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...
handwritten on December 12, 2019
In the midst of the busy nature of the season, I have been hunting for a poem my class can read for fluency and analyze the final week before break, and I today finally came across one worth mentioning. Actually-it is simply beautiful because it gathers together the importance of simplicity but also this feeling of being surrounded by love and also appreciating the essence of life.
once a snowflake fellon my brow and i lovedit so much and i kissedit and it was happy and called its cousinsand brothers and a webof snow engulfed me theni reached to love them alland i squeezed them and they becamea spring rain and i stood perfectlystill and was a flower
Nikki Giovanni is such an impactful poet...
handwritten on December 11, 2019
I think a lot of the beauty we fail to notice begins with the starts and ends of things. Sometimes we become so caught up in the center of the sandwich that we tell ourselves that the beginning is in the past and therefore not important and the end is too far away and therefore not important. But just like a beautifully wrapped present, there is a beginning end of the ribbon and an end that both serve an important purpose.
I was contemplating beginnings and ends pretty seriously as I walked out into the cold evening tonight and for whatever reason decided to look up. And when I looked up at the parking lot lamp that was shining on the asphalt, I noticed a single white snowflake drifting...
handwritten on December 10, 2019
As I walked in afterschool today, I felt as if I was looking into a service-learning snow globe. Students were making holiday cards on one end of the room and packing toys on the other end to be donated to those in need. I heard laughter and saw kindness and patience, determination and wisdom, love and cooperation. And I began to think how much further we would be in education today if we just treated every lesson and every day in our classroom as a way to think about molding citizens and giving back to the community.
There are people who always say, "Students should learn about worksheets because they are required to follow directions and that is a life skill." But I argue that worksheets...
