Monthly Archives: May 2015

ABCs of Summer: June’s Photo-a-Day Challenge

Unofficially summer has begun, and even though school is still in for many in this part of the world…summer is on the brain. Ironically, the weather is cool and gloomy…it’s definitely not the atmosphere to inspire beach going or outdoor sports, so let’s hope that this month’s photo-a-day challenge will put you in the mood for summer!

Let’s let the alphabet guide us this month…with a word prompt for each letter (a few extra to add up to the 30 we need for June).

After you shoot, post a photo each day with the hashtag #sdawpphotovoices to Twitter, Instagram, Flicker, Google+ and/or Facebook (the more the better!), so that we can all enjoy the posts. If you are game for some more playfulness, compose a blog post about a photo, a week’s worth of photos, write a photo essay, make a video or slideshow or try a learning walk! (More about learning walks here and here) You are invited to create a pingback by linking to this url or post your blog address in the comment section. It’s fun for me to see what others are doing with the same prompts I am using!

Here’s the list:

1. awkward

2. beach

I love the beach…in all seasons! There is something about the interplay of the sky and water and sand that creates interesting images.

3. blue

4. curious

5. develop

I’m working to develop my photography skills. Here is an attempt at night photography. I like some things about this image even though it is blurry. I need to do a lot more experimenting with shooting at night…you’ll likely see some of my trials this month!

6. explore

7. friends

8. green

You can go literal–like this green succulent–or perhaps more figurative like green with envy or environmentally aware!

9. hot

10. honor

Love that this parking lot employs the honor system for charging for parking. You slide your cash in a locked metal tube and depend on your own integrity to follow the intention. (The Julian catholic church owns the lot and the proceeds supports people in need in the community.)

11. idle

12. jump

13. keep

14. lost

15. mmmmm

16. nature

17. observe

18. pause

We paused to take a look at these electrical towers…and then found ourselves thinking about where towers like this are found. Are there any in your neighborhood?

19. play

20. quench

21. relax

I love the aroma of lavender…and the beauty of the plant. I wish I could get it to grow this beautifully in my yard!

22. savor

23. travel

24. time

25. unexpected

26. vary

27. water

28. excite

29. yell

30. zen

Our goal is to explore, share with each other, and learn from each other as we shoot our own photos and study the photos others shoot. Every day of the month includes a word prompt to inspire and challenge you to create beautiful photos. You are welcome to follow them in order, mix them up, or throw in a new word prompt for the rest of us to try. You can post every day, once a week, or even sporadically throughout the month…whatever works in your life. Be sure to share and tag your photos with #sdawpphotovoices so we can find them!

So let your photography get you in the summer frame of mind…and share those frames with us!

Silent Sunday: May 31, 2015

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Black and White

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This week we’ve been plagued with the notorious “May gray,” days with a marine layer so thick that it’s as if the world exists only in black and white. And in these days of digital photography, I take all my photos in color…but find myself sometimes wondering if a particular image would look better (or different) in black and white. So since our days have been lacking in color anyway, what better excuse for exploring images in black and white?

I noticed these motorcycles lined up across the street from me when we visited Julian over the weekend. With the gray skies and their headlights on, I wanted a way to focus attention on the motorcycles and their lights.

I loved the light in this photo of the dark red tulip and wondered what would happen if it were in black and white. The light is still the focal point, even with the absence of color.

That had me looking for an image with movement…like this one of the waves breaking under the pier. I miss the beautiful turquoise of the water, but love the vibrance of the splash against the pilings.

And there’s the ever iconic UCSD Geisel Library…this most recent photo was my attempt to capture the clouds behind it. There is something timeless about black and white images…

So this is your week to explore with the absence of color. What images will you capture in black and white? Which work well…which need color to bring out their beauty?

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!)

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #blackandwhite for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Even if you are not immersed in the gloom of “May gray,” experiment with black and white. I look forward to seeing black and white through your lens!

Getting Ready for #CLMOOC

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While I haven’t participated in #rhizo15, I have been intrigued by the ideas behind rhizomatic learning and the thinking that learners can direct themselves, learn from one another, and transform learning in the process. (If I have that wrong…someone please correct me!) And the Connected Learning MOOC, known as the #CLMOOC (massive open online collaboration) is starting up in a few weeks!

So instead of cleaning my house or working on report cards last week, I started playing with some photo apps, creating some photo art. And then yesterday Margaret Simon initiated a #digilit challenge…with the first week being focused on creating #photoart. How could I resist?

So I started with the image I had created using the app Waterlogue, creating a watercolor version of the photo I had taken. Then, because Margaret modeled adding poetry to hers, I decided to create a haiku to express why I had stopped and snapped the photo in the first place. I shared this image with her on Facebook yesterday.

