Category Archives: clmooc

Snack Time: SOLC 2019 Day 8

It was windy today as I headed down to the beach. Not ocean breeze windy, it was stand your hair on end windy. I zipped my jacket up to my chin, grabbed my camera and set off down the hill.

The winds stirred up the whitecaps like frothy whipped cream and the surfers seemed to have taken the afternoon off. The skies were blue with billowy clouds in the distance. I walked briskly, scanning the shoreline for interesting photo possibilities.

As I walked further south a bird caught my eye. I watched the bird–seemingly in suspended animation–riding the wind current, but staying in place. It seemed almost to hover high above me. I kept watching and took a few photos, knowing that my lens was not powerful enough to really capture a good picture. After watching it hover and adjust, and then spread its wings a bit further so that it caught the light just right, I realized that this wasn’t a gull or tern. This was a large raptor…an osprey!

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I kept watching in wonder at the strength it must take to fly in place, when suddenly the bird appeared closer, and much larger. I kept taking photos as the bird seemed to fall from the sky! (I’m thinking of you and your duck, Molly!)

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I continued to watch and snap photos as the osprey dropped into the sea and then rose…with something gripped in its powerful talon. I watched it swoop and circle and rise, snapping all the way. I continued to watch as it flew down the beach, fish in hand, away from the way I was walking. I didn’t stop to look at my photos, but I was hoping I had taken a photo that somehow captured my experience.

A couple of miles later when I returned to the car, I was still thinking about the osprey and its snack. I sat and looked through my photos–and gasped when I saw this one. It’s far from perfect, but it does capture some of the magic and majesty I witnessed! (All photos are unfiltered and unedited…for now!)

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Things I Love: SOLC 2019 Day 7

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Thursdays are my SDAWP day. That means that I spend the day at UCSD doing my work as the director of the San Diego Area Writing Project (SDAWP). Inspired by Margaret Simon‘s list of things she loves in her slice the other day, I’ve been thinking about things I love about my SDAWP work.

I love being on campus at UCSD. I’ve taken so many photos of the library–it’s unusual architecture means it always makes an interesting picture. This one was from this morning–I wanted to capture the billowing clouds to the east. As I neared the library, I could hear music. If you look closely you’ll see the people singing. The acoustics of the cement building made their voices soar, those few people sounded like a concert…before 8am this morning.

I love the many opportunities I have to talk with educators across disciplines, across educational roles, across levels. Rich conversations about access and equity, what constitutes success and how to bridge the instructional gaps that happen along the K-college pipeline for some students.

I have a love/hate relationship with writing grants. I love imagining the possibilities and creating structures to support teachers and students. I hate deadlines and the institutional hoops you have to leap through just to submit–and that doesn’t even ensure the grant will be awarded. I’m deeply in the writing process of a grant right now…and probably should be writing that right now instead of blogging. Wish me luck!

I love working with and supporting teachers. I especially love talking educational pedagogy, best practices, and all things writing. I love reading the latest research and thinking about both tried and true approaches and new ideas that I haven’t yet tested for myself.

I love that my doctorate didn’t pull me out of the classroom. With my dual (or more) roles, I get to retain my expertise and credibility as a classroom teacher and stretch beyond my classroom to work county-wide, state-wide and nationally. There is never a dull moment with my multiple hats balanced on my head.

And I love that on my way home I can stop off at Torrey Pines Reserve for a walk on the beach. The cliffs at Torrey Pines are spectacular! Today I chatted with a photographer whose camera lens was the size of a small child. He was watching a mating pair of peregrine falcons, waiting for a chance at a perfect photo. He patiently waited and watched, chatting with beach walkers as they passed. I’m grateful to have gotten a chance to see the falcon–although my camera lens wasn’t able to capture it. The view below is of a raven. A pair of them were swooping and diving…and I’m sure I saw them carrying twigs or other nest building materials in their beaks.

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The tide was low today so I was able to walk to the southern end and catch a glimpse of tons of hang gliders in the distance at the Torrey Pines Glider Port.

