Invitation Accepted - March Musings '19/#SOL19/Day4

I am gladly accepting an invitation to Christie Wyman's Happy Party! As a good guest, I always bring a treat. This time Christie requested that we bring something special that we wanted to share. I decided to bring the sparkle of a New York City winter night, Wonder Dust from the Wonderopolis store, and my #HappyNews. I think Christie will welcome the glitter that will brighten her party room.

My #Happy News 

is filled with twinkle,

laced with Wonder Dust sprinkle-

is shimmery, bright informed bites

ready for the quickest writes.

"So just what is my happy news, you ask." My wonderfully happy bit of news is about last Thursday when my husband and I traveled to New York City for my annual check-up.

1. New York City is a sparkly town with  lots of glimmer to go around. The sight of the skyline makes me smile and makes me want to stay awhile.
2. My doctor came in with a smile. "Great labs," he said in a joyful style. Then, sat down for some conversation that made us leave filled with elation.
3. On to dinner did we go to find the Japanese restaurant aglow. With its urban style and tasty food, we left in a cheery, happy mood.

Last March, I wrote a slice of happiness blog with a poem filled with what makes me happy. You can read that here. 

Thank you, Christie, for the invite that brightened my night. I'm bringing the cookies and my happy news with winter stories from Syracuse. (my childhood town)

4/31

I am now ready to join the #SOL19 community for the March 12th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge Day 4 created by Two Writing Teachers!

March Musings #28: What If?

What if I was proactive each day?

What if I did not pass time away?

Could I move the what if roadblock

to let opportunity knock?

#DareToBe held a Twitter chat last night on the topic, "Dare to Be Proactive!" I have been procrastinating completing a few larger projects lately because of the what if questions that loom in my mind. To unclutter my mind and be able to move forward with what I would like to accomplish, I created a video poem that you can access below.

Now off to today's task.

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Day 28 of Two Writing Teachers' March Slice of Life Story Challenge

March Musings #21: World Poetry Day

Poetry is a window onto the breath-taking diversity of humanity.
Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General, 2017

Last month, twenty-eight days of ekphrastic poetry writing with Laura Shovan at her 6th Annual February Poetry Project, cleared a path for me to continue writing poetry, celebrate World Poetry Day, and make preparations for my winter gallery of artistic expressions, #WinterWonderland18 to be unveiled as a National Poetry Month gift of poetry love. Writers, bloggers, poets, photographers, Twitter colleagues, educators, and students from around the world have joined me in a global, poetryliscious celebration of the creative spirit.

Stay tuned for the unveiling of Winter Wonderland Gallery.

 

Day 21 of Two Writing Teachers' March Slice of Life Story Challenge

March Musings #9: Inspired to Write

Another challenge comes my way from my poetry friend, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes at Today's Little Ditty. This month, when Michelle interviewed Nikki Grimes, the master of golden shovels, she asked Nikki to pose a writing challenge. You can see it below.

Take a line from one of the poems included in this post, and turn that line into a golden shovel poem.  That is done by lining up the words of the original line in the right column, one word at a time, and create a new line ending in each word. If the borrowed line, called a striking line, is five words long, you will end up with a five line poem. If it is 7 words long, you would end up with a seven line poem, and so on. Have fun!

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The following March Musings were inspired by both Michelle Barnes and Nikki Grimes.

Line Lifted:

"A poem can strip away fear" from Truth by Tryone Bittings

When issues come a
calling, search for a poem. 
Hidden? Dig deep. It can
soothe the tired soul, strip
the edginess away, 
rid underlying fear.
©CVarsalona, 2018

Line Lifted:
"revealing heart, truth...and, I might add, hope." by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes

My pen writes, revealing
murmurings of my heart.
My mind speaks with truth
spilling forth from thoughts and
actions crusted over as I
reveal life's pages that might
shrink in memory and add
layers of infinite hope. 
©CVarsalona, 2018

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Notice from Michelle H. Barnes:

Leave your golden shovel on our March 2018 padlet. 

While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on March 30th, and one lucky participant will win a copy of Nikki Grimes' new companion novel to Bronx Masquerade.

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Hosted by Michelle H. Barnes

 

Day 9 of Two Writing Teachers' March Slice of Life Story Challenge

March Musings 24: My Day By the Numbers

Do you organize your daily life by the number of tasks there are to do?

I used to have an endless to do list pad but that became tiresome to manage so I limited the number of tasks. Now, I wake up with a positivity plan of what activities I can actually accomplish in one day. Yesterday, my plan was to travel light and arrive safely with my family at our destination.

one long trip by car-

celebrating a milestone-

only a number

two short posts to write

unlocking poetic voice-  

daily exercise

three chats to enter
engaging conversations-
connections matter

four stops for the trip
one destination 
slow traffic on route

late night arrival

five bear hugs to go around-
weekend plans ahead

Today is Poetry Friday and my twenty-fourth posting in a series titled March Musings for Two Writing Teachers' March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Please visit both communities of writers to see the vast array of topics and writing styles. Thank you to Catherine Flynn for hosting today's Poetry Friday Round-up.

 

These communities constantly spark my creative spirit with their free flowing ideas and passion for writing. Today's idea for a new poem came my way from Fran McVeigh who got the idea from Phyllis Sutton.