And then today I decided to do some exploring and mess around with Thinglink to add some other media to the image. I started by adding a link to the original photo I had taken before turning it into a watercolor painting. I also decided to add a favorite piece of music, so I linked a YouTube video of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World. And then, just for fun, I added the link to Margaret’s Pinterest page where there are examples of other’s #photoart. Here’s my result:

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/659592420828119042

I hope you will also join in the fun…create some #photoart…and join us at the CLMOOC starting in June!

Breaking Through

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Living where I do, sometimes it seems like the skies are always blue and the sun is always shining. And lots of people equate the blue skies and sunshine with happiness. Sometimes, though, it is gray skies, dense clouds, and the promise of rain that soothe the parched land and the stresses of everyday life.

As much as I love my work, the end of the school year brings its share of stresses. And for me the answer to those stresses is not more work (to catch up–as tempting as that is), but to get away and clear my mind, move my body and appreciate the beauty and love in my life.

Heading up toward Stonewall Peak with thick, wet clouds wrapping us in their embrace quieted the roar of all the tasks that need to be done and made space to listen to the bird songs, the wind, and the sound of my own breath. And as I broke through my own funk, I also noticed how nature was dealing with the effects of the devastating fires from a few years ago.

This Tennessee Williams quote captures the quiet power of nature.

The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks.

We found ourselves mesmerized by this tree that had grown into and around a big boulder.

As we hiked, I noticed details…like raindrops on wildflowers and the still life arranged by the wind. And as I noticed, the knots in my shoulders loosened and I felt relaxation breaking through.

When we drove down the mountain heading toward home, the skies were still gray but my own mood had lifted. I felt the satisfying tiredness that comes from following trails, climbing rocks, and walking miles. Like the violets breaking rocks, I can feel the healing breaking through life’s stresses giving me energy and strength for the week ahead.

Silent Sunday: May 24, 2015

Weekly Photo Challenge: Change

The Quandary of the Invisible

Looking Beyond Ugly

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When I walked into the house today after work I noticed that the tulips in the vase on my dining room table were ready to throw out. They were leaning over, their dried blossoms hanging upside down nearly touching the table. I started to move them to the trash can…and then the afternoon light through the window shining on the near-dead plant caught my eye. And suddenly I could see the beauty in the crumbling blossoms that had seemed so ugly only moments before.

A photography tip aside: It was just last week that Joy from Joyfully Green had posted an article where she described the place–her dining room–that served as a photo studio because of the light it offers. (Joy has many tips to share…about photography and about living green.)

As a teacher, it’s my job to look beyond the ugly–the spaces where learning isn’t happening in the ways we want or expect–and figure out how to find the light that transforms. And it isn’t always easy. Sometimes it just seems easier to place blame, give in to frustration, or pass the buck. But then the light shines through my dining room window and I can look beyond the ugly and find the beauty.

(Five Stories…not sure if I followed the rules, but thanks for encouraging me to tell a story today!)

Enveloped in Possibility

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I love this time of the school year. At least the part that is about my students. (Yeah…there are too many meetings, too much drama about which students are going where for next year, too much paperwork…filling in forms, checking off boxes, signing off forms for this and that.)

As a friend of mine recently said in an email, this is a time when we get to witness a fuller blossom of our students. We get to see what they can do when given time and space and opportunity…if we give them time and space and opportunity.

Like this slightly chewed and fully blossomed tulip, students open up at this time of the year. They dig into projects and expose their interests and thinking. They are enveloped in possibility.

Our students recently went to the San Diego Natural History Museum on a field trip. Their goal was to explore the new Coast to Cactus exhibit that features San Diego’s diverse ecosystems and find something that interested them. When they returned to the classroom. they researched this interest and then create a movie or blog post to teach someone else about what they learned. With time and a bit of technical support from us, our students inquired, composed, and created.

Here’s a couple of examples:

Ana (a third grader) got very interested in ghost shrimp…and couldn’t wait to learn more. She researched and wrote…working hard to explain what she learned in her own words and voice…and included her own drawing of a ghost shrimp. Here’s an excerpt:

Moist, murky water embraces the wetlands, cattails sway in the salty breeze, lush growth is everywhere. The wetlands are teeming with life. They are homes to birds, fish, and many mammals. However, many people ignore what’s happening deep down in the mud flats. The mudflat is a home to an amazing creature, the ghost shrimp

You can see her work here.

Eli (a second grader) noticed a mouse at the museum and couldn’t wait to learn more. And when he didn’t find the answers to his questions during his time researching in class, he went home and got his parents to help him with his research. He has also become our residence expert on iMovie…mentoring many of his classmates, helping them record and upload their own videos. Here’s his movie.

And those two are just the tip of the iceberg of what is happening in the classroom. Our students have cross-pollinated, pushing each other to consider new possibilities. Like the bee on this sunflower, they depend on each other as they reach and strive for new heights, solidify what they already know, and reach with a helping hand to lift their classmates. They are enveloped in a community of learners that allows them to bloom, to stumble, and to get up and try again.