Most teachers I know are truly lifelong learners. They never stop honing their skills or acquiring new knowledge. For many of us, that learning comes from more knowledgeable others, often through books and written words. During summer break I am excited by the prospect of having more time to read and savor professional books, there are so many I can’t wait to crack open.
But this summer I am committed to finding more balance in my 
life. It is often hard for my brain to shut down and allow me to be present in a moment. There is always a to-do list to tackle, ideas that float through my mind, people who need my attention-and these are good things to me. They are satisfying aspects of my life. But as I grow (ahem…age) I have a stronger desire to just BE. It’s a hard concept to describe but it’s what I consider ZEN.
Taoism.net describes it better than I can:
- Zen is more of an attitude than a belief.
- Zen is the peace that comes from being one with an entity other than yourself.
- Zen means being aware of your oneness with the world and everything in it.
- Zen means living in the present and experiencing reality fully.
- Zen means being free of the distractions and illusory conflicts of the material world.
- Zen means being in the flow of the universe.
- Zen means experiencing fully the present, and delighting in the basic miracle of life itself.
I’m not going to become a Zen Master or practicing Buddhist this summer, I just need to add “Moments of Zen” to my life. So how do we find them? I think we have to plan for them, to consciously create opportunities, and to connect with our earth more. Summer is a perfect time for that! Nature is beckoning us to engage with her. Our senses can help us connect in a variety of ways as we look, listen, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.
Here are some of my favorite “Moments of Zen” so far. Each allows me to be fully present in the moment and tune out the daily distractions-if only for a little while. My senses are activated in ways that bring me pleasure. My rational mind is freed up to focus on intuition and experience. I feel a part of something bigger than me.
- Sitting in the woods listening to bird calls
- Beachcombing for interesting shells and rocks
- Floating in water and experiencing weightlessness
- Lying in my hammock being warmed by the sun
- Sitting next to the ocean listening and watching the breaking waves
- Lying with my pets on the couch and noticing the syncing of our breath
- Monday morning yoga on the riverfront.
I’ll keep adding to my repertoire. I’d love to hear your “Moments of Zen”.
What’s On My Book Radar?
This was my first summer read and it is one I have been truly anxious to get my hands on. It was SOOOO worth it. Lily was born Tim, but knew early on that she was a girl trapped inside a boy’s body. Dunkin is really Norbert Dorfman who is ‘trapped’ by his odd name and a painful secret he doesn’t think he can share-even with parts of himself! This book will open your eyes to the real life struggles of human beings in our society who just want to belong and could use our help and support to be the people they were born to be. I dare you to read this and not feel changed. Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
accomplish and yet I have a strong need to be still, silent, and present with the people and places around me. In Chinese philosophy 
to say that I can immerse myself in wonderful books again. (This was one of the joys envisioned as I tried to look past that stress!) I found this wonderful gem of a book and thought it was perfect for the moment. The blurb on the cover reads, “Everyone has bad days. You have to make the good ones.” It was so fitting!
taxonomic name: 
Two colleagues (Melissa Guerrette, Susan Dee) and I were asked to be Twitter Ambassadors for this past weekend’s New England Reading Association annual conference. The NERA conference was held in Portland, Maine so it was right on our home turf! Now I had never heard of a Twitter Ambassador, but I was intrigued. I found out that basically it was our task to support NERA members in becoming more active on social media and to generate some buzz about the conference.
Our teachers look closely at students’ writing all the time and three times a year we do so together as a district. We give three benchmark, on-demand, prompts as formative assessments to evaluate the strengths and needs of our young writers. This past week our K-6 teachers got together for an early release workshop to analyze some of that writing. Most of the time they simply score their own students’ work with our writing continuum and share what they notice with their students. On this day they had an opportunity to share with their colleagues as well.
We scored some together, pulled new anchor papers, revised our assessment tool, and charted patterns of strengths and needs. But the best part of the day was hearing teachers say over and over, “Wait, you’ve got to read this one!” There were stories that made us giggle, weep, and drop our jaws! More than once I heard someone declare, “I wish I could write like that!” The room was filled with teachers enjoying the writing of their students. Now that’s not to say that every student “exceeded the standard” or that we are nurturing a giant crop of Hemingways. Sure there were some stories that left us scratching our heads and moaning slightly. But teachers still observed growth with most of these writers and developed ideas/plans with their colleagues for supporting them.
The social media was exploding with memes of support and appreciation for teachers. Most were quite humorous. Many had me giggling but were sadly true. While it is great to have a week of acknowledgment and appreciation, it would be far better to have policies and public discourse that backed up those sentiments with action that supported our schools every day. Those parents who spoiled us with kindness this week get that. They are the ones who care year round because they see firsthand the dedication of teachers and staff who work with their children. I understand it is harder for those who aren’t regularly in schools to have a similar level of appreciation. But there are some things they could do.
One of the best parts of my job as a literacy coach (in five buildings) is that I get to visit a LOT of classrooms. This allows me to see the wide-ranging variety of environments, approaches, and lessons that teachers create to meet the needs of our learners. I can see firsthand that there is no “one right way” to teach. I am inspired by new ideas and strategies that I observe, and I do my best to share those with other teachers. Sometimes I feel like a honeybee who flits from flower to flower picking up and depositing the pollen of pedagogy. It’s one of the aspects of my job that I love the most!
were eager to share the work going on in the hundreds of classrooms in their district. We discussed the progress they have made and their vision for moving forward. Teachers brought student writing from their state/local assessments. As I shared my ideas with teachers that day, I was able to contemplate the similarities and differences of our journeys. It gave me an even wider perspective on the needs of young writers and for their teachers who constantly strive to meet those needs. Teachers asked questions and shared ideas that helped me to grow as well.
reinforced my insistence that teachers be allowed opportunities to visit other classrooms to observe the myriad of possibilities for teaching approaches. Far too often teaching can be an isolating experience. Spending day after day ‘alone’ in our classrooms can limit our expectations or distort our perceptions of possibilities. Schools need to foster a greater sense of community within our buildings, but also beyond. We can learn so much from others who hoe this same row each day.
Tributes and memorials are flooding social media as people want to share memories that reflect how his music was meaningful to them, personally. His passing left many remembering moments when his music was the soundtrack of their own lives. So many words of adulation are filling up that empty space he once occupied.
about the room… Kind. Dedicated. Amazing. Committed. Sweet. Strong. Determined. These were mostly from the teachers who worked with Jane. I’m sure there would be others from her husband, daughter, mother, and childhood friends. Memory pages were being passed around in which we were invited to share some remembrance. How do I choose 1 memory to represent years of friendship and collegiality? How can I adequately pay tribute to this beautiful, courageous, and gentle soul?
After I read Salt to the Sea (by Sepetys) I found out she had written this book previously that is a companion (not prequel) and I had to read it. This book tells the story of 15 year old Lina (Joana’s cousin) who is preparing for art school when the Soviet secret police barge into her house one night and deport Lina and her brother and mother to Sib
I have been waiting so long for this book! When I met Kate DiCamillo last fall at NCTE I was captivated by her. I’ve always loved her writing, and you can see how naturally it springs from her ability to talk and tell a story.
litcoachlady 