 | It's important to send those roots down ground water artesian well spring of eternal life It keeps you strong in the stress heat wave drought violent storm Don't forget though, to send your branches up sky sunlight universe Connect with the world. Bend with the breeze Aim high. S. Cole |
I love summer, but that doesn't mean I don't love the rest of the year too! But what I do love about summer is that time, especially for me, in the morning. I get to focus on the things that I love, and being as nerdy as I am, that often means professional reading and personal writing.
I am participating in Teachers Write this summer and one Quick Write assignment was to write a thank you letter. I didn't know what to write, but Be...Like a Tree was written a day or so after. I had no idea, until I reflected on it that it was a thank you poem, thanking my profession, my mentors and the quiet mornings before the kids get up for the chance to learn & strengthen my roots so I can aim higher in the school year.
I find friends in the professional books I read. To me they read like novels of self-discovery, which they are. I find shared dreams. I love Nancie Atwell, Ralph Fletcher, Penny Kittle and many more. I understand their dreams of wanting to tie in those kids and with reading and writing. I want them to use their reading and writing to find a place to be, understand and grow or as Penny Kittle states, "to find the answers to the questions you didn't know you were asking." (Book Love, 2012)
I found a friend in Donalyn Miller when I read her Nerdy Book Club Blog post, Fangirl. These authors and teachers are my super stars. I would love to meet them, but would be struck dumb, probably on both levels, if I met them. By the way, I can't wait for her new book, Reading in the Wild, due out November 2013. See...teenager lining up for concert tickets.
Thank you too, to all the fabulous people who fully embrace their inner nerd and create such fabulous forums as #NerdyBookClub, #TitleTalk , #TeachersWrite, #nErDcampBC and Poetry Friday which allow me to connect with my "stars", to find authors, books and experiences that nourish my teaching and allow me to explore "the questions I didn't know I even had." Kittle
I am participating in Teachers Write this summer and one Quick Write assignment was to write a thank you letter. I didn't know what to write, but Be...Like a Tree was written a day or so after. I had no idea, until I reflected on it that it was a thank you poem, thanking my profession, my mentors and the quiet mornings before the kids get up for the chance to learn & strengthen my roots so I can aim higher in the school year.
I find friends in the professional books I read. To me they read like novels of self-discovery, which they are. I find shared dreams. I love Nancie Atwell, Ralph Fletcher, Penny Kittle and many more. I understand their dreams of wanting to tie in those kids and with reading and writing. I want them to use their reading and writing to find a place to be, understand and grow or as Penny Kittle states, "to find the answers to the questions you didn't know you were asking." (Book Love, 2012)
I found a friend in Donalyn Miller when I read her Nerdy Book Club Blog post, Fangirl. These authors and teachers are my super stars. I would love to meet them, but would be struck dumb, probably on both levels, if I met them. By the way, I can't wait for her new book, Reading in the Wild, due out November 2013. See...teenager lining up for concert tickets.
Thank you too, to all the fabulous people who fully embrace their inner nerd and create such fabulous forums as #NerdyBookClub, #TitleTalk , #TeachersWrite, #nErDcampBC and Poetry Friday which allow me to connect with my "stars", to find authors, books and experiences that nourish my teaching and allow me to explore "the questions I didn't know I even had." Kittle
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