There is magic in the art of word collecting. What starts with noticing leads to wonderment. For me, each seasonal encounter with life opens a new world of thought as ideas pop and squirm, then find a spot to land. Each landing invites opportunity to create and massage words into nuggets of thoughts. From this point onward, thoughts crystalize and dance around the page until their placement is finely suited for their surroundings.
Word collecting is an essential stage of writing; the foundation that links the noticing stage to the development of thought, leading to multiple possibilities. Trusting myself as a writer brings me closer to the power of pen to paper or keyboard to print. Remembering that it takes time to collect words and understand their potential excites me.
Author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds introduced the idea of word collecting as a important phase of a child's development as a writer in his inspirational picture book, The Word Collector. You can listen to Peter's short introduction to his book by clicking on the illustration below.
Are you ready to notice, reach for your own words, and wonder how to use them to tell your story? Be a word collector and let each new word, set of words, and thoughts lead you to wonderment and creation. I invite you to notice the world, listen for words that amaze you, and create like I did below. You can use Buncee to bring your words to life.
At the end of Peter Reynolds' book, Jerome watches joyful children collecting the words he released. Like Jerome, I wish to celebrate words. I am looking for children to send me their words transformed into seasonal poems for future galleries of artistic expressions. Voice becomes amplified when we find authentic ways to let them soar.
If you stroll over to Laura Purdie Salas' blog siteyou will see why she is so excited this week. Stay long enough, add to her Padlet, and perhaps you will win a free, signed, personalized copy of her newest published book, Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle.
Thank you, Laura for hosting Poetry Friday this week.
On December 17, 2018 Peter H. Reynolds, the author of The Dot, will guest moderate #NYEDChatwith Susan Verde. The special holiday Twitter chat, The Gift of Reading, will inspire educators, parents, families, and children to share the pleasures of reading.
It was a timely message since I was preparing for the #NYEDChat convo centering on "Mindfulness in the Classroom and Beyond." Building momentum for a successful chat is key.
What transpired was noteworthy. The above poster, illustrated by the beloved author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds, was retweeted by educators, parents, and students for days prior to #NYEDChat. Thoughtful questions were prepared by the wonderful author, poet, and yoga/mindfulness instructor, Susan Verde,and I repeatedly sent out the question flyer via Twitter. The publicity campaign continued on FaceBook. We were definitely ready for a chat that would engage people and students from many corners of the world beyond New York State.
A transcript of the chat was promptly provided by Participate. It can be can be found here. What does it take to deliver a topic, engage an audience, and provide an opportunity for people to network with each other?
Mindful intent
Positivity
Focused Topic
Great advertising campaign
Passionate moderators and participants (Peter and Susan heated up Twitter, making #NYEDChat trend in the early part of the convo.)
Stamina
Gratitude
Upon a quick relook at the chat I realized that the above bulleted points were evident throughout the conversation. Moderators and participants came into the chat with an excited attitude and positive perspective. Everyone was mindfully attending to the topic at hand, providing responses, resources, and sidebar conversations with each other. The topic focused us on the importance of having students learn mindfulness in their early years. Passion was present and in high degrees. Because of the high volume of tweets, stamina was needed to stay in the flow. Everyone was grateful for the moderators' thoughtful questions and responses.
Reflecting on the chat has made me aware of the high energy of educators, parents, and teachers who voluntarily join evening chats. There seems to be an endless thirst for knowledge and consistency in positive perspectives.
I leave you with gratitude for our guest moderators' enthusiasm to prepare for and engage in the chat. In addition, I would like to express heartfelt thanks to the participants for their eagerness to learn alongside Peter H. Reynolds and Susan Verde.
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Stay tuned for Part 2 in which I will dig deeper into the chat to highlight the positives. I offer this post to Two Writing Teachers for Slice of Life Tuesday, "a meeting place for a world of reflective writers" where educators share weekly slices of their lives.
For those of us in education who love a creative challenge, it is time to celebrate International Dot Day on September 15th. Join in the "global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration" that began when Terry Shay read Peter H. Reynolds' book, The Dot, to his class in 2009. From that simple act International Dot Day grewand is nowcelebrated around the globe. In honor of the upcoming Dot Day 15, these classroom activities can prepare each classroom for a day of global celebration.
Read aloud The Dot. Then, watch the video.
Celebrate with music.
Create artwork with any medium to represent The Dot. I chose to work with photography and digital photo-editing tools.
Weave words to create a poem that accompanies your dot.
Celebrate students' work with a gallery walk. Share the work with the world via social media. Join the movement to make your mark on September 15th.
Your turn to create dot art and make your mark. Please visit the Poetry Friday Round-Up at Robyn Hood Black'sLife on the Deckle Edge.
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Special Notice:
I am delighted to say that I will unveil my newest gallery of artistic expressions,
