Winter - A Celebration

Photo via flickr.com under the Creative Commons license. 

"Winter is not a season, it's a celebration."
--Anamika Mishra

Wintertime brings to mind iconic images such as, colds, chicken soup, flannels, and snuggly quilts. While nursing an acute sinus infection these past two weeks, life slowed down. At first, I found it difficult to remain inside drinking soup, switching flannels, and trying out different spots to cuddle up in, but, in retrospect, it was precious time. I was able to recuperate while slowly tucking away Christmas decorations, reorganizing closets and drawers, and celebrating an unusual January winter with fluctuating temperatures, dustings of snow, gray skies, and intermittent rain.

So what does one do when not able to venture outside? I mustered enough energy to bring winter joy inside. With sparkling lights, winter greenery, and flickering candles I created an ambiance to nurture my spirits in what seemed to be endless, boring hours.

Now with one day left on antibiotics, I am starting to feel perkier so, I will continue my pursuit of finding joy in the commonplace marvels of life (hopefully not those that have to do with winter colds).

I am sure that you have experienced the doldrums of winter colds but have you switched the perspective to spend time celebrating?

Each weekend I reflect and celebrate life with Ruth Ayres who creates space for writers to Celebrate This Week with her. This weekend, Ruth posted a unique look at love. Perhaps, you would like to read Ruth's Love is an Apple Core by clicking here.

SPECIAL NOTE:

I invite everyone to look closely at each winter day to find wonder and beauty in nature. If interested, consider creating a digital composition for my latest global gallery of artistic expressions, Winter Wonder 17. You can access the official invitation here.

Blessings of Nature

While the world passes by with hustle and bustle speed, the soul needs times to rest and be restored. Writing is a remedy to soothe the soul. 

**************

This December, Mary Lee Hahn has provided space for writers to write alongside her using the hashtag, #haikuforhealing.

**************

Reflection:

As I stepped outside yesterday, I found patches of leaves lining my walkway. Amidst the clutter of autumn decorations boxed for their attic return and Christmas decorations parading down the stairs, the outside leaves marked the passing of one season to the next. While I was not saddened by that, I did feel overwhelmed with the clutter that filled the front area of my home. A fluttering started inside and I knew it was time to step back and reflect.

Celebrating the seasons is a joyful act so I must remember while preparing for transitions, writing helps to quiet the busyness around me so that the blessings of nature can fill the soul.

I Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres and her blogging community today.

Enjoy the first weekend of December.

Celebrate Learning to the #Lastbell

Living in the positive world of connected educators allows me to fill each day with new thinking. As a lifelong learner, I join others to continue the path to learning and to provide a fertile ground for our students to grow. Today, I celebrate the learning that I am part of as the school year winds down. 

This past week, I attended a statewide ELA Framework conference. While there I listened and learned from Chris Tovani, reflected, and then, created digital inspirations to tweet out to my colleagues across the globe. It is always motivating to hear thoughts from a national presenter that validates our thinking.

As a statewide team, the educators I worked with were able to follow up our two days of engaged learning with Chris. Through collaborative, collegial conversations, we built a resource library on Schoology for future turnkey presentations on student-centered learning. 

It is a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by like-minded, positive educators who always are concerned about students. Learning is something to celebrate all year round but especially until the last bell of the school year. 

As you celebrate your school closings, post photos of active learning under the hashtag, #lastbell, a movement started by my Twitter colleague, Jennifer Hogan who is the co-founder of #ALedchat, #USedchat, and #LeadLearning.net.

Learning can come from all different sources. #satchat is a leader in Twitter chats. Today's chat on teachers as leaders provided me with the inspiration to synthesize my learning through a digital inspiration. 

Before leaving for the conference, I was inspired to design my garden so family and friends could enjoy the meditation and herb gardens when the weather warms up. While this was not directed instruction from educators, it allowed me to take the skills gathered from years of learning to create. 

In this stilled space, I can continue my learning as I read professional texts to broaden my knowledge bank.

How will you celebrate your learning this week 

and share it with others?

Please visit Ruth Ayres' Celebrate This Week post here to read how other educators celebrate life from a positive thinking standpoint.

Celebrating Replays

Today, as I begin to celebrate a week of perpetual motion, I wish for a replay button to press. Televisions have them but life does not, so I linger in thought for a moment or two before moving on to the next event. 

Celebrate the Week's Replays

Quiet Time:

Last Sunday, I gave myself permission to bring quiet into my life for a short retreat. 

Later during the day, I went for a family walk and was treated to a beautiful sight that left me in awe. Nature often does that. You can read about that here.

Online Connections:

It's National Poetry Month so I invited many connected educators and colleagues together  for a celebration at NYEDChat. The discussion, April is Poetrylicious, was fast-paced and filled with resources for active conversations in classrooms or for personal writing. You can visit the archives here. 

Minor Inconvenience:

When life paused from an unexpected happening, I tried to laugh about the chipped front tooth (after the upset wore off). A trip to the dentist (three days later) brought a smile back to my face. You can read the post and poem here. 

