The world of zoom and creation distance learning lessons have made it easy to lose track of time and space. Holding on to what day it is challenging. Videoing lessons can feel like putting a message in a bottle and hoping someone opens it. The response is delayed, and figuring out where kids are is a bit “laggy.” Despite all of it, there is a fair amount of good. My current library consists of ebooks on EPIC. I know some of the books, but many are new to me.  In many ways giving students access skim at their own pace has created student-led book recommendations. Some of my kiddos mis ..read more

I’ve been a Progressive Poem bystander for years. Watching the annual process is a treat. But to take part in this tradition, started in 2012 by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem, was a whole different matter. The idea of contributing was a worry. Especially toward the end of the month. That said, the clever choose-your-adventure approach made it playful and offered a flexible entry point.   Thank you to Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche for continuing the tradition and for giving me a push. The poem started as an early morning walk drove us deeper into nature and an unex ..read more

As much as I try to take a day at a time, and have a schedule that grounds me, I get thrown. Last night’s news report declaring a dip in the cost of oil, coupled with several state governments’ move to open up and relax restrictions, was one of those moments. Life vs. livelihood. What is the later one worth without the former? What could this mean for the safety of my family, my students, and their families? I went to bed, wondering which way the scales were tipping. Mornings shine brighter and lighter. When our conferences start, students’ faces peer back at me through my computer and li ..read more

This week, we started “school” again. From my kitchen table to my kiddos in their bedrooms, living rooms, and backyards, we connect and learn. So much of what I think about these days is how to create an online experience that feels like the learning we do in class. Transfering simple moves, like the use of post-ts and anchor charts, took me time. What is obvious today wasn’t on week one or two or three. I can only imagine what I will discover by week ten. This week. we started a new read aloud. As much as I want students to turn and talk, controlling that interaction seemed impossible in a zo ..read more

Poetry feels like an essential service these days. It is a place to create meaning in unsettled times. Some Things I Like by Lemn Sissay attracted me because it covets the unseemly. Confronting the uncomfortable is never easy. Especially now. This poem is contrary. It invites difficulty in and praises it. Sissay’s poem begs me to see things that others might not cherish, but I do. I like the safety of a cluttered desk and unemptied trash. I like piles of dirty laundry,  waiting to be tended. I like the white worn edges of an album cover. I like unbound pages of a book slipped in place. I li ..read more

  You went missing as you traveled with towels and t-shirts down the hall. I consider your whereabouts, knowing you are near. You could have slipped out early in the journey hitting the hardwood to be kicked aside to a dark space in between. You could have missed the dryer only inches to the north muscled out by oversized cotton. You could have missed the crossing and sit silent, collecting dust behind the hamper. You could be waiting, held captive clinging while your partner faithfully waits, with others of his kind ..read more

Reflecting back is a practice I’ve let slip away. Now, as the world loses shape, my ritual rekindles. Frustrated by an inability to give needed things other pathways open,  and offer sprigs of promise. Ebooks on overdrive to feed reading lives Schedules to meet in two-d Budding student agency sprouts to-do lists, to be on time, to learn, to try Hope wonders out loud, when will school start again? Countered by One, next time will be next year. I smile and say, we don’t know, yet, privately mourning projects left on tables, charts posted on walls, and books that sit unopened ..read more

The end of March is here,  and I am grateful to have this space. To be able to celebrate nature has been an avenue to peace. These pictures are some of my favorites of the month. Songbirds perch on stark shafts Only until the crunch of sand Shift their balance Solar shafts spotlight black-eyed Susans’ bloom cutting through stages, newborn to deadhead While morning waves wash tidepools the saltwater saturates the rocky shore where tiny creatures and worn glass wait ..read more

As I walk closer, the honking calls of peacock and peahens intensify. They have to be perched in this tree. Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl with its trees full of pheasants comes to mind. I look up, knowing they are there, waiting for me to leave. Giving in to their patience, I move on. The flutter of wings and honks stop me. Two hens fly off. Now, I know there are more. Finally, I see her. A pointed head balanced atop a long neck. Her breast and body house a complex network of folded feathers, engineered for efficiency and grace. She looks out above the tree line for he ..read more

Halfway through my run, I turn toward the ocean. A cruise ship is anchored a mile off the coast. Passengerless, it sits. I wonder about the crew. It looks festive shining in the early morning dawn. But what must that be like? Waiting. No destination. No purpose. This is my halfway mark. The road flattens and the wind rips from the west. My eyes water and my stride slows. After a few blocks of picket-fenced homes, I reach the trailhead, and the sun rises. My morning run is timed to finish with a walk through the trails. I crunch along an uneven path. I slow and stop to notice small wonders. Ma ..read more