February means red and pink hearts, lace, fabric, scissors, glue – a collage of loving kindness. Children cut out jagged hearts with lots of glue and mounds of glitter and sequins. They make a joyous mess, and they are so happy and excited that their exuberance becomes contagious.
Category: mindfulness
Belonging
Nature makes me feel large and small at the same time. Nature reminds me of my purpose on this pretty planet. The moon, the stars, the trees are all connected to me and I to them.
Power to Pause
My thoughts came in quick, short phrases. They begged to be placed into poetry. January is a perfect month for reflection; I'm able to center my thoughts when I compose poetry. Everything falls into place. I'm comforted by the rhythm of my thinking.
A Place in Winter
I have been searching for something to read these past few months. I am in the middle of listening to The Once and Future King, which I started in August. I love T.H. White‘s humor and endless knowledge of medieval history, magic, and myths. I don’t want the adventure to end, so I am reading … Continue reading A Place in Winter
One Little Word: Remember
The more I thought about choosing my OLW, the more I felt like it would be cheating to choose a phrase. I sat myself down and told myself that this was not a time to color outside the lines. This was a time to be thoughtful and deliberate. This was a time to choose just one word.
Harvesting Pumpkin Time
Gold, red, and orange abound to cheer up the dreary chilly days in the northeast. They offer solace to the bare branches and the November wind.
Poet’s Notebook: White Mountain Color
I started thinking about how to capture what I saw with my camera and how to put words to the beauty I was witnessing. I focused on color and played with ways to express the fall foliage in a new way.
Fall Flow: Haiku for Autumn
This week, I entered a 4th grade classroom to see students at their desks silently moving their lips and quietly tapping their fingers. I heard a hum, “5-7-5... 5,7,5...” and then tapping, clapping, and snapping. I knew immediately what they were busy creating. They were constructing haiku. In the last two weeks, the teacher introduced … Continue reading Fall Flow: Haiku for Autumn
The Art of Assessment
In schools across the country and probably across the world, September means assessments. We give all kinds of assessments to get to know our students, or should I say to get to know their academic strengths and weaknesses. I don’t think assessments have anything to do with getting to know our students.
A Fresh Look at Lists
I reluctantly shift away from summer – the beach, the mountains, my independent reading time, the sun. And slowly I enter September already weary from thoughts of all I have to do, all I must do, all the little things that await me.
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 