This week the moon is on the rise. It is a full harvest moon and a lunar eclipse. It is magical and wonderful to take a moment and gaze up into the night sky as the moon ascends. I told a group of kindergarten students to be on the watch for it, and they came back the next day to tell me what they saw.
Category: Poetry
Earth Gratitude
I immediately started reading “Returning the Gift” by Robin Wall Kimmerer the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. She is also a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Kimmerer noted that in today’s modern world we often miss Earth’s gifts and need to pay closer attention to truly feel part of her to adequately protect her.
Journey to the Land of Wild Blueberries
I know Maine is renowned for its lobster, and I do enjoy that treat dipped in drawn butter. I confess, I’d like almost anything if it was dipped in melted butter. But on this trip I focused on the blueberries. Even though in late August the wild blueberries are gone, I marveled at all the wild blueberries bushes that line the trails. They seemed to grown everywhere.
Practice Makes Permanent
I was especially interested in how the brain retains information and how best to strengthen students’ working memory. We learned that if teachers use both visualization and auditory methods to teach new material, the better students will remember the material.
Mindfulness Mandala
There are moments that we will never forget in our lives, some are traumatically stamped there, and some, like this one, are placed indelibly as a mile marker of hope. As I age, I find myself searching my memory more and more for those hopeful mile markers.
Small Wonders
I am constantly attuned to the little things stirring: the beetle, the butterfly, the inch worm, and the ladybug. I sit and watch them, meditating, slowing my breath, taking in all they have to teach me. I want to learn their ways. I want to be completely in their world even for a moment. When I become them, I become more myself.
Seaworthy Summer
These few days by the sea are important part of my school life. I need these days, I long for these days, I use these days to ready myself for a summer filled with travel, reading, art, and self-reflection.
Walking Towards Summer
The third week of May is approaching. For school that means spring testing is done, spring conferences are coming, children are restless, and teachers are restless. We see the end, but it isn’t quite here. It’s not that we don’t enjoy learning and teaching. It’s purely that we are tired. We need a rest. We need to rest our bodies and our minds. We need that warm summer sunshine, not this rainy spring.
You’re Invited to a Poetry Party!
his year, I will be published in three anthologies, so I thought, "It's time to read in front of an audience." I chose well. I chose our 2nd through 5th grade students. Deb, our school librarian, was encouraging, and we set a series of times in the library when I can be the guest poet.
Song of Vivian
Since this week also marks what would have been her 102nd birthday, I wrote a poem to celebrate my mother, Vivian Victoria – a talented and creative seamstress, and later an inspiring elementary school teacher.
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 