I am in love with words. I don’t know when it happened. It might have started with “Mama.” Words held meaning, and I was eager from the beginning to express myself. Writing is like breathing to me – I cannot differentiate one from the other. When I go long period without writing, it’s like … Continue reading Magic in the Middle
Category: possibility
Invitations to Wonder…
Last week, Ruth Ayers invited her online writing group (SOS: Sharing Our Stories) to write about 7 small things. Instead, I chose to write about anger. Anger is not a small thing. Anger is a big thing, an explosive thing. It starts small and then grows. As I read some members' blog posts this week, … Continue reading Invitations to Wonder…
Ming Tao Xuan or How to Relax in Old Montreal
My travels in Old Montreal, finding peace and mindfulness
Something Beautiful
I've been thinking a lot about beauty lately. This spring and summer I was tasked with finding an assisted living facility for my mother-in-law. It has proved to be an arduous journey fraught with near-hysteria, even with expert advice from A Place for Mom, which I cannot recommend more highly! But I digress. I want … Continue reading Something Beautiful
Poet Found: Ross Gay
Back in February, I bought a slim volume of poetry because I loved the cover - a bright floral abstract and the title, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay. I flipped to the first page - a poem about figs. Figs - my Grandpa Charlie's favorite and my favorite too. I often splurge and buy … Continue reading Poet Found: Ross Gay
Write the Poem
I used to take long walks in the woods and a poem would pop into my head effortlessly. The flow of my steps would jog something in my brain and images and ideas would come to me almost like magic. Lately, my life has been filled up with mundane things: weddings, newborn babies, elderly relatives … Continue reading Write the Poem
Write What You Notice
I recently attended a teacher's workshop presented by Penny Kittle at Rutgers University sponsored by Rutgers Center for Literacy Development. I've seen Penny many times. Usually, she talks to teachers about creating reading and writing workshop spaces in high school classes. Penny was a high school English teacher in New Hampshire and her mentor was … Continue reading Write What You Notice
Being Present to Joy
My colleagues worry about not having time enough to teach. They have so much content they need and want to cover. As a curriculum coordinator, I create tons of documents - benchmarks, scope & sequences, lists of standards by grade level to make sure we don't miss teaching one single skill or strategy. This is … Continue reading Being Present to Joy
Seeing Possibility
This post centers around seeing students' possibilities instead of their deficits. When teachers and parents can do that, a student's motivation increases and they are able to become more successful, seeing themselves in a strong and positive light.
A New Way of Seeing
I am an educator, writer, and artist-photographer. All those disciplines hold at their core visualization. For the educator and student, it is the ability to visualize the possibilities and set a course to invent and re-invent oneself. For the writer, it is to find a way to communicate ones’ visions to others. And for the … Continue reading A New Way of Seeing
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 