National Book Festival 2013

We had such a great, memorable time at the National Book Festival yesterday! Here's how it all started:  I was texting my sister to tell her we were almost there, when I fell flat on my face.  I should be in a PSA about the dangers of texting and walking.  It  happened right outside the Ronald Reagan Federal Building (we parked under it), so I am quite sure it was caught on camera...from numerous angles.  A security guard was on me before I even stood up, making sure I was okay.  Mostly a bruised ego, until I started walking again, and then I realized I did something to my right heel.  Ouch!! But it's the Book Festival, PRESS ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I hobbled the block and a half to the book signings, which were right on 14th Street.  At least I didn't have far to go, since, as you know, I'm all about the book signings at the festival.  I didn't even leave that area yesterday--just planted myself in lines and waited for authors.

Here's who I met:

Katherine Applegate

Katherine Applegate was so gracious!! The woman in line before me (in the picture) is also a school librarian, and we talked for a long time before the author arrived.  That was fun.  Katherine thanked us for our work.  Oh, my goodness...thanking us.  I loved, loved, loved The One and Only Ivan, and now it's on our state readers' list, so many of our students will get to love it, too.  So excited to tell the kids about her.

Margaret Atwood--I didn't meet her, but she was at the next table, so I took her picture. Her line was crazy-long.

Jon Klassen

Jon was super-friendly, too.  We were discussing how the little kids just refuse to believe that something bad happened to the rabbit.  He has experienced it, too. Then, HORROR--he noticed that we had the wrong sticker on the book.  Of course, we had the book before it won the Giesel Honor, but we put a Caldecott Honor sticker on it by mistake!! YIKES!! I will fix tomorrow at school.  

Matthew and Jennifer Holm

I didn't bring any books for the Team Holm because I was sure their line would be crazy long.  But it wasn't!  Jill ended up getting a couple Squish books signed for Toa, and then she took this great picture of them.

Hoda Kotb

I love Hoda!!! We were waiting to meet Oliver Jeffers and there was this big long line next to us.  We were wondering who they were waiting to meet, and it turned out to be Hoda.  My sister looked at them with disdain and said, "Of course.  They don't even LOOK like readers."  HA! We got some good pictures of Hoda, who was so gracious.  She's quite tall and has bright white teeth.  And what a smile! Everybody got that smile.  She was posing for pictures with people until the workers put a stop to that.  It would've taken hours for her to finish signing if she did all those pictures!

My sister and Toa with Oliver Jeffers

Oliver Jeffers signing The Incredible Book Eating Boy for me.

He was wonderful, too!! And I loved his Irish accent.  Unfortunately, it started POURING when we were getting our books signed, so everything was super-rushed.  He was the last author of the day for us, so at least we were finished waiting in lines when the skies opened.

After we finished getting books signed, we sealed everything in waterproof bags and donned our ponchos and umbrellas and headed for the car.  We had an early dinner at Carmine's (a new tradition) and were back home by 7:30.  Not a bad day, hurt foot and all.

Stupid, stupid, stupid

So I did something really stupid.  It was a moment of frustration, and I was in an ugly place.  I am embarrassed about it.  And after I was called into the principal's office, I felt full of shame.  Not from anything he said or did, but just the sheer disappointment I caused him and the bad position I put him in. I really let him down, and I let a student down, and I let myself down.

For almost the past week, I have been struggling with feelings of never wanting to go back to school.  But I made myself, because I know that's where I belong.  That's where I have belonged for the past 21 years.  But how close I came to letting it go down the toilet.

Now I know what the kids feel like when they do something wrong.  How bad they must feel, and how having someone in their corner is really so important.  Throughout the past week, my principal was my biggest cheerleader and supporter.  He was the one who got me to school, past my shame and disappointment, and back to working with kids again.

These are the important words, "You're better than this."  "You're too good for this." "We need you here." Those are the words that kept me going, that keep me going.

The New Year

I just love that teachers get two times a year for New Year's Resolutions! Of course, there's January, when the rest of the world get to make them, but just for us in the education world, we can also make them in September.  I am going to try hard this school year to be present--to do one thing at a time.  I so often try to squeeze in something else when I should just be focused on one thing.  That's my goal.  The start of the school year is always hectic, but it's been good this year.  I am feeling organized and fairly on-top of things in my library world.

Readers of this blog know that the main reason I love teaching is because I can laugh with the kids every day.  OK, sometimes I laugh at them, but mostly it's with them.  This past week, our first week with students, all teachers had to eat with their class in the cafeteria.  The specialists were visible down there, too, as it should be.  I ate with a group of kindergartners on the first day, and when I sat down next to this little boy, he looked me up and down and said, "Are you a kid?"  HA!! I just love the cluelessness of these kindergartners!! Just too cute!

This year, for the first time, my principal asked for a copy of my pacing guide add to our staff shared drive.  Usually, I make one, but just for myself, as I go.  Since my lessons are always based off what's going on in the classrooms, my map depends on the classroom activities.  But whatever...I pretty much know when the teachers are teaching what, so I've been working on that for the past week.  Non-stop!! I want it to be great, so the details are taking me a lot of time.  I've been going through the state curriculum and aligning each lesson to it (no Common Core for us!) carefully.