hopefully he’ll have more to say.
3. We did get to go outside, despite the threat of rain. Even on crazy days, it’s nice to get out and breathe some fresh air for a little while.
4. My lunch was pretty good, and that’s always a plus in my book.
5. We learned more about capacity today, and we had so much fun! I didn’t think we would be able to have fun learning about gallons, pints, quarts, and cups. But apparently, it’s possible. 🙂
6. I’m spending some time with one of my favorite chicas tonight, and I desperately need it after this day.
7. Tomorrow is Friday, praise the Lord.
8. My floor in my classroom is now neat and tidy, thanks to a little help from my students.
9. Tomorrow night I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with some people I love doing majorly fun things. 😀 (Again, sorry for being cryptic, but it’s necessary.)
10. Even though this day seemed so long and so stressful, there’s always tomorrow. And tomorrow holds the possibility of being better than today.
Hope you had a good Thursday, kids. See you tomorrow.
This day has been a chance to really revel in how beautifully broken I am. My heart has been really heavy over things I can’t change, but sometimes it’s hard to let things go when your moral compass tells you something just isn’t right. The beauty that I speak of is where my faith comes in. The wonderful thing is that no matter how stressed I am or how hopeless a situation makes me feel, I’m going to be okay because Jesus loves me.
I know that sounded corny, but for serious, kids, sometimes that’s all we’ve got to hold on to. And when you’re hanging by a thread, it makes a difference if it’s a thread of titanium steel or a fraying thread of twine, don’t you think?
So I’m working on letting go, and it will be a work in progress, but I’m still going to be finding those silver linings, so no worries there. The beauty of this undertaking of mine is that I’m forcing myself to move beyond daily stresses and find what was amazing. Even if it was that I got my kids to stand quietly in the hallway for all of 30 seconds unattended…there’s light in the small moment.
Thank you for continuing on this journey with me. I’ll post my list of today’s silver linings at the end of the day.
Happy Friday, folks.
~~~~~~~ (So glad we made it…)~~~~~~~
1. I taught a lesson on integrity today, spontaneously. It felt right and made my heart a little lighter.
2. When my kids were writing about people they admire, who they think show good integrity, one of my quieter kids chose to write about two of his classmates. It was very sweet, and something that he would not have been able to do at the beginning of the school year.
3. He wrote about his mom and why he admires her. It was sweet, and he did it (mostly) by himself. Any completed writing assignment I get from him is a hallelujah moment, if you catch my drift.
4. I work with some extraordinarily kind people.
5. After writing a finished paragraph about his mom, he actually wrote more than a page of responses to the four questions at the end of this week’s story. He did this quietly, at his seat, without complaining. (Hallelujah!)
6. I will get to see some of my favorite ladies tonight at our favorite hangout place.
7. Today is Friday, and that’s always a silver lining.
8. After a bump in the road yesterday afternoon and a little bit of this morning, he had a pretty awesome day. Our goal is for next week to be smooth sailing.
9. I have a lot of students who really do show a great amount of integrity.
10. And, beyond all else, remember that tomorrow offers the opportunity of bigger and better things.
I’m worn out, folks. I hope you had a great Friday and I guess I’ll catch you all tomorrow at some point. 🙂
Stay positive.
Well, this has been an interesting morning…I’m feeling okay. I’m starting a Mucinex-type medication in the hopes that it will help clear this crud out of my system.
Let’s see what we’ve got so far today.
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. I have discovered that I don’t have to have my lesson plan book right in front me to be able to move on with my day. Not a huge fan of the experience, but I held my own and I was glad for how smoothly my morning still went.
2. I think I’m coughing less today, which is nice. It would be even nicer for me to be done coughing altogether, but I’ll take what I can get.
3. The breakfast that was laid out this morning was awesome! I even got to go back and eat a little more for lunch. 🙂
I’ll be back after school, so I’ll see you then!
—— (Better late than never, right?) ——
Sorry for the delay today…I had a baby shower to attend after school and I didn’t get to leave today until almost 5:30, so here we are.
