Every February
as the calendar rolls toward March
my dear friend Sally
arrives at my classroom door
with a calendar and a set of orange stickers.
The gesture is a simple one:
“I want you to write”
Sally is saying.
There is one sticker for each day of the March
Slice of Life Story Challenge.
The ritual is 7 or 8 years old.
It is so satisfying seeing sticker after sticker
pile up with each published slice.
However,
Sally may not realize
there is a deeper strength
to the little orange dots.
Each sticker is a reminder that someone
wants to read my words, hear my voice.
When I think about the power of acknowledgment,
I recommit to give every student
words of recognition,
time to express themselves,
a platform to shout their words into existence.
Thank you Sally
for my dots
for your steadfast friendship
for the gentle nudge
to keep speaking up.
A Reading Life 
A perfect way for little to get involved and for us old ones as well. The little voice of encouragement makes such a difference.
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This is great and joyful!
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Love this! How fun that she provides them for you and wants you to write. What a great friend. I should do something like this for myself!
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Beth, that is so beautiful. Sally is a good friend and acknowledger, isn’t she? What a blessing that you get to work with her. I love how this small act encourages you today to continue to be an attentive writing teacher.
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Oh, Beth! I am SO, so glad I found your slice today. I borrowed someone else’s idea of checking out the three slices under my comment and this was meant to be!
I even read your poem aloud to two other colleagues who are also slicing and we were all so moved with your words. What a great idea to have a calendar with stickers and how wonderful to have someone like Sally in your life.
Thank you for sharing!
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This verse: When I think about the power of acknowledgment,
I recommit to give every student
words of recognition,
time to express themselves,
a platform to shout their words into existence.
I also have one of Sally’s calendars and orange dot strips, and aso love it! But this verse reveals how you take it to a whole other place of significance. The word ‘recommit’ is a profound word.
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Beth, your kind words brought tears to my eyes as I read your slice today. So glad we work together and I can share orange dots with you!! And Fran is right. YOU take it to a new level with your students.
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Yes!!! Your voice is out here every single day and we are reading!! Let the magic of the orange dots propel you!
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I cannot agree more!!! I am planning on slicing about the SAME thing! I’m not even at your school, and somehow Sally gets me that calendar with the sunny dots! It makes me so happy that now I place orange dots in students’ notebooks to get them slicing. Love this powerful stanza- “When I think about the power of acknowledgment,
I recommit to give every student
words of recognition,
time to express themselves,
a platform to shout their words into existence.”
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I couldn’t agree more. I’d go as far to say if it weren’t for Sally, I would have never joined this community seven years ago. Her inspiration fuels my writing and her encouragement keeps me coming back.
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