2026 Learning to Write Again

 In February, I was doing the normal perusal of emails when Cindy's (@ MsChiubookawrites ) email popped into my inbox. There was the usual department information from district, but also, an invitation to join this "Slice of Life" writing challenge. I thought to myself, writing for a month? I could probably do that. A thus began my journey as a first-year Slicer. Upon the second day, I griped to Cindy about not knowing what to write for a second post. Looking back, I have learned so many strategies from so many of you: Cento poems, writing about specific objects, looking out the window, writing about specific places, having a plan, not having a plan, and so on. I write from my work computer, as my brain classifies this challenge as "work-related". I have over 50 tabs open in a "To Be Read" sort of browser list of slices I didn't get to read that I wanted to. I have a section in my Notes App for how to use ideas from some of the slices I have read in...

There was recently a post on Threads about Velcro dogs. You know, the ones who need  to be in your skin? Well, one of those does not live here, but he is always watching. When we adopted Gibbs, I was sure  he was going to love me. After all, the folklore and wives' tales say that boy dogs love women. Ha. Gibbs chose his human pretty early on: Josh, whose only moment of "weakness" cemented our dog's undying love and loyalty. You see, when we went to bed after Gibbs' first event-filled night home (a drunk driver crashed into our building, cops, and so much more!), Josh decided we were going to stand firm and Gibbs was going to learn to sleep in his crate, day 1. Me? I'm a softie, but I had read dogs learning they had their own space was good for them, so I could do it. After what felt like hours, but I'm sure was probably only one, Josh folds. Gives in, lays on the floor, and puts his hand inside the crate, so Gibbs could feel soothed. I will never forgive h...

 *I missed yesterday's Slice! That sun and good vibes got me, again :) For as long as I can remember, I've thought people were different than me. I used to think my parents were robots, when I was far too old to make such imaginative ideas feel real. At a different time, I distinctly remember following them through the mall and thinking how their brains fire their nerves to constrict and relax their muscles as they move and it was like I could watch their skeletons move under their skin. I must have just learned about the nervous system, but I was terrified that they were something other than human. Most children, when they're young, are scared of "normal" things in the closet or shadows of night: witches, monsters, ghosts. Me? I was 100% positive there was a mass murderer (we think this carried over from my grandparents' watching Dateline at full blast), drug trafficker, or Baphomet (specifically that demon) waiting to get me when everyone else had fallen asl...

 It is incredibly tempting to do a six-word memoir because I have all "six" words playing in my head "Spring Break. Spring Break! Spring! Break!". However, I have more to say (lucky you!) 😂 In a change from yesterday's marvelous to grumpy timeline, today has been quite consistently fantastic. The same lesson plan was used: Introduction to Sojourner Truth, quick SOL prep, and then Book Club discussions and a group assignment. There were also more than a few "new" challenges today: the building was obnoxiously hot and humid everywhere , the amount of students who were absent to start Spring Break early, more students had not read and/or had not completed the pre-work, more students were confused on the difference between an internal and external conflict, and new "guests" joined my classroom which changed the vibe of the class. However, students were participatory and meaningfully engaged! Peaks and valleys, peaks and valleys (oh! Another ...

 Perhaps I am the "grumpy gills" I often assume I am. Perhaps others do not get overstimulated or have their nerves grated by the same, or similar things, as I do. Perhaps. Although, perhaps not. Today was a marvelous  day. The printer upstairs was fixed and worked the entire day. The sun is out. Students worked in their book clubs, most completed the assignment necessary and thus, were able to have really productive conversations. I actively chose to focus on the positives. I could have easily focused on the group of boys, the two girls, or the entire class plus a guest who were not prepared, left their groups, and were overall rain clouds on an otherwise perfectly sunny day. Instead, I leaned in to the group discussions, entered into their ideas of conflict, prodded individual minds to dive a little deeper than a two word quote with no context. On top of that, I even left work on time *gasp*! Today was a marvelous  day. Upon my arrival home, there was a spot open to cha...

