Stick-It Notes & Reading

I have two loves (besides my husband and beautiful children) - stick-it notes (I go through them like nobody's business) and reading.  Feeling inspired by Principal Jessica Johnson's Twitter posts (@PrincipalJ), I have merged these two loves.

Principal Johnson recently tweeted pictures of how she decorated her door to show her students what books she was reading.  Since my office door is tucked away, this didn't work for me.  However, our awesome librarian allowed me to use some space in our library instead.  I created the poster below to show students what I finished reading, what I am currently reading, and to get their suggestions of what I should read next (enter the stick-it notes).  Here's a look at my poster.  On the finished reading section, I included a summary of the book.  On the now I am reading section, I put some information about why I picked the book.

Then the most awesome thing happened.  Just a few hours after the poster went up, our librarian told me the kids were loving writing recommendations.

After two weeks, I have received over 130 book recommendations.  I'm not really sure how I'm going to read that many books, but I'm really excited that the kids are talking about reading.  Many of the stick-it notes have explanations of why I should pick their recommendation, and often kids are working with friends to write recommendations together.  Which means they are talking about the books together.  Awesome!

Enough typing.  Time to get back to my reading.  I have quite a long list.

I Lied to a Girl Scout Mom

I admit it.  I did it.  I lied to a perfectly nice, lovely Girl Scout mom.  I didn't mean to do it.  It just slipped out.  It wasn't a mean lie, but it was still a lie.

What is this horrible lie you are probably wondering?

The mom commented on what a good reader my daughter was, and I responded with something about how we were "lucky" that she "just happened to love reading."  Not the big, juicy lie I am sure you were anticipating, but it was still a lie.  My daughter does love reading, but it wasn't a result of luck.  It happened because we read each night together as a family.

Why didn't I tell the mom this?  I didn't want to brag.  This is something that I think happens with a lot of educators.  Whether it is with our families, our classrooms or our schools, we have good things happening, but because we are humble, we don't talk about it.  We don't want to appear to be too boastful or full of ourselves.

What can we do to change this?  After all, we should change this attitude right?  If something is working, we should share it.  We need to change our mindset.  Sharing our accomplishments shouldn't be viewed as bragging.  It should be seen as sharing.   

I think social media is helping us learn to share our successes.  Through Pinterest, Twitter, and blogs, more and more educators are sharing with one another, and this is great.  Let the sharing continue!  Now I just need to be brave enough to share face to face.  No more lying to Girl Scout moms for me.