4. He stayed on green again today. I might bribe him with a reward if he stays on green all week. That would be quite a momentous occasion.
5. My kids are doing well so far with EOG practice. They seem to understand how to use a lot of the strategies we’ve been discussing.
6. We had a really cool conversation as a class today about a story that we’re reading this week. Who says 9 year olds aren’t deep?
7. While on hallway duty today, I had a student from another teacher’s class come and sit down next to me to rail me with questions that just made me laugh. A sample:
- “How old are you?”
- “Do you have any kids?”
- “You’re not married? Why are you not married?”
Now, some people, I’m sure, would be insulted by this kind of questioning, but it just tickled me to death how concerned she was that I’m not married. Kids are crazy. She also guessed that I was around 40 (I’m 23, by the way), which hurt my feelings a little, so I’m going to keep in my head that she meant that as a joke. Or maybe I just had a serious frump day today.
No, it was definitely a joke.
Moving on…
8. I had a good time hanging out with some lovely work folks after school today for a coworker’s baby shower. Got to enjoy seeing the people I work with, and got to have some yummy snacks and cake! Win-win, I’d say.
9. Somehow, I’m still standing at the end of this very long day. If that’s not a silver lining, then I don’t know what is.
10. The amazing thing is, there’s always tomorrow.
Maybe we’ll have a delay, hm? The precipitation is starting to switch over from rain to slush, so it’ll definitely be an interesting night.
Today was one of those days you just kind of want to shower off, you know? But the good news is I made it out alive, and I still had 10 silver linings to show for it.
Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.
(And, as always, I do.)
Another challenging day. I’m not feeling tip top today, and that makes it harder to find the silver linings.
Harder, but not impossible.
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. I got him excited by giving him the chance to show me that maybe he doesn’t have to sit in the back of the classroom forever. We’re on a trial run this week and I’m really hoping that it will go well. (Update: this was not a good morning for him. We did have a break through finally, at about 20 minutes before lunch. We’ll see if it sticks and gets us through the day!)
2. I got a “new” student today. Actually, it’s one of the students who was in my room for only a few weeks and then moved away. She’s really sweet, though, and the good news is I don’t have to show her where anything is.
3. So, I know this super cool chick who happens to be one of my all time favorite people in the world, and she has a really awesome blog of her own. She gave me a shout out, and since I love her, here’s one for her, too.
That’s all I have in me for right now. There will be more later, but it is only 9:30. I’ll shoot the rest your way after school or at lunch if I have some more.
Stay dry, kids. It’s a rainy one.
~~~~~~ (Lunch Break) ~~~~~~
4. My chicken ramen noodles and my orange for lunch are hitting the spot.
5. I think I might have come up with a great strategy to keep him focused. Stay tuned to see if I have good news to report once I apply it. (I’m not telling just yet because I don’t want to jinx it!)
…and it’s time to go get the kids again. How is it that this time passes so quickly?
See you at the end of the day.
~~~~~~ (Hallelujah!) ~~~~~~
6. My students really want to be helpful.
7. He’s great at filing papers for me, and it’s a cool incentive for him to stay on task. 😀 Win-win, ya know?
8. We got to go out for recess today!!
9. I was able to get some improvised homework together since my students weren’t quite ready to move on in math.
10. And, praise the Lord, there is always tomorrow.
This day has worn me out. See you tomorrow, folks.
This was a challenging day, but here we are…
Today’s Silver Linings:
1. My students are resilient and can work under conditions in which I can’t even hear myself think.
2. I have coworkers who are willing to help me out when I hit a wall with regards to discipline.
3. My students think I’m funny.
4. He CAN calm down…and he’s a great worker when he does.
5. My students are volunteering to help out in my room by cleaning up after the bell now.
6. Nobody was on yellow today.
7. We earned a green in art!
8. My printer works.
9. I’m (hopefully) getting to spend some much-needed girl time with one of my favorite ladies tonight.
10. There’s always tomorrow.
Ten things. That seems reasonable. I’m going to do my best to keep these going every day.
Don’t forget to count your own blessings and to seek that silver lining in your day.
Until tomorrow.
The Positivity Project 