Where I teach runs on what I call a block-skinny schedule: 1, 3, 7 are A days, 2, 4, 6 are B days, and 5 happens every day, but is a shorter period (skinny). Today was a fairly simple agenda as we wanted to give students time to "finish" (start) their reading and assignment for their first Book Club meeting this week. On the "to do" list: Introduce them to Hedy Lamarr and her co-created invention to stop Nazis from jamming Allied torpedoes during WWII . Yes, the actress and the inventor are one and the same! (Women's Heritage Month, plus, it's cool as heck!). Warm up: Poetry Terms Vocabulary. This was a review of terms they have heard and worked with before, or at least it was supposed to be. Book Club work time: read or work on the assignment, those are the options. Pretty easy, yea? Except my brain sees opportunity where most of learned to keep mum.  We have finished the poetry terms and I have them waiting for a few seconds. They are ever so eager to put ...

There's the age-old belief that everything that is "wrong" with us can somehow be traced back to our mothers. I do not know how true that statement is, if there is even a proper study to be done about it, but I do know mine came up several times in the past few weeks. The "issue" wasn't in the past, but something very much in the present. My mother, at least recently, has a habit of giving advice in a way that suggests I have no idea how to operate as an adult. To make a 37 year story shorter, I moved out of my parents' house about 13 years ago and moved (with their help!) over 8 hours away, through two other states to start my teaching career. There was a lot to learn at 24/25 about being on my own, but what was I going to do, move home?  *This is where my mother would interject that OF COURSE I could/can move home, did I want to do that right now? The room can be made up for me, or me and Gibbs, or me, Gibbs, and Josh by the time we get there tonight!*...

 Picture it: You have had a solidly good day of teaching. Not great, but skills are being grown, tasks accomplished, and relevant questions voiced. Of course, it is the week before Spring Break, so I gave a reminder (or two) about Break being next  week, so this week, we are still "locked in". That one class. Everyone has had one. They aren't bad, but we do struggle with impulse control, maturity, keeping personal opinions about anyone or anything private, and, of course, talking constantly. As the Instructional Assistant was not present today, it was me, myself, and I with 14 students of varying levels of developmentally-appropriate teenage egocentrism. The bell rang, I closed the door, and I waited for them to quiet down. I am not a teacher who believes in silence being necessary to learn. If you can ignore the quiet murmur, excellent. That class does not believe in murmurs, it is a full on cacophony of clashing thoughts and opinions.  In the first draft of this post, ...

 I missed a day! That would be disappointing, if it wasn't such a fantastic day, let's Slice! There is nothing quite like Old Town and DC in the spring. Right before the crowds, the tourists with their strollers, the student groups flocking on every street corner, right on that precipice, there is a day or weekend of sunlight and good vibes as Alexandria and DC come out to play. Saturday was that day for Josh and me. I put on one of my favorite dresses, packed our laptops, and off we went! We walked to LaPluma for breakfast (gf pancakes with coffee and no mimosas = breakfast, right?). The food was good, the vibes were calm, all in all, would try again. Then, we took a stroll to the waterfront past street performers and tons of good puppers, some big, some small, all perfect. We sat on the rooftop patio of a coffee shop and soaked up the rays. We moved into the shade of that rooftop patio when the sun became a little too focused on my back. We walked back to our apartment, where...

 Friends are coming for dinner tonight, and one of them is bringing a newish girlfriend none of us have ever met. What does this mean for my neurodivergent brain? It's time to CLEAN. When I was growing up, my sister and I cleaned every afternoon and deep cleaned on the weekends. If you wanted to go out, both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms better be sparkling. We lived in a relative shoebox of house, so this shouldn't have been super challenging. Our parents, however, were determined to live in a house with no inhabitants. We didn't leave out magazines, clothes, dishes, anything. If a realtor walked in, they could sell the place on pretty much any given day. We had a "formal" living room upstairs and a more relaxed one downstairs, but both of those were ready for guests at any time. Living on my own, I kept up those patterns of cleaning every day. Which, when you live in a one bedroom by yourself in a brand new place is a little crazy. How much "stuff...

 Taking a quick walk down memory lane today as I clipped and put my favorite flower into a vase.  Isn't it funny to look back and realize how silly we were in our teenage years? At that time, I thought my favorite color was blue. I would tell people it was blue, but I didn't go out of my way to have  blue things. Sometimes, a family member would buy me my (still) favorite animal in blue, and I painted my bedroom walls this light blue/teal that almost glowed in the dark! Other than that? Meh. In that same vein, when I was in high school and first started "dating", as dating can be in high school, I swore my favorite flower was purple roses. Why roses? Romantic. Shows effort. Why purple? Because I was "different", purple wasn't a color you could always find easily or so I thought. At the beginning of every dating episode, or relationship, you could bet your bottom dollar I got purple roses. You know, the ones they sell at the grocery store? Those. Those sh...

