I never really had a nickname growing up. It’s hard to shorten “Lauren” – and I’d know. I tried but nothing really stuck. I have my students write about their names when introducing Writer’s Notebooks and I’m constantly surprised with the number of students who don’t know what their names mean or why their parents’ chose that name for them. 

Here’s my origin story – My mom was going to name me Margaret. Now, that’s a name I could have shortened. I’d planned on calling myself Meg (not Marge, or Margie, or Peggy). One day, as my mother was riding the bus she noticed someone reading a Margaret Laurence book and thought to herself, “Hmmm. Lauren. That’s the name for  this beautiful, intelligent unborn child.” I may have improvised her inner voice just a bit but that’s the gist of it.

Seven years ago, I began blogging. (You can check out my old blog. It’s still there and probably will be forever.) I had just started at a new school and finally, had a full-time permanent position after 5 years as a half-time teacher supplementing the other part of the day with long-term occasional jobs. In those 5 years I had taught Grade 2/3, Grade 6 (with Instrumental Music), Kindergarten and some Arts Prep Coverage. This new position was at an inner city school teaching Grade 4-8 Music. That’s where my old name, Music in the City, came from.

Being at this school stretched me in so many ways. I was taken out of my middle-class, suburban bubble and really saw the difference music could make in the lives of my students. Grade 7s and 8s became students who got my sense of humour and were so interesting to chat with rather than the feared pre-adolescent kids who were taller than me. I looooved teaching there and I still miss the students, the staff and my very large music budget.