Notice, Wander, Wonder

The past two days have been filled with sunshine and warm weather. Spring is full of life and April is becoming more poetrylicious each day. Poems are popping up all over. To celebrate the power of April joy during National Poetry Month I created a little ditty tune to keep everything lively around me.

During springtime, it is time to notice, wander, and wonder about our blossoming surroundings. At the nature preserve, my walk uphill led me to a huge grouping of reeds, swaying in the breeze.  I felt a dance-like quality to their movement and clicked the camera to capture the stilled quiet of the preserve. An image poem emerged.

The reeds were majestic in stature. They stood tall as guardians of the land. Thinking of their ethereal beauty, I created another poem, a cinquain, to describe what I saw on that April day. 

Phragmites

xanthous perennials

guarding, standing, swaying

slender, graceful grassy beauties

reeds

I noticed, wrote, and filled my office with poetry. Now I am sharing my notice poems with the hashtag #NoticePoems created by Holly Thompson. Will you notice more of your surroundings to create poetry? If so, I am designing a new spring gallery called Spring's Seeds. The invitation will be sent out via social media soon. In the meantime, you can view last spring's global gallery of artistic expressions, Spring's Symphony, here and last season's gallery, Winter Wanderings, here. 

It's Tuesday and time to visit Slice of Life at Two Writing Teachers. Please join me to read the various slices from educators around the globe. 

Envisioning Spring's Symphony

As in all creations envisioned in the mind's eye, inspiration comes in spurts. It rises from the depths of the soul and moves to corners of the mind until ready to surface. 

We all know that the spring season arrived late this year so gardens are just making their debut. My lilac bush is beginning to bloom. The neighborhood is lively after a long winter. The sounds of balls bouncing, skates rolling, bicycle wheels churning, and footsteps pounding are part of the daily happenings. Gardeners' trucks come and go, engaging in their weekly tasks of sprucing up properties and mowing lawns. Nature is showing its colors and there is chocolate in my garden once again.

The sound of keyboard clickings is a happening also as I prepare to design my next gallery.  While Winter Whisperings afforded us a look at the beauty of a stilled season, Spring's Symphony will refreshen our perspective on life as we know it. Join me as I walk through the gardens of life and create a tone of contemplation and renewal for the newest global gallery of artistic expressions. 

Below, I offer photos and a poem of the newest addition to my garden, the Willow Tree Hakura that salutes spring. My garden and I are ready to bask in the sunshine of late spring.

Thin, gracefully spreading branches

splashing hints of shrimp pink and creamy white

bow in tribute to the season of spring

while becoming a striking focal point

for my garden.

CVarsalona © 2015

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

 I INVITE  all poets, teachers, colleagues, family, friends, Twitter readers, and students to:
-capture springtime through a photo or drawing 
-write an accompanying poem or poetic expression
-superimpose the saying onto the image
-sign the image with your name and location
-send the image in jpeg form to @cvarsalona via Direct Message on Twitter, Google+, cvarsalona at gmail, or in the comment section below

Deadline for Submission: Extended to June 19, 2015 
Information at: http://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2015/06/envisioning-springs-symphony.html

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

Please travel over to the Poetry Friday Round-Up at Buffy Silverman's site, Buffy's Blog. Read the many delightful posts of the week, starting with Buffy's imaginative poems. 

Leaving a Digital Footprint

In this age where there is an influx of digital information, learners need to become creators and sharers of content, rather than just consumers of information. Voice becomes the vehicle to allow ideas to rise.

CVarsalona © 2015

Reflective teachers help students become thoughtful users of digital space. Choice is provided to develop independence but the freedom to create necessitates the wise articulation of statements. Content, opinions, creative expressions, and sentiments are sent out to the world daily when assuming a social media presence. What you write becomes your footprint, so there must be careful deliberation on what is publicly said. 

"Studies have shown that a typical social media user consumes 285 pieces of content daily, which equates to an eye-opening 54,000words, and, for the truly active, as many as 1,000 clickable links.              http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-media-overload/488800

Connected educators know the value of educational Twitter conversations that allow for the flow of ideas. Adult and student thoughts aired across the internet become living testaments to the power of voice. We leave a digital footprint as we communicate in social media spaces. How will you brand your space? Will it be rich with significant, relevant ideas, conversational in tone, or stylistically sophisticated? 

As per the offer made by Margaret Simon, creator of DigiLit Sunday, 

I invite you to consider what your 

digital legacy will be.

While exploring mine, I carefully examine my word choice, or as I call it word weaving, hoping that my words will impact teaching, learning, and life. I use my blogging space to ponder, reflect, and converse with those who share the love of writing. 

I offer this post today to the DigiLit Sunday community of writers under the guidance of Margaret Simon. Please visit her site and peruse the writings of those whose voices are being raised each week. 

DigiLit Sunday

I invite you to a preview of the newest gallery I am creating, Spring's Symphony, with the thought that each offering you will see at the end of springtime will provide a lasting legacy of artful words. 

A Tribute to One of Nature's Beauties

What will your digital legacy be? 

I invite you to once again consider this question.