I think those are the greatest words a teacher will ever hear....
Or at least, I thought they were pretty profound words this past Friday when they appeared on my computer screen. Friday started out as any other mundane Friday, I have not been feeling well for quite some time so I figured I would run by Wal-Mart on the way in to work and grab some cough drops. Not a smart move, as this took longer than anticipated and I left without any cough drops. School started without any glitches, but that didn't last long since it was Friday and with any Friday my students would have rather played than listened and participated during literacy time. Planning, well planning turned out to be anything but planning time as I volunteered to help another teacher out by taking notes during a "short" meeting which was followed up by a parent conference. By the time I made it back to my classroom to check my email and look over my lesson plans for the day I had less than 10 minutes to catch my breath and compose myself. Was this how the remainder of the day was going to go? And, there it was.....on my computer screen, nestled between the current events email from Izzit.org and the New York Times, "Permission to re-publish your work."
I nearly fainted; I thought about screaming, but refrained for fear of scaring someone half to death. I did, however do the happy dance and sing a little made up song. "I'm getting published, I'm getting published." I know, I know its kind of corny. I get it!
The news could not have came at a better time though. My students and I have been working on Historical Fiction Short Stories. The kids and I have been pouring our hearts out into our writing and as anyone whom has ever written knows it can be a "beast". Writing is hard! Writing is painstaking work, sometimes you just want to quit, which is what some of my kids had wanted to do last week. Receiving the email from Media Literacy Clearinghouse requesting permission to re-publish a piece of work that I had co-authored with a friend of mine a couple of years back on the day my students were to hand in their rough drafts was perfect. It allowed me to show them that it is all worth it; every paper cut, every head-ache, every waded up piece of paper, every failed attempt, they were all worth it.
So, yes "Permission to re-publish your work" was the greatest words that I could have heard last Friday. Not for me