We have friends coming over for dinner on Friday. I am off due to a holiday, so I thought it would be a good time to bust out something a little fancier and enjoy it with friends. Yesterday, when I broached the subject to my Josh, he stated that he was thinking something "chicken-based". I thought that was the funniest way to word it, so I wrote it down in my shopping list notes 😂 Fast forward to today, I found the recipes for the dinner and side (steak and garlic potatoes), we're picking up salad "provisions" (another Josh term - which apparently evolved into a 3lb salad kit from Costco), and that left me with figuring out dessert.  For some reason, I wanted to incorporate a sweet from one of our home states: two of us are from Maryland, one from New York City (which, I am told, is much  different than being from New York State), and Josh and I hail from PA. I was lucky enough to find B. Dylan Hollis on TikTok a few years back, but somehow missed his first  co...

 Today, I had both "levels" of 8th graders. While both were working with the same set of images, one group was focusing on the details and the imagery while another was deciding whether an image would go at the beginning, middle, or end of a story. What I had not expected on this cold, blustery Tuesday was to be blown away  by student engagement! 4th hour is usually quiet  silent. They wait until pressed and even then, pulling teeth is a more viable option. Today? We were yelling out answers, making each other laugh, and asking fantastic questions. They were almost unrecognizable! 5th period are talkers. Too many friends in one room can lead to chaos. Not today! Today, we were engaged. We wanted  to know about the images, about the artists, about the reasons for the creation of the paintings. They used the iPads appropriately to see the images' specific details and features and make inferences based on what was presented. They talked to  each other and discussed...

 A while back, probably closer to 10 than 5 years ago, "Love Languages" popped into my social circles. What's your love language? What's your husband's? Do you think you're compatible?  Some years, and a lot of therapy removed from this time period, I can look back on it and chuckle to myself. The person who popularized love languages, at least in my circle, was a religious man who published a book (not based in science) and published it. Effectively, it's as reliable as astrology (which I dabble in for a good time): yes, there are things about my personality that are reflected in the Scorpio sun sign, but not all of them. So yes, words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, and physical touch are all important  in any relationship, but whether you lean into those or not does not define who you are. That being said, I thought I was an acts of service and words of affirmation person. Turns out, that's not quite true (silly me!). Acts of s...

 Last night I had dinner with a few women. We were out together by an app, spent several weeks (with breaks for holidays!) getting to know a bit about each other, and now we are making it on our own. Are they friends? I don't know yet, but I do enjoy my time being with them and learning from them, there is always so much to learn! As the clean up from dinner/dessert was happening, one of the women gently said that she really appreciated being in a Women-Only space and feeling comfortable to share her thoughts. At first, I thought "of course you can!", but then I had several follow up thoughts that I think she might have meant: - Having a Women-Only space: there are many times in life that our space is dominated by men, even if they are the minority in the room. Somehow (silly societal expectations) they become the speaker, the leader, the center, even if they do not wish to be. I am lucky to work with many men who would gladly step to the side instead of taking center sta...

 Today was green and gluten free. Short, but I am running out of time and consciousness :) Happy Saturday to us all!

 Let me preface this by saying I had an amazing, positive day. I not only witnessed my students presenting their goals and plans to their families, but also was able to accomplish a lot of my to do list! Onto the Slice! An Open Letter to the Other Drivers on My Commute Home: Are y'all good? I never  use my horn and it's been used twice already and I'm not halfway home yet.  What makes you think you can, effectively, double-park in a major intersection because you just  realized you had to be in the left turn lane? I understand you drive a Benz, so maybe normal consequences do not traditionally apply to you, but the Maryland woman in the car behind me is willing to go THROUGH  me to teach you a lesson. Perhaps you heard her siren song as she laid on the horn from when the incident occurred to when she passed you as you prepared to U-Turn a good half mile later? I'm not trying to die today because you don't understand GPS directions on a digital screen that includ...

 Yesterday and today (yay block scheduling!) eighth graders watched TEDTalks, responded to some curated questions, and participated in a class discussion. Some had time to reflect on a sticky note, some did not, but all of the conversations were very insightful. The two TedTalks were Alex Gendler's "How to Recognize a Dystopia" and Dr. Ruha Benjamin's "Is Technology Our Savior - or Our Slayer?". While none of the classes watched both videos, there was an underlying ... understanding ... that ran through all of them.  In each class, we talked about the "tools of control" that a government can use to keep citizens "in line": surveillance, limited information, weaponry, propaganda, etc. Many students identified the harms in these "tools" and many went so far as to give specific examples. On a separate question, many students were able to identify that billionaires/the ultra-wealthy are "in it" for themselves and cannot se...

