I thought today could be the day I gave up. I waited all day for the ideas to come. Up until today, I’ve always been one day ahead in writing. The ideas have been flowing…until today. When I got home from picking Wren up from a friend’s house, I consulted my Sunday to-do list on the counter. I still had to shower and prep dinner for the next day. A lot hinges on the Sunday to-do list. Even though I didn’t have slicing on the list, it was on my mind. I thought about it the whole time I was showering. “Would anyone notice if I skipped a day?” I wondered.

I’d notice. That was enough.

But then I got an idea, inspired by my friend Tracey, who has had her husband guest-write a few times this month. I called down to my family. “Does anyone want to do a job for me?” I asked. I could hear the groans.

“What kind of job?” Adi asked.

I told them I needed someone to write a slice-of-life for me. “Maybe you and Rose can work with Dad and write about the UCONN game you were all just so excited about.”

Arnauld politely declined, but Rose and Adi were excited to write. “Mine is going tomorrow,” Rose declared, and before an argument could ensue, I told them they could both post tomorrow. I set them up in a shared Google Doc, warned them that they couldn’t fight, and left them to write.

I peeked in at them a few times and was pleasantly surprised to see them taking the job seriously.

Adi finished first. She was excited for me to read what she wrote. I complimented several parts and asked if she wanted a tip. After sharing my tip, she said, “This isn’t some amazing writing teacher thing,” and she walked away.

After Rose finished up, I tried my conferring again. She took the bait and let me help her rework her ending to give her piece more focus…without losing her voice, which shines loud and clear.

And just like that, I had a slice plus two bonuses…

I guess I answered my question from a few days ago…what would you do for a slice?

Ask for help!

Rose

This is Rose. I’m going to tell you about school. In school, we are learning about how to find equivalent fractions. I’m not good at it, but my teacher told me to never give up, so I never did.  And then my friend asked what the answer was and I gave her some sass. I said, “Why do you think I am going to give you the answer?”         So I was so happy I didn’t give her the answer because I got it wrong.  But then I thought I was in trouble because my teacher pulled me up to the table.  She said, “Work on your number lines. Ok!”  I was so mad because she said the number line is your friend, but in my head, I was like, “Heck no!” (But that was in my head.)  So what was I supposed to do?  That was the worst moment of my life.  In my head, I said, “The number line is my enemy because I do not know how to use a number line, but she said she would teach me how to use it.”  But boy was it complicated.      When I went back to my seat, I was doing another equivalent fraction. I realized that if you do a number line on top of a number line, it’s simpler than just thinking about it in your head. It finally clicked. Maybe number lines are actually my friend after all.

Adi

“Do you think UCONN is going to win?” I asked my dad.  “That is a tough question,” he replied.  “They are going to lose,” I said with confidence.  “They are only down 19 points. A lot can change in 10 minutes. Remember this is basketball,” my dad said.  “Yea, yea I know that they are going to lose. But I really want them to win,” I thought.  As time passed, the score got closer and closer. There were now 27 seconds left in the game, and UCONN was down by 3 points. Are they actually going to win? I was standing up, screaming, ”Shoot!”  “Pass!” “Come on!”  Before I knew it, UCONN  scored a foul shot. Two points.” Can they do it?” I kept saying to myself.  3 seconds left… pass, shoot and…SCORE!  “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” I screamed. “I can’t  believe they won!” After 10 minutes of celebrating… I thought about what my dad said earlier in the game, “A lot can change in 10 minutes.” He was right.