The Lull Before The Storm

Anyone else having a hard time believing that March is tomorrow?!?! Within this community that means something else than it does elsewhere, but I am not even talking about the March challenge. I am simply in shock that somehow we have made it to four week left until Spring Break. All of us who teach know the period of time from Christmas Vacation until Spring Break to be the longest chunk of the year, regardless of how many weeks it contains. I feel like once the page is turned to March we've made it. Heck, once Spring Break is over it is a mere blink of an eye until June - so really, we are basically staring down summer! (OK, I agree - that is taking it too far, but you know what I mean.)

For me, March brings several things.

Yes, Two Writing Teachers host the March Slice of Life Writing Challenge where we get our writing on for 31 days straight. (Today can either be seen as a preamble, or simply the start of 32 days of writing.) Many of the teachers amongst us are writing, at least were initially, because we ask if of our students. The notion of 'teacher writers' was reinforced when I read this article today where a college professor wrote about using his own draft work with students stating, "I want my students to see my own work in process". He would fit right in!

I'm not the only one in my room gearing up to Slice in March. My students have their blogs ready and can't wait to have the gates opened to the land of slicing. I have had classes slice before, but only in notebooks. This year we are jumping in with blogs and expectations of writing and commenting and hopes of connecting across the globe.

March is also the month which contains the Iditarod. I worked in Alaska in a previous life and met people who ran "The Last Great Race". Those people, and by extension the race, came to have a special place in my heart. Each year I expand the world of my students by delving into the race by incorporating different aspects of the curriculum into the grandeur of Alaska. (Which is really mind expanding when you realize I teach in the Middle East and most of my kids have never even seen snow.) If you don't know much about the race, check back between March 11th - 19th (perhaps a bit longer, my crystal ball isn't working).

To pile it on, March is also time for the local science fair that is a part of NVSF5th (NESA Virtual Science Fair). I will spare you details right now, other than to say there are experiments all over my classroom, research papers being written, and group dynamics doing what group dynamics do when you assign 10 and 11 year olds to groups.

The capstone of this year's March is that my mom is coming nearly 8,000 miles to spend the month with us. She is flapping her arms right now (and will still be flapping when I write tomorrow's post).

Bring it on!