Some years it's more difficult to pull a door together than others.   When I look at this particular door, it brings me back to one of the darkest times in my life...

     It was the Hollywood Year...
     I had been going through something I never thought I'd ever be going through- divorce.  It was the saddest time in my life.  I needed to move out of the family home that my kids grew up in and move into a rental home.  That totally broke my heart.  I found myself going through and packing up 20 plus years of memories and "stuff" on my own that summer.  That in itself was brutal.  Then came the kicker...  I was told that all of the fourth grades would be moving out of the intermediate schools and into the primary schools that year.  I had been in my classroom for over ten years, and to say that my room was full of supplies, resources and "stuff" would be an understatement.   So, I spent that summer packing up my life- both at home and at school.  There were boxes wherever I turned.
     You would think that creating a door would be the very last thing on my mind that summer.  But actually, it was just the opposite...

     Movies and Hollywood have always been a passion of mine, so I decided to do a theme that would truly bring me joy as I worked on it.  So, in the rare spare time that I had that summer, I spray-painted giant Oscars and created Mann's Chinese Theater.  I scoured the craft stores for gray poster board and paint to recreate the cement handprints that the celebrities made.   And as I packed up boxes, I would think about ideas and activities that would bring my classroom to life that year.  I kept a notepad with me to jot down my ideas, and my motivation to get through all the packing and unpacking was to finally get to work on my classroom and my door.  That's what made me happy and kept me going.

Once again, my photos were not very good, but if you look closely, there is an actual picture of Mann's Theater hanging on the wall.  There was also a photo of the celebrity handprints and the actual Academy Award statues for the children to see.

   Cutting out mini Oscars as I watched TV late into those summer nights brought me peace and comfort.  It took me away from the packing and the anxiety that filled my mind during the days.  As a teacher, I have always needed to calm myself and give myself the time and space to decompress and create.  That's the part of teaching that sometimes gets lost as we try to jam the curriculum into our hectic days.   The summer has always been my time to rejuvenate my creative juices, and that summer was no different.  I just had to work a little harder to find the time to give to myself.

 

My co-teacher, Mary and me.  We were both exhausted!  She was pregnant with her first little girl, and I was just physically and mentally drained.  I was so grateful that we had each other to lean on!

      Being able to express myself creatively has been a true gift in my life.  I come from a very artistically talented family.  My sisters can sew, draw, cook, and decorate their homes like pros.  My brother can write, produce, direct and analyze movies, among other things.  And I, well I can make a cool bulletin board.  I always thought I got the short end of the artistic gene pool, but I finally see that my creativity is just as valuable, it's just very different. I am incredibly grateful that I am able to share this part of myself with my students every year.  I have been surrounded by the most talented and creative colleagues my entire career.  I love to see what special and unique lessons they are creating every day in their classrooms!
     I wish the world could witness and appreciate these extraordinarily unique talents that teachers everywhere share with their students every single day.  I am in total awe when I watch a passionate teacher do their thing!  I only wish there was an Academy Award for them.