What do you want to be when you grow up?

   Slice of Life Challenge
      31 Days of Writing - Day 5




My grandson, Zeke, has always loved reading books and going to the library. A few years ago,

I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. "I want to be a librarian!" was his quick response. That sounded right. Why not get a job that would allow him to go to the library every day? What better place to be than a library filled with thousands and thousands of books? What a life!
I know that on any other day, he could give me a different response. But my heart sang that day.

Now, a few years later, if you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he will tell you that he wants to be a scientist. He loves reading all kinds of nonfiction books - books about space, deep sea animals, bugs and more.

Adults often ask young children what they want to be when they grow up. We enjoy some of their cute responses. "I want to be a fireman." "I want to be an astronaut." "I want to be a football player." "I want to be a teacher." So I am fine right now that Zeke wants to be a scientist. Whatever he becomes, I hope that he will be happy.

In the writing workshop, what can we do to help kids dream about being writers? 
   We can share wonderful books with them. 
   Focus on author studies.
   Surround them with great models for writing. 
   Help them develop the skills they need. 
   Confer with them.
   Build a mindset for being a writer.

Often it is in the very words we say to a child. Many years ago when I was teaching first grade, I had a student in my class who enjoyed writing. She had a wonderful way with words. She would often share her gems of writing and I would be so happy that she was finding life as a writer.  I made sure we had many models for writing in the classroom. One author we studied was Cynthia Rylant. We talked about her writing and how she used her words so well. This child was able to capture beautiful words in her writing even as a first grader.

I was conferring with her one day and after listening to something she wrote I made this remark,  “Your writing today is wonderful. You sound just like Cynthia Rylant." I didn’t set out that day to mention any such thing to her. But after she shared her writing with me, I wanted to give her some credibility and assurance that she was growing as a writer. I wanted to highlight the choice of words in her writing. A few days later, her mother told me that she came home that day and told her mom what I said. She mentioned to her mom that she wanted to be a writer someday. A few words that may have planted a mindset for her.

Unfortunately, I lost track of the student as she moved beyond elementary school. I don’t know if she ever pursued her writing as a career. But on that day, she was a writer and she dreamed about being a writer for the rest of her life.

It was a great reminder that what we say in a writing conference can be very powerful. When we leave each and every conference, we need to be ready to say something that will propel them forward. What we say to a child, what we offer them in support, can make all the  difference in the world. And maybe, just maybe, when we ask them what they want to be when they grow up, they will say, "I want to be a writer."

Geodes

               

   Slice of Life Challenge
      31 Days of Writing - Day 4





My husband is a rock collector. He collects many kinds of rocks and fossils but what I like most are the geodes. They look like unassuming rocks when you find them. Rock hunters can recognize them right away. Simple round stones that really don't look like much of anything on the outside. But even rock hunters don't know what they will find inside until they open the geodes.

When the geodes are cracked open, there is beauty and treasure inside.

Crystals and patterns of shapes and colors. Surprised trapped inside that ordinary looking stone.

More importantly, geodes remind me to look inside a child for who they really are.
We greet our students each fall knowing there are treasures inside.

We just have to wait, listen and look for those treasures.

Stepping into Literacy

              Slice of Life Challenge
       31 Days of Writing - Day 3







It was a very busy day today. Among a multitude of tasks, errands, and stops on my way around town today, I had the pleasure of babysitting for two of my grandchildren for a couple of hours.  

So today's post is a simple celebration.

My grand daughter is five years old. Her name is Lucy. She is in preschool and will start kindergarten next year. She loves books and reading. It's our favorite thing to do together. 

Today I walked into the kitchen to start making lunch and found this note stuck to the silverware drawer. I smiled. She knows her words mean something. She is well on her way to becoming a reader and writer and that makes me smile. 

Talkworthy = Worthy of Talk

      Slice of Life Challenge
      31 Days of Writing - Day 2






Years ago, I started using the word, talkworthy, to describe those books I shared with children that inspired the most thoughtful conversations and evoked the strongest feelings in my students. After we read a talkworthy book, the conversation blossomed, and we all came away with a deeper understanding of the book as well as each other. Talkworthy books inspired us and connected us.

I recently discovered that the talkworthy can't be found in the dictionary.
(I think I must have made it up!)

Eager to figure out where the word came from, I looked up "worthy", and I found that in a combining form it can be used to mean "deserving of" whatever the initial part of a compound word is (roadworthy, newsworthy, etc.).

