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It’s Thanksgiving! Let the cooking, eating and bickering begin.
“Lovely family time.” It’s what we say when we get annoyed with each other in the Rausin house. Now that my children are young adults they see us much differently than they did when they were little. Ahh, to be able to go back to the time when Eric and I could do no wrong… Nope, they see all our flaws and what’s worse–we raised them so they share many of those same flaws or should I say interesting personality traits. Here’s the story of this Thanksgiving. Or why Arielle’s at the grocery store Thanksgiving Eve at 8:17 pm. For the past few months Eric’s been excited about cooking with Arielle for Thanksgiving.…
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Life Lessons From Students
Cheers and jeers erupted throughout the classroom as I read the last two pages of MYSTIC. My emotions were running deep. It had been a long time since I read the ending of my own book. Surprised at my reaction and theirs, happy they were emotionally invested in the story and had opinions on the ending, and teary because the ending…the theme…is about self acceptance and the story hits close to home. I opened up a discussion on why MYSTIC ends as it does, trying to get them to see deeper into the story. This particular class was a high energy class. A mixture of 6th through eighth graders; the most challenging class…
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Classroom Inclusion
Part 2 of my Goodbye to Teaching post. My thoughts on inclusion. I’ve been to many different classrooms in many different schools as a sub for the last five years. I was an elementary teacher for five years before that. I believe in classroom inclusion. I don’t even like ability ranking. I think we should tell students what they’re capable of instead of what they’re not capable of. Multiple Intelligence classrooms help students understand their own unique way of learning. As one student said to me, “We’re all smart in our own way. Right, Ms. Rausin?” Right. When I taught elementary there were some teachers who did not welcome students who were in an isolated ESE room…
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Saying Goodbye to Teaching
My time teaching is coming to an end. One more week and then my mornings will be spent editing my YA (Young Adult) novel, getting it ready for an editor’s eye. How lucky was I to get to read Mystic to 6th graders for the past seven weeks? Little did I know how much stress it would cause. Every time one of the students asked, “Are we reading Mystic today?” I would hold my breath and hope for a positive response. So far so good. I haven’t received any sighs or jeers. Perhaps they’re savvy enough not to hurt my feelings. I will miss all the, “Hi, Ms. Rausin’s” and even the hugs. I’m more…
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Don’t wait for the door to open. Open It!
From the time I was young, there was always this feeling that someone was going to come along and sweep me off my feet, or I’d be discovered by an agent and get a role in a movie, or maybe even win the lottery and become a millionaire. It’s a fun dream that requires little effort. It’s rarely the reality. When I became a teacher, I’d watch students jot down two or three sloppy sentences when asked to summarize, hand it in and expect an A. It was then that I began talking about effort. There seemed to be an expectation of a reward without the work. The reality is…
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The Blessing of a Friend
Today I spent the afternoon with my friend. We’ve known each other for eighteen years, raised our children together, laughed and cried together, been to countless birthdays, many graduations, and even took a cruise together. Even though she teases me and says, had she known I was ten months younger all those years ago when we first met, she would have ditched me so she could be the youngest mom in our circle of friends, I know she loves me because she’s willing to sit with me for hours while I sign books at a craft fair. When people asked about my new book, she answered, showing them all of Muza’s…
