We are coming upon the last days of summer. For me, there is something bittersweet about that. I find myself holding on to the warm golden promise of summer. I don’t want it to end. No matter, how much I enjoy the fall, summer is a time that signals renewal and hope. There is so … Continue reading Wildflower Power
Category: The Arts
Poetry Found!
I have regularly used found poetry to introduce children to the wonders of verse. Using printed text from which to construct a poem gives the young poet a firm foundation on which to build. It eliminates the fearful and daunting blank page. Found poetry is created by selecting and arranging words in order from previously … Continue reading Poetry Found!
Mountain Meditation
Something about the Green Mountains makes me all at once calm and joyful. The rolling valleys dotted with farms and the graceful sloping mountains in the distance give me space for my soul to soar.
Color-Curious
This summer, I am color-curious. I look out my living room window to the meadow and woods beyond. I congratulate myself for getting through the drab, bare winter into the spring that exploded with golden forsythia, and now unfolds to summer surrounded by all shades of verdant green.
Summer Zen
We are not hurdling towards the end of June. I am trying to put the reigns on summer: "Hold up, Summer! Don't go running wild. Slow and steady, now!" I cajole as if speaking to a spooked horse. I am just beginning to unwind, just beginning to take a long slow breath, look up into the impossibly blue June sky and be grateful for this season, for this time away from work, for this time to spend with friends, family and myself.
The Work Around
I think of it and call it “The Work Around.” And I teach this to children. No matter what problem you face, what obstacle you encounter, there is ALWAYS a work around. There is always some way you can solve a problem and improve your situation. You just have to keep curious and be willing to play with your stumbling block. Toss it around a bit, roll it down the hill, bounce it into the bushes. Don’t be afraid. Create something new.
Word Play
Imagination is so for learning. I think about how we don’t so much need to carve out time for play, but just need to step aside and trust the children. They know what they are doing. They can take simple words and create a whole new inspiring language.
Playing with Language
I have long believed that play is the heart of learning. In play, we create, take risks, fail, recreate, and grow. In my teaching, I offer children experiences in play with numbers, scientific principles, philosophical concepts, art, and language. These forays into learning always result in new and deeper understanding, and surprising discoveries. This week, I continued to think about poetry as play and encouraged 4th grade students to play with using Spanish words to enhance their poetry.
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.
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.
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 