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Don’t think for a second that this is a comprehensive list of things I love about directing the SDAWP…I’m sure I could go on and on and on! I do love my work. What would you include in a list of things you love today?

A Rainy Day Walk: SOLC 2019 Day 6

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After the school day ended

and my flock of third graders scurried out the door

taking flight

to this activity and that

I alight on my usual perch

and descend

to the beach

for my rainy day walk

Raindrops and salty sea mist

run rivers down my face

as I breathe in and out

matching inhales with strides

dodging (sometimes unsuccessfully)

pools of sea water

Further down the beach

I find another flock

and they squawk welcome

then like my third graders

scurry and stretch their wings

flying into a rainy afternoon

©Kim Douillard

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A Doing Day: SOLC 2019 Day 5

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You know it’s been a good day in the classroom when nobody has to go to the bathroom. That’s not to say that students didn’t need to go–or even that they didn’t go, just that the asking and the going doesn’t interfere with the learning and learning activities that are going on.

I notice that those are days filled with lots of doing. Today started with students going online to vote for anti-hate messaging from a contest we entered. The google form made it easy for each to independently watch the short videos and make decisions about the images and poems and posters and more. After Cardio Club and an abbreviated morning routine, we dove headfirst into another weaving project. (You can find a mini post about last week’s weaving here.) A novel tool is always a plus…who knew there were 18 inch rulers? Using a ruler to measure effectively and to draw straight lines is challenging for third graders, but with a little help from their friends all were able to manage the task. (I wish I had remembered to take photos!) Finishing our 4-triangle inquiry set the stage for a study of two-voice poems through the poem Squares by Theoni Pappas. (And that was all before recess!)

Add some bubble blowing and birthday cookies along with a couple of chapters of Save Me a Seat before we dove into writing claims about the “right” age for kids to be able to stay home alone. We were sharing our claims when the principal and superintendent stopped by. (While the claims were more similar than I would have liked, students did a great job composing defensible claims based on some articles we read…a great early effort!)

We returned to the weaving project, tracing geometric shapes that would be woven into the monochromatic art piece that features design, math, and writing.

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After some last detailed directions before lunch, students returned to the classroom after lunch to weave their geometric shapes into striking pieces of art. We were so engaged, we almost forgot to get our things packed up to go home! (And the photo included above is the only photo I took today! I’ll have to take some of the finished products once we get our two-voice poetry completed.)

This was definitely a doing day!

I Love Mondays: SOLC 2019 Day 4

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I love Mondays. Really. There is something about the start of the week, a clean slate to write my life. The fresh faces of my students, energized and eager after a weekend at home. And this morning, a rainbow guiding me on my drive to work! A rainbow on a Monday morning commute has to be a good omen.

In my classroom, Mondays are productive. It’s the day I have the most uninterrupted time with my third graders. We flowed from learning activity to learning activity, moving from engaged conversations about the right age for children to be left home alone to small group investigations creating geometric shapes from 4 triangles. Recess times snuck up on us and the day was over in a blink. My favorite kind of day in the classroom.

I ended my day with a mind clearing walk on the beach, matching the rhythm of my breaths with the inhale and exhale of the waves. And as I reached my turnaround point, I found a message in the sand.

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I love Mondays!

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In Search of Light: SOLC Day 3

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I heard the warning on the morning news show, yesterday’s rains caused urban runoff and increased bacteria count in our ocean waters. Stay out of the water. We still headed off to the beach for a low tide walk…in our tennies.

The clouds were heavier than I expected with no rain in today’s forecast–and much darker too. We actually felt misty drizzle as we first got into the car. But the beach was beautiful: low tides, gentle breezes, and yes, some people in the water! Beach people are interesting and they come in all forms. There are walkers and beach combers like Geoff, scanning the shore for bits of glass and interesting marine tidbits and picking up the many plastics that litter the beach. There are surfers who seem to never heed warnings about the water. And there are swimmers and waders, teenaged football throwers, the guy with the metal detector, the fishers knee deep in the waves as they cast. But for me, my eyes search the beach for that perfect picture.

