Bringing It to Now

"What do you do?" people ask.
"Teaching elementary English language learners" was always the first thing I said. But not anymore.
"I am Mom to a beautiful redhead," I reply.

"I also work part-time for the local school district," I continue. "Five or so hours a week. Perfect to keep me connected but still allow me to stay at home."

And stay at home I have. We've been having a blast here, learning about each other, dusting off old hobbies, meeting other moms and kids. I've also been quite invigorated by the time spent away from The Cuteness. Those hours I put in for the district are hours I get to spend with elementary EL teachers, advocating for them, for their students, and for their low-income families.

I've taken a long hiatus from this blog. Ever since I stopped teaching (a year ago!), I've had every intention of closing up shop, shuttin' 'er down, saying goodbye. But I couldn't. ESL (turned ELL turned EL) has been such a strong part of me for so many years. How do you quit? So I've postponed my goodbye. 

Sometimes I hop on the blog just to read where we've been, remember the journey, dream for the future. Please don't read this as discontentment with my current calling. I love being a mom. And a wife. A caregiver. A cook. A seamstress. A reader. But boy, did I love teaching those precious EL students! 

So. What am I saying? As I'm still connected to the EL community, I thought it only appropriate to continue sharing what I'm learning, even if it is only in five hours a week. 

• I plan to highlight EL teachers and their building teachers who are doing great things for EL students. 
• I plan to showcase this ever-changing world and how teachers are adapting and succeeding in it. 
• I plan to demonstrate to the nay-sayers out there that teachers teach for reasons far beyond themselves--reasons with names and faces and souls.
• I plan to document for my own intellectual well-being, to keep my mind sharp for this field that has grown me in radical ways.

It'll be a great ride!

Sarah

A Letter from an Author

Remember all the Jorge activities we've done this year? Well, I wrote to Jane Medina (the author and creator of Jorge) to let her know how much we've grown because of him. And guess what? She wrote us back! (Okay, she wrote us back a while ago, but...I'm still on my maternity leave, so I'm just now posting it.)

Isn't that amazing?? She wrote it FROM JORGE!

And check this out. She wrote it in Spanish, too!

Jane Medina, you rock! :)

An Unwarranted Thank-you

Not sure what I did to deserve this thanks, but then again, what kind of "thanks" asks you to pay money to receive your thank-you? Not sure if I should feel honored or offended?!

A New Job

We had our baby! Thanksgiving Day 2010 Corban James Steele graced the world with his presence. 6 lbs. 11 oz., 20 inches, and gorgeous red hair. He absolutely is our pride and joy and a "gift devoted to God" (Mark 7:11). I'm starting to feel the pangs of postponing the work I love and watching my students grow to be with my son and growing him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We love you, Corban!

Misunderstanding Skits 5th

Sooo Coooool!

Remember Levi, "my new favorite zero"? Well, we finished a project we'd been working on to give his parents. I had him create a book from the sentence stem, "This is my family member." We had read a book together about family and drew a picture of our families (although his family looked an awful lot like mine, which worried Mom when he showed it to her at home...she's not pregnant nor trying!). So in order to help differentiate between my family and his and to become familiar with a useful phrase ("This is..."), we created said book with computer paper for the inside and construction paper for the cover. We finally finished yesterday (I wanted to make sure he was able to take it home before Thanksgiving Break), so I laminated, punched, and spiral bound it and pulled him out of his classroom to give it to him. 

His reaction?  Biiiig eyes. "Oh. My. Gosh!" His tiny fingers caressed the shiny pages. "Wow! Soooo cool!" I handed it to him. 
"This is for you, Levi," I said. "Read it to your Mom and Dad, okay?"
"No, now," he replied. So we stood right there in the hallway and read My Family by Levi. 
"Again," he whispered. So we read it again. 

As I took him back to class, he did nothing but look at his precious creation, and as soon as we arrived in his classroom, he marched right up to his teacher and handed it to her. And the coolest thing that she did? "Will you read it to me?" So he did. And then he proceeded to read it to the rest of the class. They oohed and aahed over the beautiful book, and several students were heard remarking about how very much they would like to make a book about their families. Levi went from being the new curiosity to the coolest kid in school that day.


And I just know his mom loved it.

The Brick Wall of ESL

At a recent ESL training led by Katie Brooks & Susan Adams from Butler University, we practiced an activity called Barriers or Bridges. We tweaked it a little for use in our classroom. I wanted to take some time one of these odd three days before Thanksgiving Break to remind students of the purpose of ESL, no matter what teacher is guiding them. We wrote down any and everything that came to mind of things that we've done in the ESL room that have helped us connect to our mainstream classrooms. We put the completed wall in the hallway outside our room. Check it out!

We have some 5th graders coming in today to draw three things--on one side of the wall, we'll have some pics/graphics that represent ESL; going across the top of the wall will be footprints; and on the other side, we'll have some pics/graphics that represent our regular classrooms. Genius, eh? But really, I hope even moreso that they'll remember that ESL is not just a bunch of fun random activities where we read cool articles and meet new people, but that what we do in that classroom is actually beneficial in making them successful students...no matter the environment. (*sigh* It's hard to talk about this like it's over, but for me, it almost is. :( )