There are many things I love and enjoy about teaching – presenting concepts, sharing ideas, being witness to creativity and discovery, but the one thing that is most important to me is connection. I know that connection is key to student understanding. Without connection there are just untethered ideas. And that is why I absolutely love the time I get to sit down with student writers and talk about their work.
Category: mindfulness
A Candle in the Darkness
All my life, it is teachers and writers who have lit my way to new and better understanding; opened my mind to possibilities and promise.
Spring Mosaic
We have traveled the long dark cold tunnel of winter and made it into the light! This year that journey is especially sweet. My confirmation of spring came this week at school where first and second graders have been busy writing poetry.
Possibility of The Blank Canvas
This got me thinking of my own process of creating. I think a blank anything whether it is a canvas, paper, or piece of cloth - gives the artist a moment to ponder and stress. Something about the purity of the whiteness maybe. We don’t want to put something down that is wrong, ugly, or unintended. We want the marks, whether words, a painted image, or a quilted line, to be beautiful and meaningful and what we envisioned in our minds in the first place.
Transformation: The Things We Carry
What if I took my junky art drawer and treated it as a piece of art? What could I make? How could it become a pleasing aesthetic part of my art space? There was suddenly possibility instead of mess.
Oh, How I Love Thee: Let’s Shout it Out!
In the classroom, I turn to poetry and talk to the children about loving kindness, first to themselves and then to others. We make lots of lists of the things we love. These lists mostly revolve around family and food. We practice writing odes and shout outs to all the things we love and are grateful for.
Mindful Mending
I have been thinking about sewing lately – mending specifically. A couple of weeks ago, I came across a book that caught my eye, Mending Life A Handbook for Repairing Clothes and Hearts by Nina and Sonya Montenegro. It’s cover is patterned and embossed. I have always been attracted to that type of patchwork – collage style. Something about the tactile diversity calls to me.
Room for Writing: Entering A Poem
Room for Writing: Entering A Poem Many of my writing ideas come from books I’ve discovered. In the pre-COVID years, I loved to browse my favorite indie bookstores, wandering and reading hoping to come upon an interesting find. I miss those days.
Zen Toolbox Redux
According to some recent research, 66% of teachers want to leave education and 41.3% of new teachers leave teaching within the first five years on the job. Given those numbers, I feel quite successful. I must have a secret, some ancient wisdom I can bestow on my fellow teachers.Â
Sketchnoting II: Big Words
I thought that by teaching our 4th graders this strategy they might be able to focus, remember and understand better and more deeply. I hope it will become an integral part of their reading toolbox.Â
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 