 Before I start writing my slice, I usually go through and read others that grab my interested. So many of them caught my attention today I can no longer see text on my browser tabs, just a variety of logos for different blogs/blog hosts. It is late (for me) with more to do before I sleep, so I will read those tomorrow morning! Now, to the slice for March 11! As I walked downstairs, the "cool" air hit me like a refreshing wave. When you work upstairs in an old building, you understand 80 degrees outside is more like 90 degrees inside, especially when you add 26ish bodies to the mix. Into a room filled with light and laughter, and of course  excellent snacks. Off to a table I went, settling in for the meeting. Our entry activity was a Slice! Yay Cindy, I've gotten pretty okay at those :) The timer was set for five minutes and I was ready. Here is the journey: Title: 5-Minute Timer in a Meeting 5 minutes, GO! My brain swirls so fast I can't isolate thoughts, words, or l...

 Today, I heard a song twice. This may not be unusual, but I generally only listen to music on my drive to and from work. However, today's mood called for one more listening session while prepping for tomorrow. Josh was video chatting with his mom about technology (which could be several posts in themselves) and my brain said "no more noise we didn't choose". For context, my 8th graders don't know how to not  make noise: quiet (stage) whispers, dragging furniture instead of picking it up, dragging their feet/shoes instead of picking them, and so on. In short, in went the headphones and on went the playlist. While I do have a playlist on my phone titled "Feminine Rage", that was not the playlist I put on. Instead, Spotify created one of those daily playlists titled "Dark Pop Pixie Tuesday Evening" which oddly enough, worked for me :) The song I heard twice? "Feminine Rage" by Peggy (2024). The song uses historic/mythic women's situ...

With International Women's Day being yesterday, the idea of womanhood has been on my mind. You see, I've always been a little "rough around the edges" or bordering on "unladylike behavior". I was lucky enough to have friends that didn't seem to mind, even when others made it a life goal to "fix" me. In years past, I have posted the same quote to social media for International Women's Day: "Here's to strong women: May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them." Then, I would go further to shout out the women in my family for their strength. This year though, was different. The Thursday prior, I attended a Zoom get together of women, where the topic was about the women who support us, uplift us, steady us, etc. While a few women shared about their mothers, sisters, or best friends, many more of us sat with the question for longer. Who were  the women in my life I considered strong, supportive, or steady? Am I someone my fr...

 At the beginning of this year, I knew I had to make some changes. I was surviving, but certainly not thriving in any area of my life: health, marriage, mental state, what have you. While I found an app that promised to help, Josh told me to wait and try to use an AI to help. An AI, my formerly mortal enemy sure. According to the AI, my day should be divided into three parts: the morning (pre-arriving at work), work, and then the "second" day (the few hours I get at home before I need to go to bed because I like to be at work early). With a few tweaks and parameters, the AI also suggested that I schedule time on weekends to "catch up" on my to do list of learning. If I could find a job where someone would pay me to learn about anything, or even rabbit hole, I would be set for life. In order to incorporate another goal, the AI and I also created a "Saturday Summit" - a check in with Josh to look at our week ahead and any task or event we need to plan for. T...

Today was a day packed to the brim, please enjoy this previously-scheduled Slice :) Driving back to the ol' stomping grounds takes about three and a half to four hours. I left work, husband and dog picked me up, and we headed on our way. I took a "few" moments to scroll on my phone. What all had I missed in notifications and updates in the world? I started with Threads. There are some really  funny, caring people on Threads. There are some really  passionate, innovative people on Threads. There are people  on Threads. I caught the overall news for the day and moved onto my email. Email accounts had a few messages I wanted to read, but knew I could not currently process, so I deleted the ones I did not want to keep and kept it moving. Text messages. Over 20 of them. Only two contained information that dealt with "me" (family permission for student book choices). The other 18 were group chats about other people's children or doctor's appointments or schedu...