Gray skies make photo taking more challenging. Colors fade away, making things look flat. I’m no expert with camera settings, so I depend on my own framing and the serendipity of light and shadow to create interesting images. I try to pay attention to changes in light…and always find myself drawn to shore birds.

As I wandered down the beach, I spied a whimbrel (I think) out for a snack. I crept close, snapping photos as I went. But I also took a few long shots, noticing a break in the clouds and the white of the foamy wave tops creating a bright spot as a backdrop for the bird. Experts might call my photo overexposed, but there is something I like about this burst of light and the tiny bird visible in the expanse of the wide open beach.

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Gray skies and high bacteria count didn’t keep me home and it certainly didn’t keep this little guy out of the water! I got to stretch my legs and my camera skills to snap at least a few photos that were interesting. And I got to enjoy the beach along with all the other beach people today.

What to do on a Rainy Day?: SOLC 2019 Day 2

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What to do on a rainy day? If I’d had my druthers, as I woke I would have snuggled back down into my covers and listened to the melodic drip drop pattering of raindrops on the roof until I was lulled back into a decadent lazy rainy day sleep.

Instead, when my alarm went off at 5:30 am, I got out of bed, heard the rain–with a bit of dread–and got myself ready to head out. This is the day of the San Diego Area Writing Project annual Spring Conference! We don’t do rain well in San Diego, so when my husband said my phone was buzzing as I emerged from the shower, I worried that people were contacted me to let me know that they wouldn’t be attending. (That wasn’t the case.) I made my way through the raindrops and occasional imprudent rainy day drivers to the university.

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And as is always the case…there is amazing energy in teachers coming together to learn on a Saturday morning! Close to 150 educators dodged the raindrops for continental breakfast, coffee, and comradery…along with opportunities to learn together. And we were in for a treat! The hardest part of the morning was choosing which sessions to sit in, there were so many good choices!

Storytelling strategies, using mentor text to improve student writing, inserting craft in non fiction writing, amplifying student voice (with students sharing their process and outcomes), harnessing the power of technology to support young writers, and employing thinking routines for social justice in the classroom were all options this morning. And thirty years into my teaching career and with almost as many years with the writing project I continue to learn and be inspired in this community of educators.

As always, Christine inspired the audience in her opening, reminding us that it is wholehearted connections that make the biggest difference in learning. I am grateful for the opportunity to spend a rainy Saturday morning in the company of dedicated professionals.

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I didn’t get to sleep in this morning, but I am refreshed and inspired by a morning spent learning with colleagues.

Walking Toward the Storm: SOLC 2019 Day 1 and Skinny Poem

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Influenced by some blogging colleagues and my desire to get back to my writing life, I’ve decided to participate in Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

I’m choosing to ease into the writing challenge and try on a poetry type I saw described by Margaret Simon on her blog not too long ago. She describes the process here. I don’t happen to have any metaphor dice (although they are now on my wish list!), so I came up with my own first line based on today’s beach walk. We’ve been having a very rainy winter and while today is not rainy, it’s clear that rain is coming. (The forecast is for rain all day tomorrow.) The clouds are hunched up low along the horizon, giving the beach a moody feel as I walked at low tide. I love the way walking into the sea breeze seems to blow the clouds out of my mind, clearing the way for fresh ideas and improving my mood. My feet find their own rhythm, accompanied by the constant backbeat of the waves ebbing and flowing. This is my definition of exercise, adding squatting low to pick up bits of sea glass or examine an interesting rock or piece of driftwood and balancing atop rocks to frame a photo to round out my workout. Mostly, though, the beach is an endless source of inspiration for my photography and for my writing.

Here’s my first attempt at a skinny poem (something I will be trying with my students one day soon!).

Clearing the Clouds

Walking toward the storm

alone

briny

billowing

breezes

alone

thoughts

twisting

turning

alone

clearing the clouds in my head

© Kim Douillard