News: My Winter Wonder Gallery is still under construction.

                

March Musings 23: Phone Poem

Last weekend, fellow slicer, Laurie Pandorf, created a phone poem that she saw at Rose Cappelli's slice, who got the idea for the format from Jo Knowles in 59 Reasons to Write.

The Assignment:
Create a poem using your phone number.

The How-to: 

Pick a theme, then write your phone number down the length of the page. Each number represents how many words you should have on that line. A zero is a wild card so you can choose as many words as you like for that line.

My Theme: The ocean, nature's gift

My Poem: Winter Wonder

5     Ocean splashing against the jetty -
1      Dazzling,
6     Like sparkling diamonds across the sea
7     I stare into its sweeping, unfathomable depth
6     Unable to predict its volume or extent.
3     It's cresting movement
1      Surges,
1      Swells,
6     As winter winds chill the shore.
0    Ocean power takes my breath away.

My Reflection:

I added an original photo to this format to remind me of the sensations I felt when I recently traveled to the beach. Since I had not been there in months, I asked my husband to walk down to the ocean with me, instead of just staying on the boardwalk. There, at seaside, I witnessed the turbulence and beauty of nature's gift  to Long Island. 

While taking photos, the wind was kicking up and my hands were cold but the sun was shining brightly providing a sense of warmth that really did not exist. It was an exhilarating feeling being at the shore next to great, expansive body of water on a cold, windy day. 

I was not the only one who felt this exuberance. A young man was running shirtless on the boardwalk. While he looked comfortable, I was zipping up my hood to stay warm. At seaside, I came upon a little girl who was merrily walking in the sand with her bare feet. I stopped to talk to her but all she wanted to do was dig her toes further into the sand. A few feet behind her was her mother whom I engaged in conversation. She told me that this was her four year old's first trip to the ocean so she was very excited and probably overwhelmed. I wished her well and then caught up with my husband. Before returning to the boardwalk, we chatted about the shoeless mother and daughter who were delighted with the ocean setting and not at all daunted by the cold winds. Long Beach in the winter provides a different perspective on the beach's appeal.

This post is the twenty-third in a series titled March Musings 

for Two Writing Teachers' March Slice of Life Story Challenge.

March Musings 21: Amplifying #StuVoice

What happens when you hand the reins 

of an educational chat over to a group of student moderators? 

Student voice surges

and 

the hashtag, #KidsCANteachus, becomes, a reality.

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Last Night:

An amazing event occurred last night on Twitter. It was a first of its kind for #NYEDChat, the voice of New York State educators and beyond. Six student moderators, @CurranCentral, @thelivebits, and #BowTieBoys: Joe O'Such, Spencer Hill, Doug Unger, and Ryan Hur led a group of educators, parents, and students in a spirited conversation about #StuVoice. (Our seventh moderator, Sam Fremin, was detained due to an unexpected soccer practice but he was actively involved as the leader from the #BowTieBoys.) While I oversaw the process, I clearly noticed early on that the students needed no prompting during the chat. Their voices were strong, clear, and they efficiently maneuvered the ins and outs of a very fast-paced convo that trended early on Twitter (#40 on Trend USA Now).

Preparations:

Prior to the night's outstanding, epic event, Curran from #DigCitKids, Liv from #thelivbits, and Sam from the #BowTieBoys spent time preparing for the Twitter conversation via the Google Docs I set up for them. Each wrote 2 questions for participants' responses. Back-up support was offered by the moms, Marialice BFX Curran and Cynthia Merrill. Buncee provided the digital online tool to create the flyer and Participate, an active #NYEDChat partner, let us know that its online service would archive the chat and resources at the end of the convo. 

Questions:

Q1 Why is it so important to honor student voice? #StuVoice #NYEDChat

Q2 What role does establishing #StuVoice play in building positive rapport with students? #NYEDChat

Q3 How do you foster a classroom environment that encourages #StuVoice? #NYEDChat

Q4 How do #StuVoice opportunities connect and empower students to develop empathy for causes & movements outside of their comfort zone?  #NYEDChat

Q5 What role do parents play in monitoring and empowering their child’s #StuVoice? #NYEDChat

Reflaction (Reflection with Action) What can you do this week to promote more effective #StuVoice in classrooms, schools, or on social media? #NYEDChat

Highlights:

Mother & son #digcit story at 

http://www.digcitkids.com/uploads/4/1/8/4/4184069/glastonbury_life_digcitkids_december_2016.pdf

Spencer Hill A1- Honoring student voice is one of the most crucial things 

in the classroom bc, in the end, Ss choose what they want to learn #NYEDChat 

Kids need to be empowered, not engaged. @danieldmccabe

We need active classrooms guided by teachers who empower students.-Carol Varsalona

 

Reflactions:


My goal is to promote student voice and digital
citizenship for kids, by kids. -Marialice BFX Curran

Thank Yous:

At the start of the chat, Doug Unger said "Make sure to join in tonight's #NYEDChat. You won't be disappointed." He was right so I thank everyone who joined in the conversation last night. We amplified #StuVoice and trended early signifying that #KidsCANteachus! 

This post is the 21st in the series titled March Musings for Two Writing Teacher's March Slice of Life Story Challenge.