Springs Brings Hope

Spring unveils itself as a season of hope. It reawakens earth, lifts spirits, and calls all beings back to nature. Spring is filled with hope evidenced by the blossoming of life. We cannot reach out and grasp hope but we can accept the spirit of possibility it offers in springtime. 

Hope is needed in this world of change and flux. Finding and spreading it is a call to action. 

Tonight, #G2Great offered an inspirational chat, Teaching Hope to the Next Generation. Since it was due time to check in with my one word, hope, I joined the chat to voice my thoughts with my colleagues. My friend, Dr. Mary Howard, opened the conversation with a confirming statement, "We need more HOPE in this world and that begins with our children who will lead the way. We have to make that a priority in our schools and classrooms." Agreeing with this statement, I added that building, cultivating, and sustaining cultures of trust and hope is essential. Classrooms must become havens of joyful learning and educators, as ambassadors of hope, need to bring the spirit of possibilities to all our students. In turn, they need to help students believe in their unique selves in order to find their greatness. 

The ending challenge of #G2Great asked us to state how we would become ambassadors of hope this week. What would we do to spread hope to our students or colleagues. Being a change agent is important to me so I said that I would take up the challenge by creating a digital inspiration to spur others to believe in possibilities. 

I created the above digital inspiration by appsmashing using PicMonkey and FotoJet.

#G2Great shared this beautiful digital titled,Teaching Hope to the Next Generation. The first stanza of Emily Dickinson's poem is here. You can read the rest of the poem at Poetry Foundation.

You may be interested in listening to these videos.

Today the Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by the amazing Jama Rattigan. Please join me at Jama's Alphabet Soup that offers an eclectic feast of food, fiction, folderol and chewy culinary verse.

I am collecting offerings for my newest gallery, Spring-sational Spring, and hope that my Poetry Friday friends will grace the gallery with their inspirational digitals. I am adding the 2018 Progressive Poem with the names of the 30 contributors to the spring gallery.

Professional Wonder

As the school year nears closing, educators continue to find resources and avenues to explore their professional wonder. I am impressed by the hundreds of educators who aspire to seek knowledge and grow as learners each day on Twitter. Twitter chats provide excellent soil to plant seeds, share growth, and cultivate new gardens of thought. 

While not being able to join #G2Great on May 4th, I was fortunate to read the archived transcript and Dr. Mary Howard's Literacy Lenses post reviewing last week's educational chat with Cornelius Minor and Courtney Kinney.  You can access Mary's post here. I was intrigued by the way Mary synthesized the information from the #G2Great Twitter conversation, focusing on the theme of building a tapestry. She deftly wove her post together, providing the reader with a backward look on the chat and a forward plan to finish the year strong. 

For those who enjoy the journey of professional wondering like me, I hope you cultivate gardens of thought as you network and learn from other educators. By becoming a voice on Twitter, you can gather seeds of knowledge to support your journey and build your own Wonder Wall of quotes that extend your knowledge and assist you in helping your learners become unique voices in a diverse world of thought. 

From Mary's post and the thoughts garnered from Cornelius' and Courtney's nuggets of wisdom, I created a commitment statement that I will share with other educators as I continue to walk my journey as a wonderologist.

Educators: 
Stand on the precipice of change.
Hand in hand, lift thoughts while
cultivating gardens of unique blossoms,
places of wonder-filled opportunities
where individual seeds root and grow.

With passion, cultivate and care-tend

your garden, recording each growth. 

Step back in faith, vigilant harvesters. 
Watch the fruits of your patient labor:  
each blossom spreading and standing 
tall in harmony with many others. 

Reflect within your garden quadrants.
Find the inspiration to start afresh
With yet another garden bearing blossoms.
You are the tillers of the soil of knowledge.
You are the cultivators of immense learning.
You are educators who finish the year strong!
©CV, 2017

I offer this to post to #DigiLitSunday where the topic is professional wonder. This topic stems from last week's #WonderChat where Dr. Mary Howard was the guest host discussing Instilling a Sense of Professional Wonder. 

Capturing Autumn

It's true that I am inspired by nature. Closer observation of the world has changed my perception for I now see each season for its beauty, not any negative components. In doing so, I embrace the word believe as a powerful way to think positively and find possibilities in life's landscapes. 

Tonight during the #G2Great educational chat, I was excited to read a quote from poet Georgia Heard that resonated with me. 

This led me to start wondering about the gift of writing.

I searched for a poem that would describe the beauty of October as I saw it this week in my travels.

Vintage book dated 1928

Home Thoughts

by Odell Shepard

October in New England,
And I not there to see
The glamour of the goldenrod,
The flame of the maple tree!

October in my own land. . . .
I know what glory fills
The mountains of New Hampshire
And Massachusetts hills.

I know what hues of opal
Rhode Island breezes fan,
And how Connecticut puts on
Colors of Hindustan.

Vermont, in robes of splendor,
Sings with the woods of Maine
Alternate hallelujahs
Of gold and crimson stain.

You can read the rest of the poem that takes on a bit of a different tone here. 

Below is a photo collage from the day trip I took with my family to find fall. We were fortunate to witness the beauty of an Indian Summer day with autumn colors popping. Each time I am captivated by the beauty of nature, I am inspired to write.

Join me this season as I capture the beauty of the fall for the Autumnventure Gallery.

Today is Poetry Friday, please visit Tricia Stohr-Hunt's site, The Miss Rumphius Effect, for the Poetry Round-Up.