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March 2018 Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC).
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days.
A big thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing this unique opportunity
for teacher-writers to share and reflect.
I grabbed my phone from where it had been charging all night and it had no charge whatsoever.
I didn't expect that!
Today started off with one bad surprise after another.
Getting ready for work, I put on my last pair of clean socks and my heel when right through one of them.
I didn't expect that!
Getting ready for work, I put on my last pair of clean socks and my heel when right through one of them.
I didn't expect that!
I grabbed my phone from where it had been charging all night and it had no charge whatsoever.
I didn't expect that!
At the metro station, I scanned my metro card but the turnstile did not unlock...I almost flipped over the outstretched arms of that machine - oh my!
I didn't expect that!
Sitting on the metro, I hear my stop announced; I stand up to leave my seat, but my seat mate does not budge to let me out - I am confused momentarily, only to look down at him and realize he is sound asleep...I tapped his shoulder, woke him up, and raced out of the train, almost missing my stop entirely.
I didn't expect that!
I walked to school from the metro station in freezing cold wind...isn't it March 14th? What in the world?!
I didn't expect that!
As I walked along, I found myself thinking about how hard it is for young children to handle changes like this...especially, young children with special needs such as autism spectrum. How do you ready them for the unexpected? Every day is a surprise, really! Every day is filled with the unexpected. And some days, it is just one thing after the other. You do what you can do to have routine, patterns, organization...but the best-laid plans go awry. Perhaps the best thing to do is find a way to respond to these changes in a soothing way. For me, it's laughter. I try to find something funny about the situation, I try not to take myself too seriously...and, honestly, I think my flip over the turnstile would have been so funny!
I didn't expect that!
As I walked along, I found myself thinking about how hard it is for young children to handle changes like this...especially, young children with special needs such as autism spectrum. How do you ready them for the unexpected? Every day is a surprise, really! Every day is filled with the unexpected. And some days, it is just one thing after the other. You do what you can do to have routine, patterns, organization...but the best-laid plans go awry. Perhaps the best thing to do is find a way to respond to these changes in a soothing way. For me, it's laughter. I try to find something funny about the situation, I try not to take myself too seriously...and, honestly, I think my flip over the turnstile would have been so funny!
Love the pattern you adopted to write this piece! It really works. Your sense of humor is so present. It would be a fun slice but then you took it further as you reflected on children who struggle to cope with the unexpected- that was a powerful "twist."
ReplyDeleteYour post gave me the opportunity to visualize what went on in your early morning travel to work. I'm not sure that a flip over the turnstile would have been funny. You might have gotten hurt.
ReplyDeleteSome days are like that. Here's to tomorrow being a day of delightful surprises. You deserve that after the start of this day.
ReplyDelete"I think my flip over the turnstile would have been so funny!" I didn't expect that!
ReplyDeleteLove the repetition in this post and the important reminder about children at the end.