 Today, I reached out for help. I posted on Threads and set up the situation: teacher, neurodivergent, overstimulated for several days with no end in sight. Also, that I don't really have a second to myself for the foreseeable future, so what's a strategy that can fit into any of that? Then, I asked for ideas on how to regulate myself. In total, there were 5 responses. Two gave me options to try that I thought could work, three others gave me what I consider "neurotypical advice": exercise, dress in comfy clothes, be outside, tell myself "I want to have fun too!", make a list of things you are grateful for, and so on.  So, a 54321 list adapted for my brain. Maybe not "grateful", but positive vibes. 5 bright spots in my day: How relaxed our grade-level meeting felt A compliment from another teacher that had nothing to do with teaching A student referencing the handout I gave them before asking a clarifying question A "lunch and learn" that...

  Some things in life become so routine, that it is hard to recognize them for the glorious small moments they can be. For me, that was using one of the individual bathrooms at school. We have two - technically -that teachers use and one of those we share with students. The "Staff Only" bathroom is always  occupied when I have to go, so I am accustomed to carefully, cautiously, skeptically using the shared individual bathroom, washing my hands, and either letting them air dry or using my pants to dry them. After all, 8th graders cannot be trusted with paper towels (it's true!) and I've learned too much science to use the air hand dryer.  Today, there was an opportunity for a break in the routine: the coveted "Staff Only" bathroom was available after a morning meeting, but before I had to teach! How does a girl get so lucky? One of the reasons I like this bathroom (there are, oddly, a few reasons I like it) is the hand soap you see above. I don't remember...

I received a piece of advice on my Day 2 Slice to write these beforehand or jot a little note down in the moment to remind myself. So far, I have had all of the intentions and none of the followthrough with that 😆 Speaking of jotting down notes! Today was a never-ending to do list. I'm not even sure that is a metaphor, as my list grew from 5 AM through the current state of evening/night. Upon waking up, I thought of three tasks I wanted to complete today and knew  that if I did not write them down THAT INSTANT they would be gone into the ether forever. If you ever look at my docs/notes to myself you will see a lot of half-written statements. Sometimes, this is a reminder and sometimes, it represents a thought I was too late in recording. While getting ready to head out the door, I remembered two more notes than could fit with the original three (that were added to the two leftover from yesterday). On the drive into work, it felt like every red light was a reminder of something els...

*The original version of this post used timestamps, summaries, and direct quotes from the family group chat. My anxiety got to me, so here is a summary*  To provide two pieces of context for today's slice: I have caused my parents/sister worry and concern about my "appropriateness" since I learned to talk and had opinions 😂. Also, yesterday, I sent a text in the family group chat showing a shirt I wore to work that said "Read Banned Books" to kick off "Read Across America" week (cue the concern). Today, I sent a picture in the family group chat of me wearing a "Reading Rainbow" t-shirt and a statement that while I did not have enough shirts to go all week, that was okay (otherwise, I'd end up with shirt deliveries, links, or Facebook messages out the wazoo!). My sister, who did not engage with the "Read Banned Books" of yesterday, responded to say it looked cute. I cracked a joke about hoping it encouraged my 8th graders to rea...

The car turns on. My phone connects. I reverse out of my parking spot and begin the long drive home. I have time to reflect on the day and the choices I made. I get to do this at my own speed, uninterrupted in the quiet, with only my podcast to listen to.  The mental load begins to lift as the snow drifts down. This snow will not stick, even though it is covering the grass. This snow will melt and life will continue as we know it. It is the same with the worries and concerns from the day. They too will melt and life will continue as we know it. This snow feels like a reminder, or maybe that's how I'm choosing to see the world, that everything has its season. So too, do 8th graders have seasons. I'm not sure what this one is yet, but I am living for it day by day. As the windshield wipers remove the wet, the view clears again. Focus is important, but too much focus can blind us to other possibilities. I realize, as I pull into the garage that I feel lighter. I made a choice ...

 Today being the first of the month, I sat down with my notebook to give myself my monthly "Performance Review": did I meet my goals? What went well? What needs to change? How am I going to incorporate those changes? Did I complete my to do lists efficiently? February is the shortest month, but when your mind and body feel unregulated all of the days blur together like one, big, looming disaster. Upon looking at the various trackers and notes to myself I had left on the pages, I noticed a distinct, almost two full weeks, blank space in every one of them. While I could certainly blame going out of town, I took my notebook with me. I took my regulating systems with me. Maybe I could look to other areas to shift my blame? No. This is a year of accountability. Of learning not to simply survive, but thrive alongside my neurodivergence. I reviewed each page with intention, mentally noted each misstep that led to a bigger lapse that led to the ultimate breakdown of systems and patte...