Making orange juice #sol15

Today was a make orange juice out of oranges kind of day (see how I very cleverly turned the lemons to lemonade analogy into oranges to orange juice for the sake of the Slice of Life Challenge), so let's just skip to the end of the school day... My LA teammates and I did some intervention together with a small group. Originally, the three of us came in with less than happy hearts. Our plans were shot, and we were scrambling.  I have to say, however, that for me, it quickly turned into orange juice. While the three of us were sitting with our 8 or so kids, we made it kind of like a campfire moment. We all gathered in a circle and just talked about what the word 'narrative' means and what good writers put into narratives. We discussed what it should look like or sound like when you are writing about a small moment and how to know if we are 'doing it right' Were we thinking about seed stories or big ol' watermelon stories? Our small group became more animated and engaged the more they talked and we listened. I realized today that I don't do enough listening to my students, and it really is ok if the way they interpret my fabulous and meticulously planned lessons do not exactly match my vision for the perfect day ;).

There are always going to be oranges, so I need to work harder on making orange juice!