Big news!

Amanda and I have some exciting news to share – Yellow Door Art Market in Berkley, Michigan is now selling “Stories from Room 114.”  Yellow Door Art Market promotes over 60 Michigan artists, and we are thrilled to be included!

-Lisa

City Year Detroit Fundraiser

For the second year in a row, I have helped to plan a fundraiser for an organization called City Year at Fountain Bistro.  The event is on June 16th and goes from 6:30 – 9:30pm.  It will be a blast with live blues by Delta 5, a delicious assortment of hors d’oeuvres, a wonderful silent auction, and some great company.  Beer, wine, and mixed drinks are also included in the $50 admission.  Over the past four years the event has raised nearly $30,000.  This year, the event is a month later, which will really allow us to enjoy the beauty of Campus Martius Park in the Summer including the Beach.

If you aren’t familiar with City Year, it is an organization that allows college age adults to spend a year providing service to the community as Corp Members.  The Corps Members are placed in poor, low performing schools around the city and inner ring suburbs where they focus on assisting those students most in danger of dropping out.  City Year’s programs give children, who the system is failing, a strong chance to succeed.  Their programs have a proven track record of success that is backed up by both qualitative and quantitative data. I sincerely believe that this is one of the programs that is helping to turn around the education system in Detroit and to level the playing field for kids in the city.

I wanted to post about this great event because I believe many of our followers out there are people who care about Detroit.  I would love to have you join us for what is sure to be a great time supporting a truly worthy cause.  If you are interested in attending, please sign up online.  If you can’t come and want to make a donation, you can do so on the Eventbrite sign up page linked above. Any amount you can donate helps.

I wish my teacher knew...

A few days ago CNN released an article about Kyle Schwartz, a third grade teacher, who asked her students to complete the sentence “I wish my teacher knew ____.”  I was inspired by this teacher and eager to try the same activity in my classroom.  During a mini-lesson, my first graders and I talked about the prompt, and I let them know that anything they said would be between them and me. 

I have to say that if you are a teacher, regardless of what age, you should really take five minutes to complete this activity with your students.  I was reminded that my babies are just six with statements such as “I wish Ms. Fiema knew that I like my PS3.”  I was hurt by some with responses like “I wish Ms. Fiema knew that my brother is mean to me.  He is always punching me.” and “I wish Ms. Fiema knew that sometimes I need someone to talk to.”  Of course I felt special by proclamations of love and admiration toward myself.  But with all of that being said, the one that stands out and I will hold dear is the post-it from one of my sweet little ones that said “I wish Ms. Fiema knew that I believe in myself and I am brave.”

This quick and simple writing assignment opened my eyes, and I’m going to have opportunities to have some honest conversations with my kids.  I always want my kids to know that I am someone that they can speak to without hesitation, and I hope that more teachers and parents take the chance to do the same. 

-Lisa

SMEA Conference

Today, Amanda and I headed to my home away from home - East Lansing!  We presented our book at the SMEA (Student Michigan Education Association) conference.  The day was a fun experience, and it was great to be around so many future educators.  

-Lisa

It's a celebration!

Amanda and I would like to thank everyone who was able to make it out to celebrate "Stories from Room 114."  It's because of your kindness, generosity, love, and support that we have seen success.  

Our next set of books have arrived, and we are ready for more orders.  You can purchase books through PayPal or on Amazon.
PayPal - Stories from Room 114

Amazon - Stories from Room 114

Here's a glimpse into our celebration!
-Lisa

That was fast!

Good afternoon friends, family, and Stories from Room 114 readers!  This weekend, Lisa and I announced that our book was ready to be purchased.  In those few days, we have completely sold out!  All of you are the absolute best.  We have ordered more books and as soon as they arrive, we will be shipping them off.  So if you are waiting for your book, thank you for your patience and your support!

-Amanda

It's all happening!

Amanda and I are thrilled to announce that the books have arrived!  Thank you for all of your love and support.  We are ready to take online orders.  You can order through PayPal by clicking on the link below.

JANUARY 12 UPDATE:  Books are currently SOLD OUT.  We should have more in about two weeks.  Thank you for your patience.

For those out there who would like to document their own adventures, we wanted to let you know the steps that it took to make our dreams come true.  With the help of family, we were able to organize, edit, and format our stories.  Then, after many recommendations, we headed to Elance to find our cover artist.  Our artist, Amanda, did an amazing job.  We sent her covers and sketches that we had in mind.  She offered to make three different covers, but after seeing the cover that is on the book, we couldn't imagine being happier with another.  The last step was publishing, and this was honestly the hardest part.  We decided to go the self-publishing route.  Another recommendation led us to Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan.  Our independent publishing expert, Alex, was thorough and helped us get through each step of the publishing process.

It took a village to put "Stories from Room 114" in our hands, and we are beyond happy to share our stories with all of you.  Again, we thank you for all of your support, and we are excited to see where this journey takes us next.  

-Lisa