Face-To-Face Connections:

This was a full week of presentations that led to many face-to-face connections starting with the Long Island Connected Educators Summit. A highlight was filling an after school workshop with at least fifty educators who were all actively listening and engaging in the workshop I delivered on Teaching Students to Ask  Deeper Questions  to Uncover Meaning in Text. I always enjoy active conversations. 

Poetry Flowed:

The week rounded off with a poem captured at the Easter Renewal Mission and one for Poetry Friday to rejoice in springtime as new growth salutes life.

Now please celebrate with Ruth Ayres at Celebrate This Week who is happy to announce her first eBook, JUMP IN: Great Teaching Begins in the Pool. As Ruth says, this book is "so much more than teaching writers, though. It's about how sharing stories changes people-forever." I am delighted to be one of the educators who were the first readers. If you go to the site highlighted above, you will be able to have your own copy of this wonderful text. 

This was another week to celebrate life!

Celebrating a Poetryliscious Week

With the start of Poetry Month, the creative side of life has surrounded me. Being inspired by Wordsworth's quote on the power of poetry, I designed the following as a reminder of the voice inside that is calling me to write. 

Let me count the ways that I filled my digital journal. 

-I unveiled my newest gallery, Winter Wanderings with its collection of poetry, photographs, quotes, and music. You can access it here. 

-Along with this endeavor, I wrote poetry alongside others. My recent poems can be seen at my Poetry Friday post here. 

-I created a hashtag, #SpringsSeeds, for the upcoming gallery that I will send an invitation out soon.

-Today, I joined the Long Island Connected Educators Summit at Howitt Middle School in Farmingdale where my co-moderators and I kicked off the conference with a live #NYEDChat. That was followed by a presentation, Discovering Wonder and Joy Through Inquiry via Family Literacy, with my colleague, Blanca Duarte. 

 
 

As the night was winding down and the family was binge watching House of Cards, I chipped my front tooth on a pistachio nut. At first I was in shock that this happened. Then, I called my dentist who said that he could not see me until Tuesday when he returns to work. Being upset I did what I usually do when I need to distract my mind from issues and problems, I create. I could have composed a quirky, short poem about the loss of a front tooth but I decided to write this post instead. The poem can come later during the week. 

Each week, Ruth Ayres invites bloggers to write about the celebrations that they enjoyed. Outside of chipping my tooth and having allergy reactions that left my eyes watering, the week was a poetryliscious one. Being positive does have its perks!

Please visit Celebrate This Week to read how others in Ruth Ayres' blogging community celebrated their week.

Seeking Balance

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony."

~Thomas Merton

Currently Celebrating:

Clearing a path to a balanced life

    During a week of creating

and learning,

I felt the urge to seek balance.

Finding quiet time was needed

amidst a flurry of technical difficulties

and creative projects.

Inspired by World Poetry Day 

and the launch of Wonderopolis' Wonder Ground,

I sought a balanced ground.

Then, in the yoga studio, 

balance was the focus.

Breathe was the force; 

recognizing the inner spirit's

urgings was the result.

Today, Good Friday service's

quiet time was powerful.

The celebration of the cross

provided a strong message: 

hope exists 

at the foot of the cross.

Balance is in the belief.

...and so tonight I leave behind the complexities of the week, to seek the art of balance in a quiet practice. Thoughts drift to a grandmother and mother who in their simple daily practices, found balance in the art of baking. 

The kitchen is the foundation of the home. 

Balance is the underpinning of life. 

May you seek the balance you need in your life as I will do so to level mine.

Today Ruth Ayres asks us to gather to Celebrate This Week. You can access the site here. Ruth is celebrating the final stages of creating a free eBook.

This post marks the twenty-seventh one of my Clearing a Path series for Two Writing Teachers' March Slice of Life Story Challenge-Day 27. Please read what the other slicers are commenting on.

Celebrating This Week's Bests

I Am Celebrating:

Something I Accomplished: This week started off with the theme transitions posted by Margaret Simon for DigitLit Sunday. I was delighted to reflect upon that word and how it would affect my week both professionally (transitions are the dabs of glue needed to make the vision connect with the content) and personally (decluttering led to the creation of a sanctuary of tranquility).

Something I Did For Fun: I decided that this blog needed a pick-me-up in keeping with my thoughts on the power of voice and digital change. I transformed my blog site to make it more visually appealing. You can let me know what you think of the the new design.

Almost Wonderful Mini-Trip: We thought that the cherry blossoms were going to pop this weekend so we planned a short trip to Washington, D.C. to see my daughter and son-in-law. Unfortunately, the weather changed and the blossoms will peak next week when my daughter is out of town for a business trip. The photo below from National Cherry Blossom Festival will be the only sighting I will have of the cherry blossoms this year.

Favorite Quote of the Week:
Have words wash over your brain! ~Douglas Fisher

Most Relaxing Activity:

My Gentle Yoga session this week provided the opportunity to stretch, increase my balance, and sink into quiet time.

Wonderful Conference I Attended:

Ann Weiss of McGraw-Hill Education brought Douglas Fisher to Long Island for a morning workshop. I am a huge fan and was delighted to hear Doug speak about purpose-driven learning. Take-Aways from the presentation: 

• Teach why and what we are learning.
• Teaching isolated strategies does not raise comprehension levels. 
• Teacher modeling should be punctuated with student talk.