So if newsworthy means news that has qualities to be considered important,
and trustworthy is someone who is worthy of our trust,
and seaworthy means the boat is fit or suitable for the sea,
then talkworthy means deserving of talk. 
(I think I really did make up the word talkworthy!)

The Slice of Life Challenge reminds me that we all have talkworthy ideas to share. 
They are the passions, the funny stories, the classrooms experiences we share.
They are families, challenges, celebrations and ideas worth growing.
They are words that brighten our day. They are words that matter. 
They are talkworthy.

Whispers of Spring - Slice of Life

Slice of Life Challenge
31 Days of Writing - Day 1





I hear whispers of spring.

In the unusual warm breezes that have come in this month of March
when things are supposed to be still buried in the frozen snow.

In the squeals of my grand kids at the thought of going out to play in the yard
without the layers upon layers of clothing to keep them warm.
 
In the tiny leaves pushing through the mulch in my garden
dotting the ground with splashes of green.

In the birds chirping
while I wake to the quiet of the morning.

In the rain that taps the window
and splashes in puddles that collect in my driveway.

Do I hear spring in the voices of our children?

In the sound of "Look, I can read this".
In the excited voices that echo what they have learned.
In the quiet steps they take toward independence.
In the leaps they have taken as learners.

Yes, I think I can.

I have been waiting patiently
for spring to whisper its first sounds.

Listen.

Powerful is not Perfect

Yesterday, I attended the Dublin Literacy Conference. As always, it was a day of amazing learning and meeting up with colleagues. I attended a session by Kristin Ziemke and she said something that I just cannot escape. It keeps rolling around in my head. So this post is my effort at making sense of it and connecting it with my own world.

Powerful is not Perfect

That's what she said in her presentation. It struck me as such a wise statement. It means so much to me personally and makes me think hard about the children in our schools.

I have recently been shedding my old self in many ways. I retired two years ago and have been wandering about trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up. While I have enjoyed my retirement, I was looking for a way to stay connected to learning, teaching and leading. I asked myself so many questions:

What could I do?
Should I visit classrooms so I can continue to learn from children?
What professional texts should I be reading?
Should I go to that conference?
Do I have something of importance to say?
How can I stay connected?
What is my passion?
What is it that I want to do?

I haven't found all the answers yet. But starting to write on this blog again is my first step. It may not be perfect but it's powerful.

I recently committed to getting healthy and losing weight. I have changed the way I eat and I exercise regularly. There are times when I am glad there is no one in the gym that knows me well. I feel silly doing some of the workouts because they certainly aren't perfect. But I am getting stronger - way stronger - and I am proud of that. Powerful is not perfect! For the most part, my exercises are an approximation of form and effort. But I am becoming a person that was inside of me for a long time and just couldn't find her way out. The change is powerful for me. Powerful is not perfect.

For the children in our schools, powerful is not always what is admired and noticed.

For the child who reads her very first sentence, powerful may not be perfect. But that power of reading her first sentence opens a new world of learning. That's powerful!

It's powerful for the child who unlocks a mathematical concept he has been struggling with. Is the process perfect? No, but it sure is powerful!

How can we find ways to respect and admire the power of learning? It's not always going to be perfect. For our most struggling students it rarely is. But let's celebrate the power of the process. Let's celebrate learning for the journey and not for some measure of perfect - whatever that is.

Powerful is not perfect.

Finding My Voice

It has been nearly two years since I posted on this blog.  The last post was a celebration of the birthday of a dear friend. Then, I stepped away for awhile.

There are so many reasons I could give you for not writing for two years. I was too busy. I was too tired. I didn't think I had anything to say. What I finally realized was that I needed to find my voice. For many years my voice had been the voice of a teacher and administrator. While I loved my years in education, I was somewhat defined by the positions I held and the structure of educational life.

I retired from a principal position in 2013. What I have discovered since then is that retirement gives a person the time for reflection. I did just that. I took my time. I spent time with my husband. I relished being a grandmother. I read. I planted my garden. I enjoyed the freedom of deciding what would fill my days.

I am trying to figure out why it took me so long but I think I just needed the time. To slow down.  To find me. I am thinking that I had to drift away before I could return with a clear voice. I had to take stock. I had to dig deep to refine my beliefs.  I had to remind myself that the vision I have for children, learning and teaching can be reality. I am seeing it in the blog posts of people I follow. I am seeing it in the tweets that go across my computer screen. I am reading some of the most amazing posts on Facebook. I am hearing it in the voices of children.

So this is a new beginning. This is me - the me that has emerged from the quiet places. Hear my voice.