Truth: It's hard to be a creative risk-taker in January.  I have so many grindish tasks in January that don't really invite creative risks.  One of those tasks I've been working on all weekend.  It's report cards.  It's not that I don't love my students and think they're fascinating - I totally do!  It's just that I've written 21 single-spaced pages in 3 days.  Usually, I start early and spread the task over a week, which can be quite pleasant.  But, this year I was doing other grind-like things during the week before the due date and three of us in the family got a energy-sapping virus.  So, I have to do them all in one long weekend. Sigh.

To accomplish all of the work-related grinds, I stopped writing my book, stopped practicing violin, and in the last three days, stopped exercising.

Here's the plus: I have witnessed creative risk-taking on the hockey rink by both Shef and Mac.  I've taken breaks from the report cards to watch their dangles, goals, saves, and cellies.  So, there's that.

I feel like I've done a pretty good job of embracing my identity as a creative risk-taker.  Unfortunately,  I've been too encumbered lately to really act like a creative risk-taker.  It's that time of year when there are a bazillion meetings, grades and narrative comments, yearbook deadlines, new units... To be honest, I've been a bit run down by those serious obligations.

Still, I'm confident in my sankalpa. I don't think I have to prove my creative risk-taking in order to adopt this identity. Just in case, here are some creative risk-taking actions I've embraced:

• I've been reading a book about the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching young children.  There are a couple of practices I'm excited to try with my middle schoolers.  One is documentation, wherein the teacher writes about and photographs the learning that happens in the classroom.  This can be a good way, the Reggio people say, to get parents on your side.  It works because they see what's happening and buy in and want to be a part of it.

• I agreed to help my boss think about how to infuse reflection on life skills - things like resilience, curiosity, teamwork, and time management - into our parent-teacher-student conferences.  It actually occurred to me that we could use the Reggio practice of documentation to help us structure productive conferences in which kids can really reflect on life skills, with traditional academics on the side.  I don't really want to talk to sixth grade families and kids about straight As.  Who cares?  Let's talk abut whole people.

• I'm hitting publish on this entry even though I don't really have a 3rd bullet point.  You're supposed to have 3 to do a bulleted list.  But, today I only have two.  Oh well!  I'm a creative risk-taker.

Friday was a major creative risk-taking kind of day.  We installed a #MigrantCrisis Instagram wall outside our classroom.  This was a week-long research project which culminated in a community art project.  See photo by KK below:



As part of my duties as facilitator, I had to use spray glue.  Here's the truth: I do not enjoy using adhesives under aerosol pressure.  Besides having to spray from the correct distance and with the nozzle pointing in the correct direction, I had to spray it outside in freezing temperatures because of the pungent fumes.

Basically, I took a creative risk, especially with the glue.  Another adhesive risk was taken by using velcro to put the Instagram posts on the wall.  We think it'll hold.  I'm basing this on a teacher's review of the particular velcro product I purchased.  The teacher used it to build shelves, a reading corner, and basically her entire classroom.  All held together by velcro.  Certainly it can hold some cardboard and paper.  We only need it to hold for a year.

Geez!  Back to school has been fun and furious.  I've thought about my sankalpa, "I am a creative risk-taker" each day, and yesterday, in its spirit, I addressed some common middle school problems head on.

I passed one research group and noticed an offensive smell.  "Someone keeps farting," Michelle reported.

"I smell that," I said.  "If you need to use the bathroom, you can sign out."

In spite of my friendly advice about minimizing smells, I noticed members of that group with their shirts pulled up over their faces like gas masks for the next 20 minutes.  Things were getting out of control.  At the same time, Robin got an email asking for feedback on a student in the same class who has persistent body odor.

"Oh for goodness sake," Robin said.  "Let's just handle this."  Because I'm a creative risk-taker, I agreed.

A few minutes later, I rang the bell for attention.  "Close your Chrome Books," I sang.  "This is critical."  I did a few-minutes-long monologue about the realities of sixth grade.  If your tummy is rumbling, you need to excuse yourself, rather than letting it rip in the classroom.  We all have b.o. from time to time, it's natural!  Let's make sure we're wearing deodorant that's an antiperspirant, as well.  Sometimes, Robin added, you need to reapply deodorant after lunch.  I keep it in my desk drawer!  You have to wash your clothes, I added.  Shower at least every-other day - get the soap in your pits.

"Are you trying to make us feel uncomfortable?" asked Michelle.

"This isn't uncomfortable," I said.  "It's life!  Should I cover any other puberty-related topics while I'm at it?  Should we move onto menstruation?"  Everyone, as it turns out, was happy to return to their work.

In 2014, I joined Lee in practicing sankalpa.  Sankalpa comes from yoga, with its origins all the way back in the Vedas, and it's about awakening your true nature.  My 2014 sankalpa was "I am intentional." Basically, I started being deliberate with my time.  Looking back on it, it had real staying power.  At the end of the 24 days, I had a whole different conception of time, a conception that still enriches my life and helps me be my true self.

I'm totally serious.

So, my 2016 sankalpa came to me as I was waking up this morning.  It's "I am a creative risk-taker." It's about letting go of fear and competition, and instead embracing my identity as a thinker, a teacher, and a writer.

I'm trying to think of a joke to go with this post because that's usually what I do - I write amusing little anecdotes.  But, maybe today, because I'm a creative risk-taker, I'm just telling you clearly and directly what's up next for me in this space.  So, there you go.