6 traits of writing with playdough...who would have thought?

When I was at the Beijing teacher's conference I went to a workshop that focused alot on the writing process and the six traits of writing. The speaker had SO many practical ideas that I was able to put into action right when I returned to school that following week. In one writing workshop mini-lesson, I was able to teach my kids the concept of brainstorming, creating, fixing, adding, changing, and even commenting. Guess what we used......playdough! When we transfered the activity into showing that they do all of these things as writers, I could see the light bulbs turn on in their heads...there were a lot of "hey...wait a minute" comments going on around the room :)

First I gave each of them a ball of playdough and a paper plate. I said "create something...anything." After a while, I said "now add something to your creation." After they added their creative touches, I said "now change or remove something" (you could hear the sad sighs). After a few more steps and touches, I had them write a title to their creation on the top. When everyone was satisfied with what they had made, we cycled the paper plates through the classroom for the students to write comments to their playdough masterpieces. It was so adorable how they really got into this part! They had so many questions, and wondering comments to write down that the plate filled up rather quickly (aside from the simple fact that 1st grade students write very big). After looking at their recieved comments, they went back and made some changes so that their "lookers" (future readers) would not be confused. Here's how our published playdough masterpieces turned out:

Dumplings

"Who will eat that?"

"Where is the spoon?"

Spot Muddy

"Why is the mud pink?"

"Oh no! You wrote on the playdough!"

Play ball Monster

"Where is the face?"

"What is his favorite ball?"

"Is it a scary monster?"

The Gingerbread Man

"Why is he brown?"

"Why does he not have ears?"

Here is a picture of our writing process pencil. This (hopefully) helps to keep their writing all flowing together in one general direction.

Always ready to give an answer

As we just finished up the first round of parent teacher conferences this past week (and with only 7 to do instead of the 20 like last year!), I had a lot of time to sit and reflect. My rambling thoughts were somewhat in the direction of "what would I have said last year if a parent asked me this same question?" Questions such as:

"What are your methods for teaching a balanced literacy program?"

"What is your pedagogy?"

"What is your philosophy for teaching students how to read and write?"

"Why do you teach _____ the way you do?"

"Can you explain the meaning of this bulletin board/display?"

All I could think of was.....Praise Him that I was not asked these types of questions last year! But that's just it! He prepared me enough that I could not only answer each question, but I could with confidence. Last year, he granted me challenges yet nothing that I could not handle. In his own timing, he added to the challenge but prepared and provided for me to the same degree! What a sweet relief to actually be ready to give a confident answer to the knowledge and passion that I had. Sometimes it is so hard to describe the heartbeat and passion to teach their child in one small parent/teacher conference - there just is not enough time (especially when a 1/3 of the time is taken away from your words being translated two ways before getting to the parent).

Then like my thoughts always tend to do.....one thought lead to another. I held this great passion for teaching, and I was confidently ready to give an answer when I was challenged with a critical or overprotective parent. Yet would I be that confident and ready to give an answer to the TRUE hope that was in my heart? 1 Peter 3:15 says to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

I sincerely hope that I am prepared to give an answer for both my teaching and the Truth.

Hot Pot

In China, it is a common meal to have a pot of boiling water (with spices) in the middle of the table while the raw meat and vegetables sit nearby. This whole process of "eating fresh out of the pot" is called Hot Pot - how creative huh? About a 2 minute bike ride from our apartment there is a hot pot restaurant, yet it is a bit of a different experience for two main reasons: 1) Instead of ordering your food, you shop for it like in a grocery store; and 2) instead of one big pot in the center of the table, each person gets their own "mini pot" to eat from. Here are a few of the pics from tonight that I was able to capture before my camera died.

Shopping for some noodles...yum :)

Now for the meat.

While it looks like we eat like rabbits with only spinach on our table, we DID order other things as well!

Good ole MSG ;)

Making our own dippins'

Phase 10 on the Train

When it comes to train rides in China, I always get into this inward thought process of "Do I want to start talking? We still have 4 hours left to go, and I'm trapped here in this seat......man, she's talking to me...should I pretend like I don't understand? Oh no! I said something! Now I have to keep talking! There goes my plan to just zone out to my favorite novels or tv shows on the laptop." Embarrassing or not, this is the cold hard truth when you sit next to Chinese people on trains.

