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Tuesday, December 8, 2015

White Space Moments

When the endless tasks to do list weighs heavy on my mind, the best plan is to pause and find time to wander, notice, and wonder. I can do this virtually but prefer being in the fresh air observing nature. Yesterday, the weather was so mild that I had the yen to let my mind have a break. When a friend called about taking a walk, I jumped at the chance to gather a fresh perspective. End result-my neighborhood walk provided the jump start to a more-fulfilled afternoon. 

Life took on a different perspective for that single hour all due to December's gift-an Indian summer-like day. Creative sparks went off and I wrote about a sight from my travels to central New York. 

earth listens in stillness to
fall's song hushed by restless winds
crooning leaves gone south
©Carol Varsalona, 2015

The above poem transformed itself into the following digital composition.


At the same time that I had a reflective moment, Jon Harper, a connected educator from Maryland, had one too. This led to our Twitter conversation and an inspirational ending to a long day. 

Triple Play, Connected Educator Literacy Experience

Part 1: Jon Harper from Maryland stopped to look at a brilliant sunset after work. He captured a contemplative moment and sent it to Sean Gaillard in North Carolina and me on Long Island. Both Sean and I are captivated by what we saw. 


Part 2: I felt the movement of the water as I gazed into the brilliant sunset sky that Jon shot. I sat down to write and tweeted back a micro-poem to give tribute to aha moments and Sean's #CelebrateMonday initiative. Sean responded in a matter of minutes.


Part 3: Sean sent a follow-up tweet and we communicated with another round of thoughts followed by Jon's day-end tweet




At the close of day, I was not only inspired by the time spent reflecting and creating but filled with #edulove for the moments shared with colleagues. 


By the way, I have never met Jon and Sean face-to-face but feel a kinship. Isn't that the way connected educators feel about solid online friendships?

SOLPlease visit Two Writing Teachers' to read slices written by the Slice of Life blogging community. 

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