Best Gift:

A copy of Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher's book, Rigorous Reading: 5 Access Points for Comprehending Complex Text.

Wonderful Chat of the Week: 

This week I co-moderated #NYEDChat with Dan McCabe and guest moderator, Connie Hamilton of #TMchat. The topic was instructional leadership. The conversation was engaging and lively. Connie provided many thinking maps on the topic. One of her quotes that resonated with me is: "Vertical alignment and coherence are KEY!"

What I Look Forward To: 

• Palm Sunday Mass when are Cathedral will reopen. 
• The launch of Wonderopolis' Wonder Ground on March 21st. I have been uploading material to my Wonder Lead Ambassador blog site but hit a snag tonight when my password did not work. 
• Reading the posts from Ruth Ayres' Celebrate This Week bloggers and those from Two Writing Teachers' March SOLSC. (Please visit those sites to enjoy the celebrations and slices of life.)

Transitions have been a major part of my week and these have helped me clear a path to simplifying my life as I wrote in my Spiritual Journey Thursday blog. This post today marks the nineteenth one of my series, Clearing a Path. 

Currently Celebrating

This has been a week of celebrations after a long four days of technical difficulties that taught me a lesson. If I but believe, positive possibilities can be found. From the ashes of a black hole of technical difficulties, rose the following celebrations.

On February 29, 2016, I completed Laura Shovan's Found Object Poem Project: twenty-nine poems written during February. I was recognized along with fellow bloggers/poets, Linda Baie, Jessica Bigi, Donna White, and Charles Waters.  

I started writing a series of posts on March 1, 2016 for the March Slice of Life Story Challenge: Clearing A Path. The first post can be accessed here. 

During the week, the Apple Creative Team assisted me in finalizing my local literacy council's newsletter, New & Views, that sports a new look on some of its pages. Digital photos and tweets are interspersed throughout. Of course, any new endeavor that is heavy with digital photos is hard to pass through many school district firewalls so an alternative plan was created and by Thursday night a solution found. This issue of the newsletter and others will reside on the lilac.ws website in a member only section.

An article that my team previously wrote for New York State's English Council's journal, The Record, was reprinted by Iste's Professional Learning Network in their Literacy Special Interest Journal Issue #5. The article, "Engage Me! Building Family connections Through Digital Storytelling written by Blanca Duarte, Toni Kinnear, Carol Varsalona, and Kris Yturraspe can be accessed here.

On Friday, I introduced the multi-talented award-winning author, Andrea Davis Pinkney, graciously sponsored by Scholastic, Inc., at the LILAC/NRC Spring Conference luncheon workshop that was held on Long Island. The day was filled with many memorable moments and great learning. You can see tweets from the conference on Twitter under #lilac16, @LILangArtsCoun, and#elanetwork. 

Needless to say after a long week of literary tasks and accomplishments, I came home and fell asleep.

Today after a very relaxing yoga session, I sat down to compose this blog for Ruth Ayres' Celebrate This Week, a site where positivity can always be found. Access the site here to read the beautiful post Ruth wrote greeting all bloggers. Many other bloggers are writing as part of the weekly tradition. Some of these bloggers are also slicers. 

This post, with a lesson learned and current celebrations, is also being offered for Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life. It marks the fifth one of the Clearing a Path series for the March SOLSC challenge. Please visit the site here to read the various slices for today. 

Stretch

Within the dim-lit yoga studio, a calmness exists. The world is miles away. The only sounds are the breath and the prompts from the teacher who guides yogis through a practice of deep thought and movement. This inner sanctum of tranquility becomes the sacred space for learning about self. Through breathing, quiet poses, and stretching the mind, body, and spirit are awakened and a sense of well-being and peace felt.

It is within the practice of soft flow movements that a connective energy emanates from the heart center and shared with the collective consciousness, binding all together as one body of practitioners. With each exhaled breath there is a leaning into the stretch-no worries, no stress, just the motion of moving deeper into thought and action. In the stillness exists the ability to awaken the senses and delight in the feeling of well-being. 

The return to the stretch has filled my daily practice this week with a spirit of mindfulness and purposeful intent. I wrote, worked out, got back into a yoga routine, and created. I even pushed my limits toward increased writing time and the ability to write freely from prompts for some creative challenges from Poetry Friday colleagues, Laura Shovan and Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. The stretching of my mind, body, and spirit provided me with increased muscle movement and quiet time, leading to an abundance of thoughts rising from within. 

I celebrate the stretch. It provides an openning to let go of unwanted stress and to write from the heart without the concern of final product syndrome. 

Today, in the quiet of the morning hours enhanced by the intermittent chirping of birds, I reflect on the possibilities of stretching the mind, body, and spirit. May you join me in celebrating the stretch to gain a new perspective on wellness this coming week. 

Please enjoy ten minutes of peaceful music while visiting Ruth Ayres' Celebrate This Week community where bloggers' focus on positives of a week of celebration.