handwritten on December 17, 2019
I received such an exceptionally beautiful present from a student today. She decided to type up one of the poems she had written a few weeks ago, cut it out herself and place in a frame for me to keep. And with a season of hope on the horizon and a new year about to begin…I wanted to share it with you. If there is anything I have learned in my five years in the classroom it is this: there is a poet inside of each and every individual’s heart. But only those who really see the world around them are able to hear the words- and I believe as children, we are, most easily, able to see around us.
Based off of Emily Dickinson’s poem, here is one of my student’s study and analysis of “hope”
Hope...
handwritten on December 16, 2019
I walked into the class this morning and was amazed by how many students had absolutely no clue how to make a paper snowflake. In fact, I believe it may have been about 50 percent or less who truly knew where to start. I relished in this because we talked symmetry and design and shape as well as what various cuts will do when you open the snowflake up before you very eyes. But I suppose I got to thinking about the importance of paper snowflakes. I asked myself this question: What has happened to a world where we don’t know how to make a paper snowflake? Because snowflakes represent the people of the world and every snowflake as we know is nothing like the snowflake next to us. If we cannot...
handwritten on December 15, 2019
This morning we went to a small little cafe where we live for breakfast and as we pondered the people and drank the coffee and smiled while breathing in the aroma of a holiday spirits of sorts, it was all of a suddent time to go. As we were about to leave, the waiter looked at my rather full second cup of coffee and said, "You can't let that go to waste. I can put that in a to go cup for you." I smiled and nodded agreeingly and so I was able to carry that little cup of love along with me. And I carried it into Aldi and while lesson planning and even contemplating life later on in the evening. Only the simplest acts of kindness are able to be carried the farthest because they are unexpected...
handwritten on December 14, 2019
I'm pretty much the world's worst gift wrapper (I believe.) But, I did find some good time as I knelt beside our tiny tree to think about the littlest of packages that lie inside of us that we sometimes ignore or do not always take the time to cover the corners or cut with accuracy. The tiniest of gifts are the hardest to wrap and usually that is because they demand careful attention, constant care and most importantly patience requiring the smallest of knimble fingers to tuck every corner and fold every crease until the gift can live protected and comfortable. I suppose though the intricacy of the wrapping paper equates to careful protection of the gifts, then it is equally important to...
handwritten on December 13, 2019
One of my students had a bit of a rough week and so when walking down the hallways one day, that same student mentioned something about "needing to work harder today." I turned around to face that student and said, "You don't need to work harder! You work hard every day. What happened yesterday had nothing to do with not working hard..it was just a mistake. And we make mistakes as humans. We wish we wouldn't make mistakes, but we do. This is what makes life interesting. Sometimes annoying. Sometimes heartbreaking. But ultimately, full of life."
I also added: "What happened yesterday is in the past and today is a clean slate. I'm not at all worried about what happened yesterday and you...
