Timeless Words

Last week, I had the privilege of teaching an ELA Summer Institute for graduate students at Molloy College. During the four days, we engaged in discourse on student-centered learning, created an interactive digital notebook, and filled it with wonderings.  Words became our tool to power up conversations and activate new pathways to learning.

I take the time now to reflect on the power of words, the foundation of conversations, the conduits for our actions. They can be inspirational or destructive. They can lead to bonding with others or entanglements. Words are the superpower of educators. With positivity, they encourage students to collaborate, think critically, and ultimately to create as learners.  

An early morning Twitter conversation among global friends inspired me to reflect upon an important quote from an inspirational leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. 'With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair the stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."  In a post that I wrote last year,  I used MLK's words as a call to action question. "Are we ready to hold the stone of hope in our hands, open the doors to positive discourse, unite as a brotherhood of peace, and never lose infinite hope?"  I revisit this question again considering the timely events in history. 

As educators, are we ready to have courageous conversations? My class discussed this topic last week as their call to action. It is my thinking that words should be used to promote inspired thinking and create plans that encourage students to collaborate as a harmonious group of learners. We must listen intently to others and be mindful of the words we use to express our thoughts. Let's model this.

Are you ready to use words as your positive superpower?

Thank you Steve Kelley, for starting the conversation with a tweet this morning.

It's Slice of Life Tuesday, so I am joining the Two Writing Teachers' community of writers to exchange words that encourage positive conversations.

In the Creativity Playground

For four days this week, I soaked in academia life in a wonder space that I created for five passionate teacher/grad students at Molloy College's ELA Summer Institute. While people around us were basking in the warmth of summer days, we were heating up our conversations and igniting sparks in our wonder space. 

As a tight-knit community of practitioners, we noticed, wondered, explored, and discovered new pathways to develop lifelong readers and writers who wonder and create, 21st-century style. Sparks flew and relationships grew each day. A community of connected educators formed as we engaged in critical thinking, creating, collaborating, and communicating. From collective commitment, perseverance and a good amount of grit and risktaking, authentic, standards-based learning experiences developed in our creativity playground. The teachers moved beyond their comfort zone many times to don the role of curriculum designers, ready to start September off with the motto #StartStrong. 

 

Below is a compilation of image poems created on the Bunnee platform by the secondary teachers who studied with me from five different districts on Long Island and in Brooklyn: Cindy Chambers, Christine Gallehugh, Jeanne Glynn, Melanie Picchioni, and Sari Schulman.

Click on the Show Pages button to see the work. You can go to 
https://app.edu.buncee.com/buncee/029132ef0e6743028d1ccdcf48b344e5 to see the larger version.

This is one sample of the work that was created at the ELA Summer Institute. From a vulnerable stance, each teacher designed her image poem and subsequently presented her work. An additional surprise followed this activity when Christine replicated the mini-lesson with her five-year-old daughter, Lucy. With her mother's help, Lucy dictated a poem and chose an appropriate image. Lucy's poem will also appear on Twitter under the hashtag, #SpringSplendorGallery. In the future, I will design that global gallery of artistic expressions and send it out globally. 

Now, I'm off to be immersed in more poetic goodness at the Poetry Friday Roundup at the blogsite of this week's gracious host, poet/photographer educator, Jone Rush MacCulloch. Jone is sharing a poetry fortune cookie swap sent to her from Tabatha Yeatts, the creator of the Summer Poetry Swap.  

*It will be appreciated if you leave a  comment for the teachers and Lucy so they can add it to their glow and grow statements. They are newbies to the connected colleague world.

Celebrate Creative Moments

“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” 

Jack London

How many times have you been in the zone, ignited the creative spark, and watched the flame flicker and grow stronger? These creative moments are triggered by curiosity and passion. Perseverance pushes the wonderer to discover the magic that causes a flame to burn bright. 

This week was full of creative magic. I watched creative sparks explode as a group of graduate students unleashed their creativity during an ELA Summer Institute at Molloy College.

Images credited to Kent Kristensen (L) and Elizabeth Sherwooed (R)

You can view the Google Slide presentation created by the graduate students here.

Norms and protocols set the stage for an intensive four-day program that focused on the power of writing in a variety of forms to engage learners. 

Teachers who teach writing must be writers was the focal thought. 

With zest for creation, the group collaborated, designed, reflected, and shared authentic work. A slide presentation, Unleashing Creativity: Finding Our Voice, was the  result of concentrated effort to blend art, digital mediums, and technology with poetry. The end product was a thoughtful and vibrant  example of journeying through a process. 

The excitement felt throughout the institute sparked my creative juices, as well. I was inspired by the educators to write and bake, two passions of mind. 

Finding your voice is a vital part of life's journey. To be real one must discover whom he/she is. When voice is found, it is as shiny as a new penny. Then, the real magic of writing with voice begins. Modeling the process for learners is the next step. 

Happy Fourth of July from Long Island, NY to your locale!

Photographed by CVarsalona at Nassau County’s 14th annual Fourth of July fireworks at Eisenhower Park, Long Island. 

I'm celebrating with Ruth Ayres at Celebrate This Week.

Celebrating Commitment to Learning

Each summer, educators gather to learn, share ideas, and build their literacy toolboxes. They notice and wonder. Creative sparks ignite and acts of designing and creating follow. 

This is what happened at the graduate course, Transforming Writing Lives Through Digital Tools and Creativity, that I facilitated at Molloy College on Long Island last week. Teachers-as-learners joined me for an intensive summer institute to study ways to increase student engagement in the literacy classroom. You can access my post on the learning that occurred here.

Next weekend, a celebration of literacy learning will continue at the International Literacy 2016 Conference. I am excited to learn alongside literacy experts as well as present with my colleagues.

In addition, I will attend EdCamp Literacy next week at the International Literacy Conference in Boston to enhance my own professional learning. I will present on Discovering Joy and Wonder Through Inquiry via Family Literacy. Being one of the Wonder Lead Ambassadors, I will gladly represent Wonderopolis as one of the lead sites affecting change in children's pursuit of wonder.

I thank, Leigh Anne Eck for her idea to showcase educators' summer learning in a slide presentation that can be accessed here. Below is the slide I contributed. I am also sharing this example of #digipoetry at my #ila16 presentation with Dr. Michele Haiken and poet, Laura Purdie Salas. 

I celebrate commitment to learning by all educators who are involved in summer learning as a means to hone their craft and ultimately their practice.

Please continue to read how others celebrate their week by visiting Ruth Ayres' blogging community, Celebrate This Week, that is built on the positives of weekly life.