To our surprise, our latest train experience was nothing short of exhilarating as we taught the lady sitting next to us the game Phase 10, while she gave us a LONG time to practice (and maximize) our Chinese language abilities. The game is a very exhaustive game as it is, so it felt like an eternity when she meticulously watched each round that we went through. Trying to describe the difference between a set and a run, and then what to do when you don't get your phase, was harder than we thought! Many times Dave and I would just look at each other, shrug our shoulders, then look back at her as all three of us burst out laughing. She decided to join in the fun on the second round....interesting the crowd of people around us to come and watch. What a fun and memorable train ride!

Maybe my perspective has changed a bit with how much I engage in conversation when traveling. Now I at least know to always have some American games handy!

Granted what we don't deserve

It has been hitting me lately...the whole concept of living in the fullness of His grace. We are so undeserving, so undesirable, so pathetic even....yet we are given the opportunity to live within the realm of His glorious riches and abounding love. How in the world did we ever deserve this? We don't! That's just it....that's the beauty of it all. At the same time, I feel as though I am reminded...daily...of where I stand in comparison to his holiness. Boy, is that the sure smackdown that will make you fall flat on your face. "Oh, yeah.....this is what I REALLY am...." I think to myself as I sit there waiting for Him to once again clothe my vulnerable spirit with his grace.

About a month ago, all of the ISC schools in China got together for a teacher's conference in Beijing. It was a wonderful weekend of catching up with old friends, gaining new insights for our classrooms, and getting away for a bit to shop and explore the city. Aside from the conference itself, I want to focus on the reason why I am even writing this post. That weekend, both Dave and I were given a very tangible reminder of how He grants us what we don't deserve when it came to our hotel room. Take a look for yourself. We walk in the room and our jaws dropped. Our first words were "We shouldn't have this! This definitely can't be for us! What did we do to deserve two floors in our hotel room?!?"

And while we still can't figure out why we were given such a glorious room (and other couples who had been in China longer had a normal standard room) we were ever so grateful and reminded of His blessings!

What you see below is the room that we moved to the day after the conference was over (we stayed in Beijing one extra day). It was a hostel...something that we could afford....something we "deserved". There is more to the story at why we got such a low grade room with a single bed, but that's not the point. While we were granted an overabundance of blessing the three previous days with a two floor loft room, we were now humbly placed back into reality. I am so glad that He does that for us. Kindly reminding us that what we physically can provide for on our own does not even compare to his abounding riches in glory! What a truth to cling to.... to wake up every morning with new abilities, strength, and blessings that had nothing to do with me.

Sometimes you just need to buy two...

One fun thing about being married is finding the pet peeves and/or quirks in your spouse. At least once a week...never fails, I hear something about how he can't believe I squeeze my toothpaste tube like a tightened fist instead of smoothing it all the way to the top. Never in my life did I think that would be one of the differences in husband and wife. I always thought it would be something like leaving the clothes on the floor or not washing the dishes. Nope....ours is the toothpaste. That is why you see we have two separate tubes. Sometimes life is better that way :)

Can you guess which one is mine?

Making Jiaozi with our Landlords

What a blessing it is to not only have landlords that provide a home for us, but also: wash our screens every winter, call to check up on us, invite us out for 5 course meals, teach us how to make jiaozi in their own home, and call us their children ("nimen shi womende haizi"). Listening to stories of how other people have a lot of stress and stubborn ignorance from their landlords, really helped us to feel grateful for the blessing we have. When the four of us get together, there is an atmosphere of mixed laughter and stumbling through words to communicate further than the smiles and hand motions. What makes it so comical is the fact that they know about as much English as we know Chinese...so the converstion is present....just.....a.....hmmm......uuhhhh.......little........what's that word again......staggered. Below you will see pictures of the most recent time with them. They invited us over to their house to teach us how to make jiaozi (Chinese dumplings). This is a very common meal here in China, and you can have it all sorts of ways with a variety of stuffing inside. This allows much creativity for the Americans...Dave and I were brainstorming after we left..."What if we could stuff the jiaozi with pizza?" "What about turning them into little ravioli's?" The possibilities are endless!

The four of us ;)

She was insistent that I wear the apron. I felt silly wearing it, but privileged to be ALL aboard with her jiaozi lesson!

First rolling out the dough....

Getting ready to start rolling them flat with the rolling pin. Dave did such a great job documenting this night! Thanks hon!

Rollin, rollin, rollin. All I kept hearing was "hen hao!!" (very good!)

Setting them to steam.

Enjoying the final product. We felt so proud of our jiaozi...and we even had enough to take home. Wait, I take that back. We had more to take home then we had on our plate!

Dave and I did actually go out and buy the fixings to make our own jiaozi at home. Looking forward to what we will create!